Wednesday, April 4, 2012

DNA's Structure





While examining the structures of a DNA it was very obvious from the beginning that DNA has a very complicated system. Once the structure was explained however the structure and it's functions were pretty easy to follow. Look down at the diagram of the basic DNA structure that my group drew. It shows how DNA connects and what can connect with each other. The overall DNA molecule results in a double helix shape. First I'll start with the phosphate and sugar bonds. The phosphate and sugar bonds create a back bone. The phosphate and sugar bonds alternate creating a pattern. Then the next part we are going to look at are the nitrogenous bases. These include adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine. Adenine and thymine can only connect with each other and cytosine can only join with guanine. Finally looking at the bonds between the A and T. They are connected by a hydrogen bond which completes the connecting stages and with many strands can create a DNA molecule. 

This image below is a picture of the entire class project. It is a big model of how DNA will connect and twist to form a complete strand. This model stretched for another five or more desks. It was cool to see how everything connected and how it would twist to form a double helix.