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The Dna And Its Structure

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Genes hold biological information that must be copied accurately for transmission to the next generation. Before the DNA double helix was discovered two biological question were unanswered: how can information for specifying an organism be carried in chemical form? and how is it accurately copied? It was not until the 20th century when the DNA molecule was discovered and suggested answers to both these questions. (Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, et al, 2002) With the help of many scientists we now know exactly what the DNA molecule is, its structure, and its function. The knowledge gained throughout the years on DNA has allowed many things such as that of genetic genealogy. Knowing the structure of the DNA is what has helped/continues …show more content…

This is the molecule that contains the biological instructions that make each species unique. (Deoxyribonucleic Acid DNA, 2012) Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the primary chemical component of chromosomes and is the material of which genes are made of. It is also referred to as the “molecule of heredity.” This is because parents transmit copied portions of their own DNA to their offspring during reproduction (The DNA Molecule, n.d.). Before completely understanding DNA it is important to look at the development of the study of DNA throughout the years and finally look at the structure as well as what this knowledge now allows us to do. The information of DNA is not something that scientists and others have always been aware of. The knowledge in which we hold today is somethings that is a product of multiple studies from multiple people who discovered different aspects of the molecule. Such explanations of explorations of DNA are possible because of the many scientists who paved the way. This began almost a century before the Nobel Prize, in 1868, was awarded to James Watson, Franklin Crick, and Maurice Wilkins. It was a young Swiss physician Friedrich Miescher who located something no one had ever seen before from the nuclei of cells. He named this new found compound “nuclei”. Today we refer to this as nucleic acid, the “NA” in DNA. Gregor Mendel, a Czech monk just two

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