page_title: DNA
section_title: Listing of non-canonical bases found in DNA
hierarchical_section_title: DNA / Properties / Listing of non-canonical bases found in DNA
caption_attribution_description: English: Ligand in minor DNA groove. Picture created by Abalone program.
context_page_description: Deoxyribonucleic acid is a molecule composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix carrying genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of all known organisms and many viruses. DNA and ribonucleic acid are nucleic acids. Alongside proteins, lipids and complex carbohydrates, nucleic acids are one of the four major types of macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life.
  The two DNA strands are known as polynucleotides as they are composed of simpler monomeric units called nucleotides. Each nucleotide is composed of one of four nitrogen-containing nucleobases, a sugar called deoxyribose, and a phosphate group. The nucleotides are joined to one another in a chain by covalent bonds between the sugar of one nucleotide and the phosphate of the next, resulting in an alternating sugar-phosphate backbone. The nitrogenous bases of the two separate polynucleotide strands are bound together, according to base pairing rules, with hydrogen bonds to make double-stranded DNA. The complementary nitrogenous bases are divided into two groups, pyrimidines and purines.
context_section_description: A number of non canonical bases are known to occur in DNA. Most of these are modifications of the canonical bases plus uracil.
  Modified Adenosine
  N6-carbamoyl-methyladenine
  N6-methyadenine
  Modified Guanine
  7-Deazaguanine
  7-Methylguanine
  Modified Cytosine
  N4-Methylcytosine
  5-Carboxylcytosine
  5-Formylcytosine
  5-Glycosylhydroxymethylcytosine
  5-Hydroxycytosine
  5-Methylcytosine
  Modified Thymidine
  α-Glutamythymidine
  α-Putrescinylthymine
  Uracil and modifications
  Base J
  Uracil
  5-Dihydroxypentauracil
  5-Hydroxymethyldeoxyuracil
  Others
  Deoxyarchaeosine
  2,6-Diaminopurine
caption: DNA major and minor grooves. The latter is a binding site for the Hoechst stain dye 33258.
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