Difference Between Adenine and Guanine

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Difference Between Adenine and Guanine | Definition, Structure, Characteristics

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Difference Between Adenine and Guanine May 17, 2017 • by Lakna • 5 min read

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Main Difference – Adenine vs Guanine Adenine and guanine are two types of nitrogenous bases in nucleic acids. DNA and RNA are the nucleic acids found

HDAC1

inside the cell. Nucleic acids are made up of three major

polyclonal antibody

components: a pentose sugar, nitrogenous base, and a phosphate group. Five types of nitrogenous bases can be found

Validated in ChIP/ChIP-seq, WB, IF and ELISA. Tested in human and mouse. diagenode.com

in nucleic acids. They are adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine and uracil. Both adenine and guanine are purines. Cytosine, thymine, and uracil are pyrimidines. The main difference

between adenine and guanine is that adenine contains an amine group on C6, and an additional double bond between N1 and C6 in its pyrimidine ring whereas guanine contains an amine group on C2 and a carbonyl group on C6 in its pyrimidine ring. This article explains, 1. What is Adenine – Definition, Structure, Characteristics 2. What is Guanine – Definition, Structure, Characteristics 3. What is the difference between Adenine and Guanine

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What is Adenine Adenine is one of the two purines found in nucleic acids. It is attached to the 1′ carbon of the pentose sugar, ribose in RNA and deoxyribose in DNA, in its ninth atom, which is a nitrogen, forming a glycosidic bond. The functional group present in adenine is an amine group. In DNA, the pyrimidine base, thymine forms a complementary base pair with adenine. In RNA, uracil, which is also a pyrimidine base, forms a complementary base pair with adenine. Usually, adenine forms two hydrogen bonds with its complementary nucleotide, either thymine or uracil. The complementary base pairing occurs via hydrogen bonding between the two nitrogenous bases, assisting the stability of the nucleic acid structure. Adenine is shown in figure 1.

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Figure 1: Adenine

Adenine is synthesized in the liver. It is derived from inosine monophosphate (IMP). The synthesis of adenine requires folic acid. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the mostly occurring chemical energy sources, which energizes the cellular processes. ATP contains two high energy phosphates. The cofactors, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) along with ATP are involved in the cellular respiration as carriers of energy from one reaction to the other.

What is Guanine Guanine is the other purine, which occurs in nucleic acids. It is also attached to the 1’carbon of the two types of pentose sugars via a glycosidic bond. Two functional groups are present in Guanine: an amine group on C2 and a carbonyl group on C6. In both DNA and RNA, guanine complementary base pairs with the pyrimidine, cytosine. Three hydrogen bonds are formed between guanine and cytosine.

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Figure 2: Guanine

Guanine is also synthesized via IMP during the de novo synthesis of purine bases. Like ATP, guanine serves as an energy source in protein synthesis as well as gluconeogenesis. GTP plays a vital role in signal transduction as a second messenger. Guanine tautomerization is the interchanging of guanine between the keto and enol functionality through intermolecular proton transfer. Guanine tautomerization is shown in figure 3.

Figure 3: Guanine tautomerization

Difference Between Adenine and Guanine Complementary Base Pairing

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Adenine: Adenine forms complementary base pairs with thymine in DNA and uracil in RNA.


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Guanine: Guanine forms complementary base pairs with cytosine in both DNA and RNA.

Functional Groups Adenine: Adenine contains an amine group on C6 in its pyrimidine ring. Guanine: Guanine contains an amine group on C2 and a carbonyl group on C6 in its pyrimidine ring.

Formula Adenine: Molecular formula of adenine is C5H5N5 . Guanine: Molecular formula of guanine is C5H5N5O.

Molecular Mass Adenine: Molecular mass of adenine is 135.13 g/mol. Guanine: Molecular mass of guanine is 151.13 g/mol.

Solubility in Water Adenine: Solubility in water is 0.103 g/100 mL. Guanine: Guanine is insoluble in water.

Other Functions Adenine: ATP, NAD, and FAD serve as energy carriers. Guanine: GTP serves as a second messenger.

Conclusion Adenine and guanine are purines made up of two rings of nitrogen and carbon atoms. The two rings are formed by a sixmembered pyrimidine ring fusing with a fivemembered imidazole ring. The two rings are fused together, forming a single, flat structure. Both adenine and guanine are formed from the same precursor, IMP. IMP is synthesized from sugars and amino acids in a series of steps in the de novo synthesis. Melting points of both adenine and guanine are the same, which is 360 °C. They differ from the functional groups, which are attached to the purine core of each molecule. Reference:

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1. Fort, Ray. “Structure and properties of purines and pyrimidines.” Purines and Pyrimidines. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 May http://pediaa.com/differencebetweenadenineandguanine/

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2017. . 2. “Structural Biochemistry/Nucleic Acid/Nitrogenous Bases/Purines/Adenine.” Wikibooks, open books for an open world.

N.p.,

n.d.

Web.

14

May

2017.

. 3. “Structural Biochemistry/Nucleic Acid/Nitrogenous Bases/Purines/Guanine.” Wikibooks, open books for an open world.

N.p.,

n.d.

Web.

14

May

2017.

. Image Courtesy: 1. “Adenine numbered” By Adeaminase – Own work (CC BYSA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia 2. “Guanine” by chronoxphya (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr 3. “Guanine” By Mrbean427 – guanine tautaumerization (CC BYSA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia

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About the Author: Lakna Lakna, a graduate in Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, is a Molecular Biologist and has a broad and keen interest in the discovery of nature related things

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