DNA - Definition | Dictionary definition of DNA

Definition of DNA

Nouns

(biochemistry) a long linear polymer found in the nucleus of a cell and formed from nucleotides and shaped like a double helix; associated with the transmission of genetic information

"DNA is the king of molecules"

Synonyms:: deoxyribonucleic acid, desoxyribonucleic acid

Types:: show 11 types...; hide 11 types...; operon
a segment of DNA containing adjacent genes including structural genes and an operator gene and a regulatory gene; cDNA, complementary DNA
single-stranded DNA that is complementary to messenger RNA or DNA that has been synthesized from messenger RNA by reverse transcriptase; provirus
cDNA copy of the RNA genome of a retrovirus; the genetic material of a virus as incorporated into and able to replicate with the genome of a host cell; dscDNA
double-stranded cDNA; episome
DNA that is not incorporated into the genome but is replicated together with the genome (especially in bacterial cells); coding DNA, exon
sequence of a gene's DNA that transcribes into protein structures; intron, noncoding DNA
sequence of a eukaryotic gene's DNA that is not translated into a protein; junk DNA
stretches of DNA that do not code for genes; recombinant DNA, recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid
genetically engineered DNA made by recombining fragments of DNA from different organisms; sticky end
an end of DNA in which one strand of the double helix extends a few units beyond the other; jumping gene, transposon
a segment of DNA that can become integrated at many different sites along a chromosome (especially a segment of bacterial DNA that can be translocated as a whole)

Type of:: polymer
a naturally occurring or synthetic compound consisting of large molecules made up of a linked series of repeated simple monomers