A compound which is one of the four constituent bases of nucleic acids. A purine derivative, it is paired with thymine in double-stranded DNA.
'The strands consist of sugar and phosphate groups, the sugars being attached to a base - adenine, thymine, guanine, or cytosine.'
'There are four types of nucleotides in DNA, each containing one of four bases - adenine, guanine, cytosine, or thymine.'
noun
1.
Biochemistry. a purine base, C 5 H 5 N 5 , one of the fundamental components of nucleic acids, as DNA, in which it forms a base pair with thymine, and RNA, in which it pairs with uracil. Symbol:A.
Examples:
"There can be adenine parts." "There can be adenine ns." "There can be adenine moietieses." "adenines can be by people/places/organizations."
Origin:
Late 19th century: coined in German from Greek adēn ‘gland’ + -ine.
