In the natural world the elemental form of phosphorus is never encountered. It is only seen as phosphate, and phosphate is essential to life for numerous reasons. It is part of DNA, and also ...
Hemoglobin needs iron to help transfer oxygen from the lungs to the blood, but it also needs phosphorus. The molecule 2,3-diphosphoglycerate, which contains phosphorus, works alongside iron to ...
This backbone is composed of alternating sugar and phosphate groups, and defines directionality of the molecule. DNA and RNA are composed of nucleotides that are linked to one another in a chain ...