Primary structure

In biochemistry, the primary structure of a biological molecule is the exact specification of its atomic composition and the chemical bonds connecting those atoms (including stereochemistry). For a typical unbranched, un-crosslinked biopolymer (such as a molecule of DNA, RNA or typical intracellular protein), the primary structure is equivalent to specifying the sequence of its monomeric subunits, e.g., the nucleotide or peptide sequence. The term "primary structure" was first coined by Linderstrom-Lang in his 1951 Lane Medical Lectures. Primary structure is sometimes mistakenly termed primary sequence, but there is no such term, as well as no parallel concept of secondary or tertiary sequence.