Name: Penus, Queen Ivy J.

Section: 10- Einstein

Teacher: Mr. Jandayan
 DNA structure and function
DNA is the information molecule. It stores instructions for making other large

molecules, called proteins. These instructions are stored inside each of your cells,

distributed among 46 long structures called chromosomes. These chromosomes are

made up of thousands of shorter segments of DNA, called genes. Each gene stores

the directions for making protein fragments, whole proteins, or multiple specific

proteins.

DNA is well-suited to perform this biological function because of its molecular

structure, and because of the development of a series of high performance enzymes

that are fine-tuned to interact with this molecular structure in specific ways. The

match between DNA structure and the activities of these enzymes is so effective

and well-refined that DNA has become, over evolutionary time, the universal

information-storage molecule for all forms of life. Nature has yet to find a better

solution than DNA for storing, expressing, and passing along instructions for making

proteins.

The molecular structure of DNA

In order to understand the biological function of DNA, you first need to understand

its molecular structure. This requires learning the vocabulary for talking about the

building blocks of DNA, and how these building blocks are assembled to make DNA

molecules.

DNA molecules are polymers

Polymers are large molecules that are built up by repeatedly linking together

smaller molecules, called monomers. Think of how a freight train is built by linking

lots of individual boxcars together, or how this sentence is built by sticking together

a specific sequence of individual letters (plus spaces and punctuation). In all three

cases, the large structure—a train, a sentence, a DNA molecule—is composed of

smaller structures that are linked together in non-random sequences— boxcars,

letters, and, in the biological case, DNA monomers.

DNA monomers are called nucleotides

Just like a sentence “polymer” is composed of letter “monomers,” a DNA polymer is

composed of monomers called nucleotides. A molecule of DNA is a bunch of

nucleotide monomers, joined one after another into a very long chain.

There are four nucleotide monomers

 The English language has a 24 letter alphabet. In contrast, the DNA “alphabet” has

only four “letters,” the four nucleotide monomers. They have short and easy to

remember names: A, C, T, G. Each nucleotide monomer is built from three simple

molecular parts: a sugar, a phosphate group, and a nucleobase. (Don’t confuse this

use of “base” with the other one, which refers to a molecule that raises the pH of a

solution; they’re two different things.)

The sugar and acid in all four monomers are the

same
All four nucleotides (A, T, G and C) are made by sticking a phosphate group and a

nucleobase to a sugar. The sugar in all four nucleotides is called deoxyribose. It’s a

cyclical molecule—most of its atoms are arranged in a ring-structure. The ring

contains one oxygen and four carbons. A fifth carbon atom is attached to the fourth

carbon of the ring. Deoxyribose also contains a hydroxyl group (-OH) attached to
the third carbon in the ring.

A diagram showing the three main components of a nucleotide: the phosphate

group, the ribose sugar, and the nitrogenous base.

The phosphate group is a phosphorous atom with four oxygen atoms bonded to it.

The phosphorous atom in phosphate has a marked tendency to bond to other

oxygen atoms (for instance, the oxygen atom sticking off the deoxyribose sugar of

another nucleotide).

The four nucleotide monomers are distinguished by

their bases
Each type of nucleotide has a different nucleobase stuck to its deoxyribose sugar.

 A nucleotide contains adenine

 T nucleotide contains thymine

 G nucleotide contains guanine

 C nucleotide contains cytosine

All four of these nucleobases are relatively complex molecules, with the unifying

feature that they all tend to have multiple nitrogen atoms in their structures. For

this reason, nucleobases are often also called nitrogenousbases.

Phosphodiester bonds in DNA polymers connect

the 5’ carbon of one nucleotide to the 3’ carbon of
another nucleotide
The nucleotide monomers in a DNA polymer are connected by strong

electromagnetic attractions called phosphodiester bonds. Phosphodiester bonds are

part of a larger class of electromagnetic attractions between atoms that chemists

refer to as covalent bonds.

