You are who you are because of your DNA.
Deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA for short, is the genetic blueprint contained in the cells of all living things.
All humans have DNA that’s 99.9% identical. The tiny sliver left, the differing 0.1%, contains the variations that make us unique. Some of the things determined by your DNA include your eye color, hair color, height, and the size of your nose.
The DNA molecule is made of two linked strands that wind around each other to resemble a twisted ladder — a shape known as a double helix.
Each strand has a backbone made of alternating sugar and phosphate groups.
Attached to each sugar is one of four bases:
adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) or thymine (T).
The two strands are connected by chemical bonds between the bases: adenine bonds with thymine, and cytosine bonds with guanine. Each base—A, C, T, or G—can be considered as a letter in a four-letter alphabet that spells out biological messages. These messages are instructions for creating proteins that are the building blocks of life.
It’s estimated that tens of thousands of unique proteins make up the human body. Many remain unknown and unstudied. MagLab researchers are using powerful high-magnetic field nuclear magnetic resonance systems to analyze the structure and function of proteins and advance our understanding of health and disease.
Source: National Human Genome Research Institute
What you’ll need:
- Twizzlers or candy ropes
- Bag of gum drops, colored marshmallows, or other candy with at least four colors
- Toothpicks
- A plate
What you'll do:
1. Gather the pieces that will make your DNA strand
- 1 plate
- 2 twizzlers or candy ropes
- 6 toothpicks
- 12 candy pieces
2. Pick out four candy colors, to each represent a different nitrogen base. For instance:
- Orange = Guanine
- Green= Citosine
- Yellow= Adenine
- Red/pink= Thymine
3. Place an orange and a green candy on three toothpicks
4. Place a yellow and a red/pink candy on the three other toothpicks
5. Place the toothpicks between the twizzlers or candy rope to make a ladder, alternating colors and direction. Twist the ladder to make a helix shape and you’ve made your DNA!
Did you know?
- Typing 60 words per minute, 8 hours per day, it would take 50 years to type out the three billion units that make up the entire human genome.
- Humans share about 50% of our genes with plants.
- If all the DNA in all of your cells was unraveled and placed end to end, it would stretch twice the length of the solar system.
