DNA+Essential+Questions

Essential Questions

1.What is DNA and where is it found?

DNA is the genetical structure in which genes are transferred from parent to offspring during reproduction. DNA is a kind of nucleic acid, also RNA. These acids are known as the molecules that transfer the needed genes during reproduction. Genes are what determine the looks and parts of an organism's personality. All organisms have different gene combinations (no DNA is alike). DNA of different sex cells are different because during meiosis, the DNA fragments are mixed between the male and female reproduction cells. The DNA is found in the nucleus, and it contains all of the genetic material. DNA contains the nitrogen bases: guanine, thymine, adenine, cytosine.

2.What does it look like (its structure) and what is it made from?

DNA is in a double helix structure, which means it is like a twisted ladder that has different DNA fragments in each 'ladder' of the DNA structure. A DNA molecule contains four different nitrogen bases - adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine. The four different nitrogen bases can form to create pairs, and they are known as the base pair. A base pair make a rung of the DNA 'ladder'. The DNA comes from inside of the chromosome. RNA is from DNA, and it takes the 'instructions' from the DNA to carry out processes of the cells. DNA are the backbone of genes, and it contains the genes that form a particular trait for others.

3.How and why does it copy itself?

DNA copies itself and replicates in a process called DNA replication because they need it to have enough DNA material to go into two or more different cells. When DNA splits, the hydrogen bonds that hold together the specific nitrogen bases separate, and allow reproduction. The process is also known as cell division, and it is either mitosis or meiosis. Mitosis is the process in which during the cell division it splits to 2 cells. On the other hand, the meiosis process is which the cell splits into 4 cells.

4.What are genes and where are genes found? The genes are found in the DNA fragments, and the genes are actually the genetic material that contain the parts that determine a person's looks and the personality etc. People all have traits that make themselves unique.