DNA
- Carbon,Nitrogen,Phosphorus,Oxygen,andHydrogen
-Adoublehelixformedfromtwocomplementarystrandsofnucleotidesheldtogetherbyhydrogenbonds
betweeng-candA-tbasepairs.DuplicationofgeneticinformationoccursbyusingoneDNAstrandasa
templateforformingacomplementarystrand.
-Deoxyribonucleicacid=DNA
-Adenine(A),Thymine(T),Guanine(G),andCytosine©
-Nucleotideparts=Asugar,andnitrogenousbase,Andaphosphategroup
Phosphategroup:Thephosphategroupisamoleculethatconsistsofonephosphorusatombondedtofour
oxygenatoms.Itplaysacrucialroleinvariousbiologicalprocesses,particularlyinthestructureand
functionofnucleicacids(DNAandRNA)andincellularenergytransferthroughmoleculeslikeATP
(adenosinetriphosphate).
-DNAcontainstheinstructionsneededforanorganismtodevelop,survive, andreproduce
-TheyhaveDNAastheirgeneticmaterial=plants,animals,bacteria,andfungi
-TheDNAinprokaryotesiscontainedinacentralareaofthecellcalledthenucleoid,whichisnot
surroundedbyanuclearmembrane.
-fortheeukaryotecells,itisthenucleus
-ThefourbasesthatmakeuptherungsoftheDNAladderareAdenine(A),Thymine(T),Guanine(G),and
Cytosine(C).
ItisimportantthatweakhydrogenbondsholdthestrandstogetherintheDNAdoublehelixbecausethese
weakbondsallowtheDNAtounzipandreplicateeasilyduringprocessessuchasDNAreplicationand
proteinsynthesis.Ifthebondsweretoostrong,itwouldbedifficultfortheDNAtoseparateandcarry
outtheseessentialbiologicalprocesses.
-ThreescientistswhosignificantlycontributedtothediscoveryofthestructureofDNAareJames
Watson,FrancisCrick,andRosalindFranklin.
-JamesWatsonandFrancisCrickarecreditedwithdiscoveringthedoublehelixstructureofDNAin
1953.Their modelrevealedthatDNAismadeupoftwostrandsthattwistaroundeachotherinaspiral,
formingadoublehelix.
, - RosalindFranklin,abiophysicist,madecriticalcontributionstotheunderstandingofDNA's
structurethrough herX-raydiffractionimagesofDNA,whichprovidedkeyinsightsintothehelical
structureofDNAstrands.
-DNA:Deoxyribonucleicacid,amoleculethatcarriesthegeneticinstructionsusedinthegrowth,
development,functioning,andreproductionofallknownlivingorganismsandmanyviruses.
D oublehelix:Thestructureformedbydouble-strandedmoleculesofnucleicacidssuchasDNA.Itconsists
oftwohelicalpolynucleotidestrandscoilingaroundacommonaxis.
N ucleotide:ThebasicbuildingblockofnucleicacidssuchasDNA.Itconsistsofaphosphategroup,a
five-carbonsugar(deoxyriboseinDNA),andanitrogenousbase.
P hosphate:Amoleculethatconsistsofonephosphorusatombondedtofouroxygenatoms.Itplaysa
crucialroleinvariousbiologicalprocesses,particularlyinthestructureandfunctionofnucleicacids
andincellularenergytransfer.
5-carbonsugar:Thesugarcomponentofanucleotide,whichinthecaseofDNAisdeoxyribose.
N itrogenousbase:Anitrogen-containingmoleculethathasthesamechemicalpropertiesasabase.In
DNA,thenitrogenousbasesareadenine,thymine,guanine,andcytosine.
G eneticmaterial:Thematerialofwhichthegenesarecomposed.Inlivingorganisms,geneticmaterial
isusuallyDNA,butinsomevirusesitisRNA.
C hromatin:Thematerialofwhichthechromosomesoforganismsarecomposed.ItconsistsofDNAand
associatedproteins.
P rokaryote:Atypeofcellthatdoesnothaveanucleusorothermembrane-boundorganelles.DNAin
prokaryoticcellsiscontainedinacentralareaofthecellcalledthenucleoid.
E ukaryote:Atypeofcellthathasanucleusandothermembrane-boundorganelles.Ineukaryoticcells,
DNAislocatedwithinthenucleus.