Notation
What base is most commonly modified in RNA?
Nucleic acid sequence
While A, T, C, and G represent a particular nucleotide at a position, there are also letters that represent ambiguity which are used when more than one kind of nucleotide could occur at that position. The rules of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) are as follows: A = adenine C = cytosine G = guanine T = thymine R = G A (purine) Y = T C (pyrimidine) K = G T (keto) M = A C (amino) S = G C (strong bonds) W = A T (weak bonds) B = G T C (all but A) D = G A T (all but C) H = A C T (all but G) V = G C A (all but T) N = A G C T (any) These symbols are also valid for RNA, except with U (uracil) replacing T (thymine). Apart from adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), thymine (T) and uracil (U), DNA and RNA also contain bases that have been modified after the nucleic acid chain has been formed. In DNA, the most common modified base is 5-methylcytidine (m5C). In RNA, there are many modified bases, including pseudouridine (Ψ), dihydrouridine (D), inosine (I), ribothymidine (rT) and 7-methylguanosine (m7G). Hypoxanthine and xanthine are two of the many bases created through mutagen presence, both of them through deamination (replacement of the amine-group with a carbonyl-group). Hypoxanthine is produced from adenine, xanthine from guanine. Similarly, deamination of cytosine results in uracil.