Everything in our body has carbon in it, from our bones to our muscles to our neuroreceptors. It might be hard to understand what makes carbon so important for life, but it turns out that carbon is the ultimate building block. It can connect with other elements in almost infinite ways to generate all the different molecules needed to create a living cell. Carbon’s versatility enables the construction of a miraculous molecule inside nearly every living cell: DNA.

Our DNA is one of the most complex molecules in the entire universe. Billions of carbon atoms combine to help hold it together, forming a beautifully tangled formation that contains the instructions manual for life in every facet that makes you, you. While DNA requires several different elements to function, carbon provides the core framework because of its unique chemical versatility. Some of its key roles in DNA can be summarized as follows:

Backbone

The structural rails of the DNA ladder are made of an alternating sugar and phosphate group. The sugar in DNA is deoxyribose, which is a ring of five carbon atoms.

Information Storage

The rungs of the DNA ladder are made of four nitrogenous bases (adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine). These are all complex carbon-ring structures that string together to form the “alphabet” of your genetic code.

Bonding Power

Carbon has the unique ability to form up to four stable covalent bonds simultaneously, enabling it to link into long, intricate chains and form the complex macromolecules such as proteins necessary for life.

All the above descriptions don’t just apply to us humans; DNA is at the heart of almost every living cell that ever existed, from plants to the largest mammals. And none of this would be possible without carbon.