In order to keep things organized, biochemists have developed a numbering system

for talking about the molecular structure of nucleotides. These numbers are applied

to the carbon atoms in the sugar, starting at the carbon immediately to the right of

the oxygen in the deoxyribose ring, and continuing in a clockwise fashion: the

numbers range from 1’ (“one prime”), identifying the carbon immediately to the

right of the oxygen) all the way to 5’ (“five prime”), identifying the carbon that

sticks off the fourth and final carbon in the deoxyribose ring.

A diagram showing the carbons on the ribose ring numbered. The phosphate group

is attached to the 5' carbon. The -OH group is attached to the 3' carbon and the

base is attached to the 1' carbon.

The phosphodiester bonds that join one DNA nucleotide to another always link the

5’ carbon of the first nucleotide to the 3’ carbon of the second nucleotide. This

forms a covalent bond between the oxygen sticking off the 3’ carbon of the second

nucleotide, and the phosphorous atom in the phosphate group that sticks off the 5’

carbon of the first nucleotide. These bonds are called 5’-3’ phosphodiester bonds.

Each time nucleotides are bound together, a water molecule is removed (or “lost”)

through a process called dehydration synthesis. Many molecules rely on

dehydration synthesis to assist with forming or breaking down polymers.

A diagram showing how dehydration synthesis is used to make a string of DNA.

Chromosomes are made of two DNA polymers that

stick together via non-covalent hydrogen bonds
Chromosomal DNA consists of two DNA polymers that make up a 3-dimensional (3D)

structure called a double helix. In a double helix structure, the strands of DNA

run antiparallel, meaning the 5’ end of one DNA strand is parallel with the 3’ end of

the other DNA strand.

Diagram showing how the two strands of double stranded DNA runs anti-parallel to

each other. One strand runs in a 3' to 5' direction while the other runs in a 5' to 3'

direction.

The nucleotides forming each DNA strand are connected by noncovalent bonds,

called hydrogen bonds. Considered individually, hydrogen bonds are much weaker

than a single covalent bond, such as a phosphodiester bond. But, there are so many

of them that the two DNA polymers are very strongly connected to each other.

The hydrogen bonds that join DNA polymers happen between certain hydrogen

atoms on one base (called hydrogen bond donors) and certain oxygen or nitrogen

atoms on the base across from it (called hydrogen bond acceptors). Adenine (“A”)

and Thymine (“T”) each have one donor and one acceptor, whereas Cytosine (“C”)

has one donor and two acceptors, and Guanine (“G”) has one acceptor and two

donors.

The A nucleotides are always hydrogen bonded to T nucleotides, and C nucleotides

are always hydrogen bonded to G nucleotides. This selective binding is

called complementary base pairing, and creates consistency in the nucleotide

sequences of the two DNA polymers that join together to make a chromosome. This

was first observed by Erwin Chargaff, who developed methods for counting

nucleotides in DNA samples, and found that the percent of A nucleotides always

equaled the percent of T nucleotides, and the percent of G nucleotides always

equaled the percent of C nucleotides (within a margin of error). Now, we know that

complementary base pairing can be explained by reference to hydrogen bonding

between the donors and acceptors on the bases of each nucleotide: A nucleotides

and T nucleotides have a match (one donor and one acceptor each), and C

nucleotides and G nucleotides have a match (the former has one donor and two

acceptors, while the latter has one acceptor and two donors).

Diagram showing how adenine and thymine base pair while guanine and cytosine

base pair. Adenine and thymine are bound to one another via two hydrogen bonds

while guanine and cytosine are bound to one another via three hydrogen bonds.

The Biological function of DNA

DNA polymers direct the production of other
polymers called proteins
A protein is one or more polymers of monomers called amino acids. Proteins are the

workhorse molecules in your cells. They act as enzymes, structural support,

hormones, and a whole host of other functional molecules. All traits derive from the

interactions of proteins with each other and the surrounding environments.

