What creates DNA? What makes it and what exactly is it?
In: 0
Every living thing on the face of this planet makes DNA, but I suspect that’s not what you meant. DNA is made in cells by an enzyme called DNA polymerase. This is done by using an already existing strand of DNA as a template, which means to create a strand of DNA you need to start with a strand of DNA. This obviously presents a chicken or the egg type paradox, and quite honestly we simply don’t know where the first DNA strands came from.
As for your question of “what exactly is DNA”, this is a little bit more difficult to answer without some organic chemistry. DNA is something called a polymer, which is also what Plastics are. A polymer is a long chain of molecules that is made out of the same repeating subunits. In the case of DNA, there are four subunits that are used to make DNA. Each subunit is composed a kind of molecule called a ~~nuclear base~~ nucleobase that is bonded to a kind of sugar called ribose. DNA is made of a special kind of ribose called deoxyribose, which just means it’s missing an alcohol group normally found on ribose. The ribose then has a ~~tri~~ phosphate group, which is a ~~three~~ phosphate ion, attached to the ribose sugar.
DNA consists of small molecules called nucleotides. Nucleotides can be found everywhere and can link together with some help from other enzymes. In animal cells, DNA is almost exclusively found in the nucleus, the center of the cell. DNA is created through a process called DNA replication which occurs in the cell prior to division. Because of its ability to replicate and some other factors, DNA serves as the primary information storage molecule in the cell.
DNA creates itself. It’s a self-replicating molecule that, using our cells, tells our cells how assemble various bits of smaller molecules to make more copies of itself.
Latest Answers