DNA_RNA

DNA is the genetic material of all cellular organisms.

Cytosine, a nucleotide
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the material substance of inheritance. All cellular organisms use
DNA to encode and store their genetic information. DNA is a chemical compound that
resembles a long chain, with the links in the chain made up of individual chemical units
called nucleotides. The nucleotides themselves have three components: a sugar
(deoxyribose), phosphate,
and
a nucleobase (frequently
just
called
a
base).
The bases come in four chemical forms known as adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine,
which are frequently simply abbreviated as A, C, G and T. The order, or sequence, of bases
encodes the information in DNA.

DNA double helix

All living organisms store DNA in a safe, stable, duplex form: the famous double helix, in
which two chains (also known as strands) of DNA wrap around each other. The two DNA
strands are arranged with the bases from one lining up with the bases of the other. The sugar and
phosphate components run up the outside like curving rails, with the matched bases forming
ladder-like rails in the center. (Note some viruses have their genetic material in the form of a
single strand of DNA).

Nucleotide Base Pairing

The shape and charge of the bases cause A to bond weakly to T, and C to bond weakly to G. The
bases from one strand of a DNA helix are in essence a mirror image of the bases in the other
strand when there is an A in one strand there is a T in the other; when there is a C in one
strand there is a G in the other. These base pairing rules are the key to understanding how
DNA carries information and is copied into a new DNA strand (a cell must copy its DNA before
it divides into two cells). When organisms copy their genomes,enzymes separate the two strands
of the double helix, pulling apart the paired bases. Other enzymes start new DNA strands, using
the base pairing rules to make a new mirror image of each of the original strands. Mistakes in
this process can lead to mutations (changes in the genomic sequence between generations).
Many organisms possess error checking mechanisms that scan through the newly replicated
DNA for mistakes and correct them, thus greatly limiting the number of mutations that arise due
to replication errors.

2. RNA carries information

DNA holds information, but it generally does not actively apply that information. DNA does
notmake things. To extract the information and get it to the location of cellular machinery that
can carry out its instructions (usually the blueprints for a protein, as we will see below) the DNA

code is transcribed into a corresponding sequence in a carrier molecule called ribonucleic

acid, or RNA. The portions of DNA that are transcribed into RNA are called genes.

DNA is transcribed to RNA

RNA is very similar to DNA. It resembles a long chain, with the links in the chain made up of
individual nucleotides. The nucleotides in RNA, as in DNA, are made up of three components
a sugar, phosphate, and a base. The sugar in RNA is ribose instead of the more stable
dexoyribose in DNA, which helps to make RNA both more flexible and less durable.
As in DNA, in RNA the bases come in four chemical forms, and the information in RNA is
encoded in the sequence in which these bases are arranged. As in DNA, in RNA one finds
adenine (A), cytosine (C), and guanine (G). However, in RNA uracil (abbreviated U) takes the
place of thymine (T) (the switch allows RNA some special properties that we wont go into here,
at the cost of making it less stable than DNA). Cells make RNA messages in a process similar to
the replication of DNA. The DNA strands are pulled apart in the location of the gene to be

transcribed, and enzymes create the messenger RNA from the sequence of DNA bases using the
base pairing rules.

3. RNA molecules made in a cell are used in a variety of ways.

For our purposes here, there are three key types of RNA: messenger RNA, ribosomal RNA, and
transfer RNA. Messenger RNA (mRNA) carries the instructions for making proteins. Like
DNA, proteins are polymers: long chains assembled from prefab molecular units, which, in the
case of proteins, are amino acids. A large molecular machine* called the ribosome translates the
mRNA code and assembles the proteins. Ribosomes read the message in mRNA in three letter
words called codons, which translate to specific amino acids, or an instruction to stop making
the protein. Each possible three letter arrangement of A,C,U,G (e.g., AAA, AAU, GGC, etc) is a
specific instruction, and the correspondence of these instructions and the amino acids is known
as thegenetic code. Though exceptions to or variations on the code exist, the standard genetic
code holds true in most organisms.

mRNA codons
Ribosomes are found in all cellular organisms and they are incredibly similar in their structure
and function across all of life. In fact, the extreme similarity of ribosomes across all of life is
one of the lines of evidence that all life on the planet is descended from a common ancestor.

*Biologists often refer to proteins, especially large complexes of proteins, that move, turn, lever,
or generally use energy to perform work, as machines. Biologists do not mean to imply that
such molecules are designed. Machine is a useful metaphor for such functions, and simpler
and more illuminating than complex of large molecules that translates chemically stored energy
into moving parts.

4.
Ribosomes
make
proteins
using
ribosomal
RNA
(rRNA).
The ribosome reads the instructions found in the messenger RNA molecules in a cell and builds
proteins from these mRNAs by chemically linking together amino acids (these are the building
blocks of proteins) in the order defined by the mRNA. Messenger RNA molecules are longer
than the encoded protein sequence instructions, and include instructions to the ribosome to
start and stop building the protein. Within any particular organism, there can be hundreds to
thousands to tens of thousands of distinct mRNAs that lead to distinct proteins. The diversity of
form and function in organisms is determined in a large part by the types of proteins made as
well as the regulation of where and when these proteins are made.
The ribosome that converts mRNA into proteins is large and complex. It has more than fifty
proteins (the exact number varies by species) in two major subunits (known generally as the
large and small subunit). In addition to proteins, each subunit includes special RNA molecules,
known as ribosomal RNAs (rRNA) because they function in the ribosome. They do not carry
instructions for making a specific protein (i.e., they are not messenger RNAs) but instead are an
integral part of the ribosome machinery that is used to make proteins from mRNAs. For more
information on ribosomal RNA, see here. For information on how we use ribosomal RNA
sequences in evolutionary studies, and environmental sampling go here.

Transfer RNA (tRNA)

Ribosomes do not read the instructions present in mRNA directly they need help from yet
another type of RNA in cells. Transfer RNAs (tRNA) couple amino acids to their RNA codes.
Each codon is supposed to be converted into either a specific amino acid in a protein or a specific
instruction to the ribosome (e.g., start, stop, pause, etc). At one end, a transfer RNA presents a
three-base codon. At the other, it grasps the corresponding amino acid. Transfer RNAs read,
or translate, the messenger RNA through base pairing, the chemical attraction of A for T and C
for G, just as the RNA sequence is transcribed from DNA by base pairing. The ribosome acts
like a giant clamp, holding all of the players in position, and facilitating both the pairing of bases
between the messenger and transfer RNAs, and the chemical bonding between the amino acids.
The making of proteins by reading instructions in mRNA is generally known as translation.