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DNA Base Pairing Rules Fact Check: Is A=T, G=C?

“For dna A = A, e, i, m, q, u, y T = b, f, j, n, r, v, z C = c, g, k, o, s, w G = d, h, l, p, t, x”
Not accurate
Confidence: High Checked on April 28, 2026

Summary

The standard DNA alphabet consists only of the four bases adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T). No reputable scientific source lists the additional letters e, i, m, q, u, y, b, f, j, n, r, v, z, c, g, k, o, s, w, d, h, l, p, t, x as equivalents for the four bases. Therefore, the presented mapping is unsupported and incorrect.

Recheck this fact Runs a fresh check with up-to-date sources

Sources 59 searched

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
medlineplus.gov
  • What is DNA?: MedlinePlus Genetics

    The information in DNA is stored as a code made up of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). Human DNA consists of about 3 billion bases, and more than 99 percent of those bases are the same in all people.

genome.gov
  • ACGT

    ACGT is an acronym for the four types of bases found in a DNA molecule: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T). A DNA molecule consists of two strands wound around each other, with each strand held together by bonds between ...

nature.com
  • Enzymatic synthesis and nanopore sequencing of 12-letter supernumerary DNA | Nature Communications

    Here, we report on strategies for both writing and reading DNA with expanded alphabets composed of up to 12 letters (A, T, G, C, B, S, P, Z, X, K, J, V). For writing, we devise an enzymatic strategy for inserting a singular, orthogonal xenonucleic ...

  • Four new DNA letters double life’s alphabet

    To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. ... Synthetic DNA seems to behave like the natural variety, suggesting that chemicals beyond nature’s four familiar bases could support life on Earth.

sciencedirect.com
  • Detection of alternative DNA structures and its implications for human disease - ScienceDirect

    These molecules can be radiolabeled, associated with fluorophores, or detected by “click” chemistry.140,157,178,179 Importantly, reagents that reportedly stabilize alternative structures, and are therefore utilized as positive controls for specificity or as methods to prove specific structure formation, may also have unexpected activities. For example, the G-quadruplex ligand pyridostatin was shown to poison topoisomerase 2, thereby generating DNA DSBs.180 · With the advent of high-throughput sequencing, the original strategy of mapping single-stranded regions associated with alternative

nij.ojp.gov
  • Archived | DNA - A Prosecutor’s Practice Notebook | Glossary | National Institute of Justice

    Physical evidence that results from the transfer of small quantities of materials (e.g., hair, textile fibers, paint chips, glass fragments, gunshot residue particles). Allowing the passage of light, yet diffusing it so as not to render bodies lying beyond clearly visible; semi-transparent. Illumination which passes through a medium. Having the property of transmitting light, so as to render bodies lying beyond completely visible. A civil or criminal trial in which a jury decides any disputed issues of fact.

nist.gov
  • Nist

    1. Gill, P., Whitaker, J., Flaxman, C., Brown, N., Buckleton, J. (2000) An investigation of the rigor of · interpretation rules for STRs derived from less than 100 pg of DNA. Forensic Science International 112(1): 17- ... 2. Taberlet, P., Griffin, S., Goossens, B., Questiau, S., Manceau, V., Escaravage, N., Waits, L.P.

web.mit.edu
  • Standard Alphabets - MEME Suite

    The protein alphabet contains twenty characters for amino acids 'A', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', 'H', 'I', 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'P', 'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'V', 'W', 'Y' and is augmented by four more ambiguous characters 'X', 'B', 'Z' and 'J'. There are two aliases for the wildcard 'X'; '*' which ...

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