"Phosphorus is essential to all forms of life," said Northwestern's Ludmilla Aristilde, who led the study. "The backbone of DNA contains phosphate. So, all life on Earth, including humans, depends on ...

A new study overturns assumptions about how phosphorus becomes available in soils and sediments for plant growth.

DNA, which stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, resembles a long, spiraling ladder. It consists of just a few kinds of atoms: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Combinations of these ...

Although James Watson and Francis Crick determined the double-helical structure of DNA, DNA itself was identified ... and contained a high percentage of phosphorus. Miescher named this molecule ...

Scientists have uncovered that iron oxides, previously thought to trap phosphorus, actually help convert it into a ...

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 ...