ALL ABOUT

DNA
SCI 211 - GENETICS
WHAT IS DNA?
DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary
material in humans and almost all other organisms.
Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same
DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where
it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA
can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is
called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).
Mitochondria are structures within cells that
convert the energy from food into a form that
cells can use.
WHAT IS DNA?
The information in DNA is stored as a code made up
of four chemical bases: adenine (A), guanine (G),
cytosine (C), and thymine (T).
Human DNA consists of about 3 billion bases, and
more than 99 percent of those bases are the same in
all people. The order, or sequence, of these bases
determines the information available for building
and maintaining an organism, similar to the way in
which letters of the alphabet appear in a certain
order to form words and sentences
WHAT IS DNA?
DNA bases pair up with each other, A with T and C with
G, to form units called base pairs.
Each base is also attached to a sugar molecule and a
phosphate molecule.
Together, a base, sugar, and phosphate are called a
nucleotide.
Nucleotides are arranged in two long strands that
form a spiral called a double helix.
The structure of the double helix is somewhat like a
ladder, with the base pairs forming the ladder’s
rungs and the sugar and phosphate molecules forming
the vertical sidepieces of the ladder.
WHAT IS DNA REPLICATION?
Replication is the process by which a double-stranded
DNA molecule is copied to produce two identical DNA
molecules.
DNA replication is one of the most basic processes that
occurs within a cell.
Each time a cell divides, the two resulting daughter cells
must contain exactly the same genetic information, or
DNA, as the parent cell.
To accomplish this, each strand of existing DNA acts as a
template for replication.
 DNA REPLICATION PROCESS
The initiation of DNA replication occurs in
two steps. First, a so-called initiator
protein unwinds a short stretch of the
DNA double helix. Then, a protein known
as helicase attaches to and breaks apart
the hydrogen bonds between the bases
on the DNA strands, thereby pulling apart
the two strands. As the helicase moves
along the DNA molecule, it continues
breaking these hydrogen bonds and
separating the two polynucleotide chains
DNA REPLICATION PROCESS
Meanwhile, as the helicase
separates the strands,
another enzyme called
primase briefly attaches to
each strand and assembles a
foundation at which
replication can begin. This
foundation is a short stretch
of nucleotides called a primer
 DNA REPLICATION PROCESS
After the primer is in place on a
single, unwound polynucleotide
strand, DNA polymerase wraps itself
around that strand, and it attaches
new nucleotides to the exposed
nitrogenous bases. In this way, the
polymerase assembles a new DNA
strand on top of the existing one BEGINNING AT THE PRIMER SEQUENCE, DNA POLYMERASE (SHOWN
IN BLUE) ATTACHES TO THE ORIGINAL DNA STRAND AND BEGINS
ASSEMBLING A NEW, COMPLEMENTARY STRAND.
 DNA REPLICATION PROCESS
As DNA polymerase makes its way down the unwound
DNA strand, it relies upon the pool of free-floating
nucleotides surrounding the existing strand to build the
new strand. The nucleotides that make up the new
strand are paired with partner nucleotides in the
template strand; because of their molecular structures,
A and T nucleotides always pair with one another, and C
and G nucleotides always pair with one another.
This phenomenon is known as complementary base
pairing and it results in the production of two
complementary strands of DNA.
 DNA REPLICATION PROCESS
Base pairing ensures that the sequence of
nucleotides in the existing template strand is
exactly matched to a complementary sequence in
the new strand, also known as the anti-sequence
of the template strand. Later, when the new
strand is itself copied, its complementary strand
will contain the same sequence as the original
template strand. Thus, as a result of
complementary base pairing, the replication
process proceeds as a series of sequence and anti-
sequence copying that preserves the coding of the
original DNA.
DNA REPLICATION WOULD NOT OCCUR WITHOUT ENZYMES THAT CATALYZE VARIOUS STEPS IN
THE PROCESS. ENZYMES THAT PARTICIPATE IN THE EUKARYOTIC DNA REPLICATION PROCESS
INCLUDE:
DNA HELICASE - UNWINDS AND SEPARATES DOUBLE STRANDED DNA AS IT MOVES ALONG
THE DNA. IT FORMS THE REPLICATION FORK BY BREAKING HYDROGEN BONDS BETWEEN
NUCLEOTIDE PAIRS IN DNA.
DNA PRIMASE - A TYPE OF RNA POLYMERASE THAT GENERATES RNA PRIMERS. PRIMERS
ARE SHORT RNA MOLECULES THAT ACT AS TEMPLATES FOR THE STARTING POINT OF DNA
REPLICATION.
DNA POLYMERASES - SYNTHESIZE NEW DNA MOLECULES BY ADDING NUCLEOTIDES TO
LEADING AND LAGGING DNA STRANDS.
TOPOISOMERASE OR DNA GYRASE - UNWINDS AND REWINDS DNA STRANDS TO PREVENT
THE DNA FROM BECOMING TANGLED OR SUPERCOILED.
EXONUCLEASES - GROUP OF ENZYMES THAT REMOVE NUCLEOTIDE BASES FROM THE END
OF A DNA CHAIN.
DNA LIGASE - JOINS DNA FRAGMENTS TOGETHER BY FORMING PHOSPHODIESTER BONDS
BETWEEN NUCLEOTIDES.