A chromosome consists of smaller segments called

genes
Chromosomes are very long structures consisting of two DNA polymers, joined

together by hydrogen bonds connecting complementary base pairs. A chromosome

is divided into segments of double-stranded DNA called genes.

Image showing how a chromosome is made up of DNA which contains genes.

Each gene is further divided into three nucleotide

subsegments called codons
A codon is a segment (or piece) of double stranded DNA that is three nucleotides

long. A gene can be thought of as many three-nucleotide codons strung together.

Image showing how each gene is made up codons (aka the A, T, G, and C bases).

Understanding DNA structure and function

Earlier, we compared a DNA polymer to a sentence, and the nucleotide monomers

that make up a polymer to the letters of the alphabet that are used to write

sentences down. Now that we know what genes are, and what codons are, we can

extend this analogy a bit further, and begin to get an insight into how DNA stores

biological information.

If nucleotides are like letters, then codons are like words. Unlike English, where we

use 24 letters to make words of all different lengths and meanings, your cells use

the four DNA nucleotide monomers to make “words”—codons—of just one length:

three nucleotides long. If you do the math, you’ll see that this means that there are

just 64 possible “words” in the DNA language—64 different ways of arranging the

four DNA nucleotides into three-nucleotide-long combinations.

Just like in English, where each word is associated with a dictionary definition, the

codons of the DNA language are each associated with specific amino acids. An

enzyme called a ribosome is programmed to associate each codon in a gene with its

corresponding amino acid during transcription and translation. Just like a human
 reader puts the definitions of words together to arrive at the meaning of a sentence,

a ribosome puts the amino acids referred to by each codon in a gene together,

creating covalent bonds between them to make a protein.

What is DNA?
DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid is a long molecule that contains our unique genetic
code. Like a recipe book it holds the instructions for making all the proteins in our
bodies.

 Your genome? is made of a chemical called deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA for

short.

 DNA contains four basic building blocks or

‘bases?’: adenine? (A), cytosine? (C), guanine? (G) and thymine?(T).

 The order, or sequence, of these bases form the instructions in the genome.

 DNA is a two-stranded molecule.

 DNA has a unique ‘double helix’ shape, like a twisted ladder.

An illustration to show the double helix structure of DNA.

Image credit: Genome Research Limited

 Each strand is composed of long sequences of the four bases, A, C, G and T.

 The bases on one strand of the DNA molecule pair together

with complementary? bases on the opposite strand of DNA to form the ‘rungs’ of the
DNA ‘ladder’.

 The bases always pair together in the same way, A with T, C with G.
 Each base pair is joined together by hydrogen bonds?.

 Each strand of DNA has a beginning and an end, called 5’ (five prime) and 3’
(three prime) respectively.

 The two strands run in the opposite direction (antiparallel) to each other so
that one runs 5’ to 3’ and one runs 3’ to 5’, they are called the sense strand and the
antisense strand, respectively.

 The strands are separated during DNA replication?.

 This double helix structure was first discovered by Francis Crick and James
Watson with the help of Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins.

 The human genome is made of 3.2 billion bases of DNA but other organisms
have different genome sizes.

