how DNA passes on genetic information?
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DNA is the genetic information. Cells pass on genetic information through DNA when the cells divide.
DNA is found in cells. Each DNA molecule is a chain made of smaller parts, related chemicals that we call nucleotides, and they come in 4 flavors: A (adenine), C (cytosine), G (guanine) and T (thymine). A cell has proteins called enzymes that will make a second chain to pair with the first, and when they do that, they make a sure an A is always opposite a T, and a C opposite a G. We call the two chains “strands” and we say they are “complementary” because each strand mirrors the other.
DNA interacts with other molecules in the cell that use it as a template for genes that produce proteins that do all the chemical stuff in a cell. The DNA sequence determines how cells develop, interact, and function. It’s what decides if a cell will be a bacterium, or develop into a person – whether it will be a skin cell or brain cell – whether it functions normally, or not and causes a disease.
When cells divide, the DNA strands separate and enzymes use the strands as templates to recreate their complement, so each cell ends up with the same DNA.
In some organisms, each cell actually has two copies of every DNA strand. They can differ slightly, so the genes might differ slightly in each copy. Organisms that have two copies of each piece of DNA often reproduce by making special cells (sex cells) that have one copy of DNA instead of two; that one copy is often made by swapping chunks of two copies of the DNA piece making it so each cell gets 1 copy of the DNA that’s pretty much half of each of the two parent pieces. The single-copy cells, one from the mother and one from the father, merge to make a new cell with two copies of every bit of DNA, one from mother and one form father.
This means that each child is composed of ½ their mother’s DNA and ½ their father’s DNA. Since this is true of their parents before them, that means that they received 1/4th their DNA from each of their grandparents, or 1/16th from each of their great grandparents, and so on…
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