"salt of DNA"

[steve9191]

"We wish to suggest a structure for the salt of deoxyribose nucleic acid (D.N.A.)."

As a non-scientific writer, when I ran across this quote I was a little confused. I know that DNA is an acid, I just can't figure out how salt got into the picture. Through Google searches, I tried to get answers to my questions about this quote, but have been largely unsuccessful. If anybody here would be kind enough to help out a scientific "outsider", I sure would be grateful.

Is it accurate to say that DNA is a salt, or is it more accurate to say that DNA contains/produces salt? Does salt, somehow, have an impact on the functioning of DNA?

Thanks, Steve

[blcr11]

The phosphates of the DNA polymer are negatively charged. They will bind a cation as a counterion to achieve electroneutrality--usually Na+ or K+. That makes the polymer a "salt" of [Na+]x[DNA-].

[steve9191]

Super. Thanks!