DNA The Substance of Inheritance
DNA Outcomes
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List the molecules that make up nucleotides.
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Describe DNA structure, including how the nucleotides come together to make a larger DNA macromolecule.
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Explain why the spiraling shape of DNA is significant.
Chromosomes contain DNA, and DNA is the substance of heredity that is passed from one generation to the next in eggs and sperm.
Explaining how DNA could code for the complexity of life is one of the most significant breakthroughs of the twentieth century.
DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. Deoxyribose refers to a type of sugar in the large DNA macromolecule, and nucleic acids indicate that there are also four different types of base molecules (adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine). DNA also contains phosphate molecules.
A single sugar, a single phosphate, and a single base come together to form a nucleotide. These nucleotides connect to make to large DNA macromolecule.
From lecture, what did Rosalind Franklin\’s work suggest about the structure of DNA?
An effective way to learn the structure of DNA is to use a model. The model does not need tp be expensive or elaborate, it just needs to include the key components of a structure.
Here Mark uses a model to construct DNA from its smaller molecules.
Models are essential in representing concepts that are otherwise difficult to visualize.
Check your knowledge. Can you:
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list the molecules that make up nucleotides?
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describe DNA structure, including how the nucleotides come together to make a larger DNA macromolecule?
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explain why the spiral shape of DNA is significant?