DNA: The Blueprints of Life

DNA stands for DeoxyriboNucleic Acid; it is essentially the molecular blueprint of any living organism responsible for transmitting hereditary material and genetic information.

Our Genome is written across 46 chromosomes i.e. 23 pairs. Out of these, 22 pairs are called autosomes which look the same in both females and males.

The 23rd pair called allosome, the sex chromosome (XX or XY) is different in men and women. This last pair is what determines the biological sex of a person.

Double Helix refers to the molecular structure of a double stranded DNA molecule which is composed of two complimentary linear strands twisting around each other like a spiral ladder.

There are 4 different types of bases that make up the nucleotide: adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C) and guanine (G).

James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the double helix structure of DNA in 1953 for which they won a Noble Prize in Physiology along with Maurice Wilkins in 1962.

Swiss biologist Johannes Friedrich Miescher recognized and identified DNA for the first time in the year 1869.

Adenine always bonds with Thymine and Cytosine always bonds with Guanine to form a base pair in a DNA. We can look at them as being pieces in a puzzle that fit only with the right piece. Hence connecting A-T and C-G.

Every human being on this planet shares about 99.9% of their DNA. What makes us all different and unique from each other is the remaining 0.1%.

A genetic mutation is a change in the DNA sequence caused due to mistakes made during the coping of the DNA for cell division or due to external environmental factors. Cancer is the most common type of mutation in humans.

Information or instruction in a strand of DNA is transcribed into a new molecule mRNA which is responsible for making specific types of proteins.

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