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What’s So Special About DNA?

Discover the remarkable abilities of DNA to store and copy information, and how occasional changes and mutations play a crucial role. Explore the structure of DNA, the process of replication, and the impact of mutations on health and evolution.

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What’s So Special About DNA?

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  1. What’s So Special About DNA? DNA is one of the most boring macromolecules imaginable - its made of only four building blocks and has a perfectly monotonous structure. Worse yet, DNA just sits there - it doesn’t catalyze reactions or build the cell or organism. So, what’s so good about DNA? The answer lies in DNA’s ability to store and copy information.

  2. How Can DNA Store and Copy Information? Key properties that allow these neat tricks are that DNA is a: double stranded molecule …. …. held together by complementary bases ….. …… that pair through simple rules. DNA is also capable of occasional change, and occasionally, change is good.

  3. Winners of the Race to Learn DNA’s Structure – Watson and Crick 53 Years Ago

  4. Building DNA Building Blocks

  5. A Nucleotide DNA is Made of Two Long Chains of Nucleotides Joined by Hydrogen Bonds G and C are complementary as are A and T

  6. Two Views of the Double Helix

  7. chromatin This …. …. not this is what’s found in the cell. DNA is Almost Always Wrapped Around Proteins

  8. Complementary Base Pairing Allows Each Strand of DNA to Serve as a Template for DNA Replication DNA is a perfect illustration of function following form (structure dictates function).

  9. DNA Replication – Something Old and Something New In Each Daughter Molecule

  10. Simple As It Is in Principle, DNA Replication Requires Many Enzymes That Work Coordinately DNA polymerases are the first and foremost of the replication enzymes.

  11. Accidents Happen With Some “Accidents” (Base Mismatches) Leading to Mutation A mutation is a heritable change in DNA sequence. Mutations due to replication errors only happen once in every billion replicated nucleotides.

  12. Mutation Some mutation is good, too much is bad. Cells employ elaborate mechanisms to prevent mutation – but the mechanisms aren’t perfect. Mutations are the root cause of cancer (bad). Mutations are the only way to introduce novel alleles into a species (good for evolution). The effects of mutation are usually bad or neutral - only sometimes are mutations beneficial. So, just like Goldilocks – not to hot, not too cold, just right – the optimal rate of new mutation is a balancing act.

  13. DNA Damage is Often the Root Cause of Mutation DNA is chemically altered (i.e. damaged) spontaneously and by chemicals and radiation.

  14. Mutation as Villain Cancerous growths that result from loss of a protein that polices DNA for errors.

  15. Cancer Incidence Increases Sharply with Age The increase is due at least in part to the age-related accumulation of multiple mutations in single cells.

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