DNA Structure

By Joshua Rosenberg

 DNA is the hereditary material of life This molecule carries the instructions

Introduction

needed to make all living organisms

Introduction
The four Molecules that are very important

to life 1.Lipids 2.Proteins 3.Carbohydrates 4.Nucleic acids DNA is composed of Nucleic Acids

Introduction
In DNA, the Nucleic Acids are found in the

form of a molecule called a Nucleotide

Tell me more, please!

Composition
Remember that the Nucleotide is the basic

building block (Monomer) of DNA

Structure
So, a molecule of DNA is

made up of millions of subunits called Nucleotides Those subunits are the genetic code! The structure of DNA is of 2 strands arranged into a Double Helix

Structure
Each nucleotide consists of three parts:
1.P 2.D 3.A, T, C, G

Structure
Each nucleotide consists of three parts:
1.Phosphate group 2.Deoxyribose sugar 3.Nitrogenous base

The three parts of a Nucleotide

Phosphat e

Nitrogenou s Base Sugar

Structure
And the structure of DNA

is of 2 strands arranged into a Double Helix

The Backbone and the Bases

The phosphate and deoxyribose sugar (P &

D) form the backbone of the DNA molecule The nitrogen bases (A, T, C, G) form the rungs of the ladder

Nucleotides
There are four distinct types of Nucleotides Adenine (A) Thymine (T) Cytosine (C) Guanine (G)

Nucleotides
A T

Adenine

Thymine

Cytosine

Guanine

Nucleotides
Each base will only bond with one

other specific base.

Adenine (A) Thymine (T) Cytosine (C) Guanine (G)

Form a base pair. Form a base pair.

DNA Structure
Because of this complementary base

pairing, the order of the bases in one strand determines the order of the bases in the other strand

A C T C A G T

T G A G T C A

DNA Structure
To crack the genetic code found in

DNA we need to look at the sequence of bases.

The bases are arranged in triplets

called codons. AGG-CTC-AAG-TCC-TAG TCC-GAG-TTC-AGG-ATC

What do I need to know?

DNA is the hereditary material DNA contains the instructions for all living

organisms A DNA molecule is composed of many tiny Nucleic Acids called Nucleotides

What do I need to know?

The Nucleotide has three parts Phosphate (P) Deoxyribose Sugar (D) Nitrogenous Base (A, T, C, G) The bases are complimentary and pair-up A-T C-G

Looking Ahead
Each triplet of nitrogenous bases is known

as one codon Each codon encodes one amino acid

Looking Ahead
DNA to RNA is called transcription RNA to Protein is called translation