what is DNA

and how does it work

DNA also known as deoxyribonucleic acid

is a molecule

it's a bunch of atoms stuck together

In the case of DNA, these adoms combined to form the shape of a long

spiraling ladder

sort of like this one here

if you ever studied biology or watched the movie Jurassic Park, you probably heard

that DNA acts as a blueprint or recipe for living thing

but how?

how on earth can a mere molecule act as a blueprint for something as complex and

wonderful as a tree

a dog or a dinosaur

Yelp!

to help answer that question

let's first take a quick look at amino acids

amino acids are tiny little chemicals inside our bodies that are so important

they're often referred to as the building blocks of life

there's about twenty different kinds each with their own unique shape

the cool thing about them is they can be attached to each other kind of like

Legos to produce an endless variety of larger particles particles called proteins

amino acids make up proteins

proteins along with other chemicals combined to form living cells

cells make up tissues

tissues make up organs

and organs

when they're all put together and functioning of course

combined to form living creatures like you and me

these proteins that make up our bodies and keep in mind there's millions of

different kinds of proteins

they each have to be formed in the perfect shape in order to function

if they are the wrong shape they usually won't work

that's where DNA comes in

DNA does a lot of interesting things

some of which we don't fully understand

but one of its main and most well understood functions is to tell amino

acids

how to line up and form themselves into the perfect

protein shapes

in theory

if the right proteins are built at the right time and in the right place

everything else from cells to organs to entire creatures

will come out just fine

this here is a simplified model of DNA

it shows us that the steps of the ladder

are made up of four different kinds of chemicals shown here by different colors

and letters

if you look at just one half of the molecule

you can read this chemical sequence or genetic code from top to bottom sort of

like a book

a single strand of DNA

is extremely long

millions of letters long

it spends most of its life coiled up like a noodle living inside the nucleus

or the centerpiece of a cell

amino acids however live outside the nucleus in what's called the cytoplasm

to help DNA interact with the cytoplasm and convert those amino acids

into proteins

special chemicals inside the nucleus make partial copies of the DNA code

these partial copies called RNA

look a lot like DNA but they're shorter of course and they're missing

one of their sides

their small shape and size allows them to fit through tiny pores in the nucleus

out to the cytoplasm and into the mouth of another particle called a ribosome

ribosomes are protein building machines

they the RNA code three letters at a time

suck amino acids out of their surroundings stick them together in a

chain according to the genetic code

as a chain grows it bends, folds, and sticks to itself

to form a perfectly shaped

protein

every three letters of the RNA code

tell the ribosome which of the twenty different kinds of amino acids should be

added next

for example CAA tells the ribosome to grab

a glutamine

AGU tells it to grab a serine

and so on

once a protein is built it then goes on to do a number of different things, one

of which could be to help form of brand

new cell

so to answer the original question

what is DNA?

DNA is a molecular blueprint for a living thing

how does it work?

DNA creates RNA

RNA creates protein

proteins

go on to form life

this entire process

as complicated, sophisticated

and magical as it might seem

is entirely based in chemistry

it can be studied

it can be understood

i'm Jon Perry and that's DNA

Stated Clearly

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Learn more about DNA at StatedClearly.com

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