The Structure and Role of DNA
DNA is short for deoxyribonucleic acid. It is a nucleic acid that is the makeup of all living cells and viruses. DNA is made up of four subunits, which are known as nucleotides. Each nucleotide is made up of three different types of material: a sugar, a phosphate, and a base. Nucleotides are the same except for their bases there are adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine. They each have a slightly different shape. A famous bioscientist named Erwin Chargaff discovered that the the amount of adenine always equals to the amount of thymine, and the amount of guanine always equals to the amount of cytosine. These four bases are usually referred by the first letter of their names. The DNA structure is in the type of a twisted ladder or a double helix. The two sides of the ladder are made of alternating sugar and phosphate molecules. The DNA's job is to be able to supply instructions for the cell process and for building the cell structures.
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