Lu+Yi

__//**WARNING NOTE: The below is written in note format. For extended information, sources, and/or definitions, please scroll down to the next set of red letters**//__

__**DNA**__ DNA is a deoxyribonucleic acid that carries genetic information from parent to offspring. DNA is found in the nucleus of a cell.
 * Question 1: What is DNA and where is it found?**

DNA is shaped in a spiral ladder, or double helix.
 * Question 2: What is its structure and what is it made from?**



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__**DNA**__ **Question 1: What is DNA and where is it found?**

Figure 1.1 __DNA__ - Deoxyribonucleic acid; the genetic material that carries information about an organism and is passed from parent to offspring.
 * __DEFINITIONS OF DNA:__**
 * Prentice Hall glossary definition:**

__DNA__ - Deoxyribonucleic acid, a self-replicating material present in nearly all living organisms as te main constituentof chromosomes. It is the carrier of genetic information.
 * Computer definition:**

__**WHERE DNA IS FOUND**__ Figure 1.2 DNA is found inside a special area of the cell called the nucleus. Because the cell is very small, and because organisms have many DNA molecules per cell, each DNA molecule must be tightly packaged. This packaged form of the DNA is called a chromosome. Researches refer to DNA found in the cell's nucleus as nuclear DNA. An organism's complete set of nuclear DNA is called its genome.
 * Genome.gov (not all text):**


 * Abpischools.org.uk (complete content without visuals of one animation ONLY):**

__Cells__: Cells are the basic building blocks of all living things. The bulk of a human cells is made from cytoplasm and in the center is the nucleus. __Nucleus__: Inside the nucleus of nearly all types of cell are chromosomes. The nucleus of human cell contains 23 pairs of chromosomes. __Chromosomes__: The chromosomes contain the genes that carry the information that determines a person's characteristics. Each chromosome consists of one piece of DNA about 4 cm long. __Coils of Coils__: A Chromosome is about 0.004mm long. To fit inside, the 4cm piece of DNA is squasher by a factor of 10 000. It twists into a string, which forms into clumps. These coil up like a snake to fit inside the chromosome. __Coils of DNA__: The single piece of DNA molecule winds itself around special proteins to form into very tight coils like a string. __DNA molecule__: The genes are made from a sequence of bases on DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). The DNA molecule is made from two strands twisted together in a double helx. The links between each strand are called bases. Figure 1.3 __(The above is a rotating gif. of two strands of DNA [red] connected in the middle with bases [blue])__

http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/basics/dna Prentice Hall: pg 97-103 http://www.genome.gov/25520880 Figure 1.1 - http://blogs-images.forbes.com/daviddisalvo/files/2011/11/DNA.jpg Figure 1.2 - http://homepage.smc.edu/hgp/images/cell-to-DNA.jpeg Figure 1.3 - https://fcserver.nvnet.org/~casimiro/S0543D461.12/dna.gif
 * Sources:**


 * Question 2: What is its structure and what is it made from?**


 * __DNA STRUCTURE and SUBSTANCE__**


 * __STRUCTURE:__**

Figure 2.1 Each molecule of DNA consists of two strands coiled around each other to form a double helix, a structure like a spiral ladder. Each rung of the ladder consists of a pair of chemical grounds called bases (of which there are four types), which combine in specific pairs so that the sequence of one strand of a double helix is complementary to that on the other. It is the specific sequence of bases that constitutes thegenetic information. __(The above is suspected to be from Wikipedia.)__
 * Computer definition (simple explanation, no substance mentioned) WARNING: SUSPECTED UNRELIABLE SOURCE:**

Figure 2.2 Each rung is made up of a pair of molecules called nitrogen bases. Nitrogen bases are molecules that contain the element nitrogen and other elements. DNA has four kinds of nitrogen bases: adenine (//AH uh need//), thymine (//THY meen//), guanine (//GWAH need//), and cytosine (//SY tuh seen//). The capital letters A, T, G, and C are used to represent the four bases. The bases in a gene are arranged in a specific order - for example, ATGACGTAC. A single gene on a chromosome may contain anywhere from several hundred to a million or more of these bases. Each gene is located at a specific place on a chromosome.
 * __SUBSTANCE__**
 * Prentice Hall page 61 and 98 combined (not all text):**

DNA is made of chemical building blocks called nucleotides. These building blocks are made of three parts: a phosphate group group, a sugar group and one of four types of nitrogen bases. To form a strand of DNA, nucleotides are linked into chains, with the phosphate and sugar groups alternating. The order, or sequence, of the nitrogen bases determines what boilogixal instructions are contained in a strand of DNA. Each DNA sequence that contains instructions to make a protein is known as a gene. The size of a gene may vary greatly, ranging from about 1, 000 bases to 1 million bases in humans.
 * Genome.gov (not all text):**

Prentice Hall page 61 (without the nice picture) http://www.genome.gov/25520880 Figure 2.1 - http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/basics/dna Figure 2.2 - http://dna.microbiologyguide.com/s/10002/pics/dnabases.gif
 * Sources:**

__**SPLITTING A DNA**__ **(Cookies for Hanzhe and Julia):**

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