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Genetics & Biotechnology vocabulary · DNA, Genes and Chromosomes

Base pair

Meaning in genetics & biotechnology, with examples

nounCore term

In genetics & biotechnology, base pair means: Two bases on opposite DNA strands that are held together: A pairs with T, and G pairs with C. It is also the standard unit for measuring the length of DNA.

In Turkish: baz çifti

How it is used

Used whenever people talk about DNA size. The abbreviation is bp; larger units are kb (kilobase, 1,000 bp) and Mb (megabase, one million bp). You write 'a 300 bp product' and say 'three hundred base pairs' or 'three hundred bee-pee'.

Example sentences

  1. The deletion removes about 1,200 base pairs from intron 4.

  2. Each base pair is held together by hydrogen bonds.

Common collocations

  • base pair (bp)
  • kilobase (kb)
  • base pairing
  • a 500-base-pair fragment
  • nucleotideThe basic building block of DNA and RNA, made of a sugar, a phosphate group and one of four bases. Long chains of nucleotides form a DNA or RNA strand.
  • DNADeoxyribonucleic acid: the long, double-stranded molecule that stores the genetic instructions of almost all living things, written in four chemical bases: A, T, G and C.
  • double helixThe shape of a DNA molecule: two strands twisted around each other like a spiral staircase, with the bases forming the steps in the middle.
  • deletionA type of mutation in which part of the DNA sequence is lost, from a single base to a large section of a chromosome.

More terms: DNA, Genes and Chromosomes

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