DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a molecule that encodes the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and many viruses. Most DNA molecules consist of two bio polymer strands coiled around each other to form a double helix. The two DNA strands are known as polynucleotides since they are composed of simpler units called nucleotides. Each nucleotide is composed of a nitrogen-containing nucleobase which are guanine, adenine, thymine, or cytosine. There are also monosaccharide sugar called deoxyribose and a phophate group. The nucleotides are joined to one another in a chain by covalent bonds between the sugar of one nucleotide and the phosphate of the next resulting in an alternating sugar-phosphate backbone. Hydrogen bonds bind the nitrogenous bases of the two separate polynucleotide strands to make double-stranded DNA.
DNA is a biological information storage. The both strands of the double-stranded structure store the same biological information.
Thank you James Watson and Francis Crick for your effort of discovering the molecular structure of the DNA and its significance for information transfer in living material.
Resources: Wikipedia, Dr.Ninaber
Interesting facts about DNA
- If you unwrap all of the DNA you have in all your cells, you could reach the moon 6000 times.
- 99,9% of our DNA sequence is the same as other humans... So, 0,1% DNA difference makes us different!
Resources: holykaw.alltop.com, sciencecentres.org.uk
Sujin Kang
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