The sugar-phosphate backbone forms the structural framework of nucleic acids, including DNA and RNA. This backbone is composed of alternating sugar and phosphate groups, and defines directionality ...

In DNA, 2-deoxy-D-ribose molecules link together through phosphate groups to form a sugar-phosphate backbone. This backbone provides the structural framework for DNA, holding the nitrogenous bases ...

Combinations of these atoms form the sugar-phosphate backbone of the DNA -- the sides of the ladder, in other words. Other combinations of the atoms form the four bases: thymine (T), adenine (A ...

The double-stranded DNA that results from this pattern of bonding looks much like a ladder with sugar-phosphate side supports and base-pair rungs. Note that because the two polynucleotides that ...