Level of life
DNA
The molecule that stores the genetic instructions of all cellular life: two strands wound into a double helix and held together by base pairs.
Base pairing
In DNA, A pairs with T and G pairs with C (RNA uses U instead of T). The matching lets each strand act as a template for the other.Source: NHGRISource: Watson & Crick, 1953
Also called complementary bases.
Process
How Base pairing connects
Base pairing is part of
Base pairing is involved in
Process
DNA replication
Copying DNA before a cell divides. Each new double helix keeps one original strand and gains one new strand.
Process
Transcription
Copying the DNA sequence of a gene into RNA.
Base pairing is used by
Technology or method
PCR
The polymerase chain reaction copies a chosen stretch of DNA millions to billions of times.
Studied in
Your progress
Sources & further reading
The explanations on this page are our own summaries of these sources. Follow a link to read the original; if anything here disagrees with it, the original wins. How we choose and check sources.
Base Pair (opens the original in a new tab)
National Human Genome Research Institute. Talking Glossary of Genomic and Genetic Terms. National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH.
ReferenceGovernment sourceEducationalMolecular structure of nucleic acids; a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid (opens the original in a new tab)
Watson JD, Crick FH (1953). Nature 171(4356):737-738.
Proposed the double-helix model of DNA.
Historical paperPrimary research