Biology as Poetry: Genetics

Bacteriophage Ecology Group

Base Sequence

Order of specific nucleotides making up an nucleic acid.

The base sequences of nucleic acids tend to differ unless they were templated from the same molecule, and even then can differ as a consequence of mutation. The concept of clone as well as asexual reproduction is the existence of more than one organism with genomes that possess basically the same base sequences.

Genes as well as entire genomes can be compared between different organisms, or even within individual organisms, to ascertain degrees of genetic relatedness. The more similar the associated base sequences, the greater the genetic relatedness and most likely the greater the evolutionary relatedness as well.

Base sequence specifies genotype and, in the guise of RNA, is responsible for generating phenotype. Base sequence is responsible for controlling what RNAs are transcribed in the first place. The universal tree is based upon comparisons of the base sequence specifically of the ribosomal RNA of different organisms.

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