deoxyribonucleic acid
1
4.2
- noun
- /diˌɑksɪˌraɪboʊˈnjuːkleɪɪk ˈæsɪd/
- Specialized
:
ácido desoxirribonucleico
- DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the genetic material found in all living organisms.
- deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
Examples
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These questions address some very basic concepts: DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the genetic material of virtually all organisms, mutations result in genetic variation, DNA is organized into chromosomes, and so on.
Academic text (2008) -
Scientists do that by developing fingerprints from insect genetic material called DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid.
Academic text (1995) -
Almost 30 states require convicted offenders to provide blood samples for DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, data banks.
Academic text (1994) -
Each cell has a nucleus, and inside every nucleus are strings of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).
Academic text (2007) -
Only with the advent of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-based molecular techniques, however, have researchers been able to look closely at the ecological forces that structure fungal communities.
Academic text (2008) -
The breakthrough in molecular biology that allowed the field of genetic engineering to arise was the discovery that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the complex chemical that carries the genetic blueprint from one generation to another, is identical for every class of organism.
Academic text (1992) -
To prepare samples for the genetic work done at Adams's lab in Utah, he says, they pull the animals out of the soils or sediments and put individuals in a DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) extraction solution that will preserve the DNA.
Academic text (2008) -
While most of the essential genetic information for each bacterium is contained within a single circular deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) strand, bacteria also carry extrachromosomal material in the form of plasmids and transposons.
Academic text (2000) -
deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, carries the genetic information essential for the development of living organisms.
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Inside your cells, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) holds the instructions for building proteins.
Synonyms
897
3.2
A long molecule in cells that carries genetic information for living things
A long chemical in cells that carries information about how living things grow and work
Surface Forms
Morphology
deoxyribonucleic + acid
The phrase is compositionally clear in scientific terms: it names an ‘acid’ modified by a technical descriptor meaning a nucleic (nucleus-related) ribose molecule lacking oxygen. However, the modifier 'deoxyribonucleic' is a complex, domain-specific concatenation of morphemes (deoxy-, ribo-, nucleic) that a B1 learner is unlikely to know or parse, so the overall meaning is not fully predictable without prior exposure or subject knowledge.
Etymology
Deoxyribonucleic acid comes from its parts: deoxy means 'without oxygen', ribo refers to the sugar ribose, nucleic points to the cell 'nucleus', and acid shows it is a chemical acid. So the name describes a chemical in the cell nucleus with a sugar missing one oxygen, and that is why it refers to the molecule that 'carries genetic information'.