Everything about Cytosine totally explained
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Cytosine is one of the five main bases found in
DNA and
RNA. It is a
pyrimidine derivative, with a
heterocyclic aromatic ring and two substituents attached (an
amine group at position 4 and a
keto group at position 2). The
nucleoside of cytosine is
cytidine. In Watson-Crick base pairing, it forms three hydrogen bonds with
guanine.
History
Cytosine was discovered by
Albrecht Kossel in 1894 when it was hydrolysed from calf
thymus tissues. A structure was proposed in 1903, and was synthesized (and thus confirmed) in the laboratory in the same year.
Cytosine recently found use in
quantum computation. The first time any
quantum mechanical properties were harnessed to process
information
took place on August 1st in 1998 when researchers at Oxford implemented
David Deutsch's algorithm on a two
qubit NMRQC (
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Quantum Computer) based on the cytosine
molecule.
Chemical reactions
Cytosine can be found as part of DNA, RNA, or as a part of a
nucleotide. As
cytidine triphosphate (CTP), it can act as a co-factor to enzymes, and can transfer a phosphate to convert
adenosine diphosphate (ADP) to
adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
In DNA and RNA, cytosine is paired with
guanine. However, it's inherently unstable, and can change into
uracil (
spontaneous deamination). This can lead to a
point mutation if not repaired by the
DNA repair enzymes such as uracil glycosylase, which cleaves a uracil in DNA.
Cytosine can also be
methylated into
5-methylcytosine by an enzyme called
DNA methyltransferase.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Cytosine'.
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