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DNA Essay

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DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid and ribonucleic acid are two chemical substances involved in transmitting genetic information from parent to offspring. It was known early into the 20th century that chromosomes, the genetic material of cells, contained
DNA. In 1944, Oswald T. Avery, Colin M. MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty concluded that DNA was the basic genetic component of chromosomes. Later, RNA would be proven to regulate protein synthesis. (Miller, 139)

DNA is the genetic material found in most viruses and in all cellular organisms.
Some viruses do not have DNA, but contain RNA instead. Depending on the organism, most DNA is found within a single chromosome like bacteria, or in several chromosomes like most other living things. (Heath, 110) …show more content…

(Grolier Encyclopedia, 1992)
DNA does not act directly in the process of protein synthesis because it does not leave the nucleus, so a special ribonucleic acid is used as a messenger
(mRNA). The mRNA carries the genetic information from the DNA in the nucleus out to the ribosomes in the cytoplasm during transcription. (Miller, 76)

This leads to the topic of replication. When DNA replicates, the two strands of the double helix separate from one another. While the strands separate, each nitrogenous base on each strand attracts it’s own complement, which as mentioned earlier, attaches with hydrogen bonds. As the bases are bonded an enzyme called
DNA polymerase combines the phosphate of one nucleotide to the deoxyribose of the opposite nucleotide.

This forms a new polynucleotide chain. The new DNA strand stays attached to the old one through the hydrogen bonds, and together they form a new DNA double helix molecule. (Heath, 119) (Miller, 144-145)

As mentioned before, DNA molecules are involved in a process called protein synthesis. Without RNA, this process could not be completed. RNA is the genetic material of some viruses. RNA molecules are like DNA. They have a long chain of macromolecules made up of nucleotides. Each RNA nucleotide is also made up of three basic parts. There is a sugar called ribose, and at one end of the sugar is the phosphate group, and at the other end is one of several nitrogenous bases.
There are four main nitrogenous bases found in

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