Deoxyribonucleic Acid
DNA. huh. What is it good for? Actually alot of things.
By : Dawson Wakefield
Deoxyribonucleic Acid
DeoxyribonucleIc Acid, also known as DNA, is the hereditary material in all organisms. DNA is mostly located in the cell nucleus, but small amounts of it can be found in the mitochondria. DNA is made up of Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, and Guanine, as well as sugars and phosphates. DNA's structure is a double helix.
DNA double helix with Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine, and Thymine.
Human DNA structure.
DNA replicating.
BBC Knowledge Explainer DNA
What does it do?
DNA controls the structures and functions for the entire body. Heredity is the passing of traits from parent to offspring. This is the reason you look like your parents. Heritable traits are passed from parent to child via DNA. DNA replication is the process by which two identical replicas are produced by one original DNA strand. Protein production is the creation of new proteins. The accurate synthesis is critical to the proper functioning of cells and organisms.
What is RNA?
RNA is a nucleic acid that is present in all living cells. Its main role is to carry instructions from DNA for controlling protein synthesis. There are three different types of RNA, mRNA, tRNA, and rRNA. mRNA encodes amino acid sequences, tRNA transports amino acids to ribosomes during translation, and rRNA makes up the ribosomes.