DNA Explained: Structure And Function

DNA is the information molecule that stores instructions for developing large molecules known as proteins. Each of these cells stores instructions, which, in turn, gets distributed amongst chromosomes that have 46-long structures. Around thousands of short DNA segments known as genes come together to make such chromosomes. Every one of the genes available accommodates directions to make whole proteins, protein fragments, or multiple proteins.

DNA: Molecular Structure

 

For anyone to understand DNA’s biological function, it is essential to understand the molecular structure. Such a process requires memorizing and understanding the vocabulary to talk about DNA’s building blocks and how they get assembled to develop molecules of DNA.

DNA molecules act as polymers.

 

Polymers happen to be massive molecules that get developed and built by repeatedly linking meager molecules together. These are called monomers. For instance, think of how the freight train gets built by closely linking individual boxcars or how the entire sentence gets in shape through a particular sequence of single letters and punctuations and spaces. In all these three cases, a sentence, train, and DNA molecule are composed of meager structures linked closely together under non-random sequences - letters, boxcars, and DNA monomers. 

DNA monomers act as nucleotides.

 

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Just like polymers go through the process of composing monomers, a DNA polymer, on the other hand, is composed of nucleotides. In DNA synthesis, its molecule is a collection of nucleotide monomers, combined in a long chain one after another.

Four nucleotide monomers are present.

 

Let’s take an example to understand the nucleotide monomers. The English language consists of 26 alphabets. In contrast, DNA has only four nucleotide monomers. These are easy and relatively short to remember - A, C, T, G. Every one of these nucleotide monomers goes through a building process from three molecular parts: a phosphate group, sugar, and nucleobase. 

All four nucleotide monomers have distinguished bases.

 

Each nucleotide type has a distinctive nucleobase, which sticks to the deoxyribose sugar. Check the rundown to observe which monomers contain certain elements.

 

• T nucleotide comprises thymine

• A nucleotide comprises adenine

• C nucleotide comprises cytosine

• G nucleotide comprises guanine

 

All these nucleobases are somewhat complex molecules and a unifying feature with various structural atoms of nitrogen. Due to such explanations, nucleobases often get the name of nitrogenous bases.

 

Furthermore, nucleotide monomers present amid the DNA polymer are accommodated and connected through robust electromagnetic attractions known as phosphodiester bonds. These bonds are a part of larger classes that head towards the direction of electromagnetic magnets, lying between covalent bonds.

Two DNA polymers make chromosomes sticking together through the bonds of noncovalent hydrogen.

 

Chromosomal DNA comprises a couple of DNA polymers that form and develop 3-dimensional structures known as the double helix. In such an arrangement, DNA strands run antiparallel, which means that the 5’ end of the DNA’s strand tends to be parallel with the DNA strand’s other end of 3’.

 

Noncovalent bonds tend to connect DNA strands that form from nucleotides. These bonds can be referred to as hydrogen bonds. If you individually consider these, you will observe that hydrogen bonds are weaker than even a single covalent bond, like a phosphodiester bond. However, several of these bonds get connected to DNA polymers while working in combination.

DNA’s Biological Functions

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Amino acids happen to be proteins of one or more polymers. These proteins further become the workhouse molecules amid your cells, which, in turn, act as hormones, structural support, and enzymes, and a host of various other functional molecules. All such traits derive through protein interactions with surrounding environments and each other. The biological functions further comprise several segments mentioned below.

A chromosome comprises meager segments knows as genes.

 

Chromosomes are generally extended and long structures comprising two DNA polymers, combined with hydrogen bonds. These bonds further connect complementary base pairs. Moreover, a single chromosome is later divided into gene segments.

 

It is a basic set of organisms that develops four proteins, where every one of these comprises four amino acid monomers. There are several traits of such microorganisms, like how it looks, how it eats, how it moves, and more. These proteins’ actions directly correlate these traits. Furthermore, genes that specify how to form every one of these four proteins get split into a couple of chromosomes. It merely implies that every chromosome consists of a couple of genes. 

Final Thoughts

 

Since specified proteins accommodate the genes with around four amino acid monomers, every gene must consist of four codons. A codon comprises three nucleotides; every one of these genes contains around a dozen nucleotide monomers. As a result, every chromosome is about 24 nucleotides long in extension. So, if you wish to understand the formational structure and functioning of DNA, you might have to understand the details above.