DNA Model

DNA-

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms

The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information.

DNA is often compared to a set of blueprints, like a recipe or a code, since it contains the instructions needed to construct other components of cells, such as proteins and RNA molecules.

The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in regulating the use of this genetic information.

DNA consists of two long polymers of simple units called nucleotides, with backbones made of sugars and phosphate groups joined by ester bonds.

These two strands run in opposite directions to each other and are therefore anti-parallel.

Attached to each sugar is one of four types of molecules called bases.

It is the sequence of these four bases along the backbone that encodes information. This information is read using the genetic code, which specifies the sequence of the amino acids within proteins.

The code is read by copying stretches of DNA into the related nucleic acid RNA, in a process called transcription.

Within cells, DNA is organized into long structures called chromosomes.

These chromosomes are duplicated before cells divide, in a process called DNA replication.

Eukaryotic organisms (animals, plants, fungi, and protists) store most of their DNA inside the cell nucleus and some of their DNA in organelles, such as mitochondria or chloroplasts.

In contrast, prokaryotes (bacteriaand archaea) store their DNA only in the cytoplasm.

TQ Courtesy from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA

DNA model in Bio Lab
The Form 4 girls are learning about DNA in Chapter 4: Chemical Composition..

I'm using the activity ,which idea was extracted from BioTech symposium attended last year !!
Using 4 different colours of straws to represent 4 different nitrogenous bases...

Girls joined their group DNA to form a longer chain !!
Individual DNA was merged to become a long one!
a nice double helix !!