DNA is fundamental to the biology of all life on Earth, but how many of us actually know what it is or what it's made of?

Different sequences of nucleotide bases are what define each species. But DNA sequences are only templates for building and maintaining organisms. Alone they can't do anything.

These bases are the rungs of the DNA ladder. (It takes two bases to form a rung -- one for each side of the ladder.) ... and a phosphate molecule group together to make up a nucleotide.

The DNA of some viruses doesn’t use the same four nucleotide bases found in all other life. New work shows how this exception is possible and hints that it could be more common than we think. All life ...

Additions to DNA’s four-letter alphabet have been announced before, but the new letters don’t always fit comfortably into DNA’s double helix. Even slightly awkward letters can distort DNA ...

Rapid DNA sequencing may soon become a routine part of each individual's medical record, providing enormous information previously sequestered in the human genome's 3 billion nucleotide bases.

Scientists successfully stored 'Wizard of Oz' into DNA, ... Recall the four nucleotide bases that make up the DNA ladder. On average, DNA introduces about one mistake per 100 to 1,000 nucleotides.

Dozens of viruses don't use the same four nucleotide bases found in all other life. New work shows how this is possible—and perhaps more common than we think.