adenine

noun

ad·e·nine | \ ˈa-də-ˌnēn

How to pronounce adenine (audio)

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Definition of adenine

: a purine base C₅H₅N₅ that codes hereditary information in the genetic code in DNA and RNA — compare cytosine, guanine, thymine, uracil

Examples of adenine in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web In the case of SARS-CoV-2, which has an RNA genome based on adenine, cytosine, guanine and uracil, sometimes mistakes happen. — Quanta Magazine, "How to Understand COVID-19 Variants and Their Effects on Vaccines," 25 Feb. 2021 Maybe an adenine gets swapped with a uracil (a substitution mutation that could also occur with any of the base pairs), or perhaps one or more bases get inserted or deleted. — Quanta Magazine, "How to Understand COVID-19 Variants and Their Effects on Vaccines," 25 Feb. 2021 To do so, researchers typically convert a data file’s string of digital 1s and 0s into combinations of the molecule’s four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. — Robert F. Service, Science | AAAS, "Scientists ‘program’ living bacteria to store data," 11 Jan. 2021 One by one each of the four bases - adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine, or A, T, G, C - washes over the plate containing Nicholas' exons. — Mark Johnson And Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "One in a billion: Researchers seek clues in Nicholas' DNA -- and find more than they expected.," 21 Dec. 2010 These differences - the base adenine in one position instead of guanine - determine everything from harmless diversity (brown hair vs. blond) to the defects that cause disease. — Mark Johnson And Kathleen Gallagher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "One in a billion: Researchers seek clues in Nicholas' DNA -- and find more than they expected.," 21 Dec. 2010 The four bases of virus RNA are written in an alphabet composed of nucleotide chemicals: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and uracil (U). — Robert Lee Hotz, WSJ, "‘Really Diabolical’: Inside the Coronavirus That Outsmarted Science," 7 Sep. 2020 Instead of hooks and loops, the Velcro has the nucleotides that make up DNA: adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine. — Gaia Squarci, Smithsonian Magazine, "The Virus Hunters," 10 Aug. 2020 One serves as a template, laying down sequences of the four bases that make up DNA molecules: adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G) and cytosine (C). — Lydia Denworth, Scientific American, "A Breakthrough in Genetic Medicine for Rare Diseases," 3 Mar. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'adenine.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

14 Apr 2021

Cite this Entry

“Adenine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adenine. Accessed 22 Apr. 2021.

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More Definitions for adenine

adenine

noun

ad·e·nine | \ ˈad-ᵊn-ˌēn

\

Medical Definition of adenine

: a purine base C₅H₅N₅ that codes hereditary information in the genetic code in DNA and RNA — compare cytosine, guanine, thymine, uracil

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