25 Interesting DNA Facts

DNA stores all information that makes up any organism. That’s quite a lot of information
but what’s interesting about DNA is that it is made of just four building blocks, which are
– cytosine (C), thymine (T), guanine (G) and adenine (A).
There were some ancient viruses that used to infect humans but today, 8% of human
DNA is actually made of those ancient viruses!
Human DNA is 95% identical to the DNA of chimpanzees. That’s quite understandable
but what’s shocking is that human DNA is 50% identical to the DNA of bananas! You read
it correctly! We said BANANAS!
Here is another shocker – cabbages and humans share about 40-50% of identical DNA.
Yeah – cabbages – those that we eat! You know… those green leafy cabbages!
You know what? 1 single gram of DNA is capable of holding an amazing 700 terabytes of
data!
If we want to store all digital information in this world, all we need is 2 grams of DNA.
Human penis once used to be spiny. That’s scary! Luckily that DNA code which made the
penis spiny is lost. Around 700,000 years ago Neanderthals and modern humans got
separate from a common ancestor and that is when the modern humans actually lost
that DNA code. Good for us! Imagine how a woman would feel while performing fellatio
of even penetrative sex!
Scientists have found out that a total of 510 DNA codes have been lost throughout the
process of human evolution.
DNA is present in each and every cell of human body. Each DNA strand is 1.8 meters long
but squeezed into a space of 0.09 micrometers!
If someone manages to unwind all DNA molecules in a human body and place them end
to end, the total length that can be covered is 10 billion miles! That’s the distance
covered in a trip from Earth to Pluto and back to Earth.
The center of our galaxy Milky Way contains molecular precursors of DNA.
The DNA in every cell of human body is damaged 1,000 to 1 million times every single
day. Luckily our body has an elaborate system of repairing those damaged DNAs
constantly. When the repairing mechanism fails events like cellular death or cancer
formation takes place.25 Interesting DNA Facts
Do you really think Columbus was the first person to reach the New World (America)? You
are wrong! This was achieved by Polynesians sometime in 13th century. This is actually
suggested by DNA evidence. There are even stories that Antarctica was first visited by
Polynesians around the year 650 and they describe the place as “a place of bitter cold
where rock-like structures rose from a solid sea“.
It will take 50 years to type the entire human genome if someone types at a speed of 60
wpm (words per minute) and works 8 hours a day!
Mud worms, according to scientists, are the closest genetic relatives we have from the
world of invertebrates. Human DNA is more similar to that of mud worms than other
invertebrates such as cockroaches or octopus.
99.9% of DNA is identical in all humans on this Earth. The remaining 0.1% is what helps
us to differentiate between DNA sequences allowing us to tell which DNA belongs to
whom.
DNA was first discovered in year 1869 by a man named Friedrich Miescher.
It was only in 1943 that scientists became aware of the fact that genetic information is
stored in DNA. Prior to that, it was believed that genetic information was stored in
proteins.

DNA damaged can be caused by Sun’s UV light. Damage may also be caused due to
transcription error. There are various other factors that can cause DNA damage. Our
body is equipped with a mechanism that can reverse these damages but not all damages
can be repaired always. Unrepaired damages are nothing but mutation. This means that
we almost always carry mutations, most of which are bad but some may be good.
According to researches, DNA has a half-life of 521 years. This simply means that the
oldest animal or organism that can be cloned back to life cannot be older than 2 million
years. Thus, replicating dinosaurs is literally impossible because they went extinct 65
million years ago.
If someone undergoes bone marrow transplant, the recipient may or may not have DNA
of the donor. In most cases the recipient will not have foreign DNA.
Orbiting our Earth is a memory device that is known as ‘Immortal Drive’. The device is
actually inside the International Space Station and it contains digitalized DNA sequence
of Lance Armstrong, Stephen Colbert, Stephen Hawking and others. It is actually an
attempt to preserve human race in event of a global catastrophe.
Earth did not have phosphates. Meteors were responsible for bringing reduced
phosphorus earth which then oxidized for form phosphates and thereby creating the
mechanism that generates RNA and DNA.
DNA is capable of replicating or duplicating itself, it is, it is capable of making an identical
copy of itself and this is essential during cell division.
In point 14 we mentioned genome. A genome is nothing but the entire DNA sequence of
an organism. One genome is estimated to have 3,000,000,000 DNA bases. Now a ‘base’
is nothing but a unit of DNA. To simplify even further, a base is a building block of DNA
and there are 4 such building blocks as mentioned in the first point. These bases in turn
pair up together to form genetic codes.