Question
Question: Explain the chemical constituents of DNA....
Explain the chemical constituents of DNA.
Solution
DNA consists of polynucleotides that coil around each other to form a double helix that contains genetic instructions for all known species and many viruses to grow, work, expand, and reproduce. What allows the two strands of DNA to stay together are the bases. In DNA, there are four bases.
Complete answer:
Deoxyribonucleic acid is DNA. This involves genetic material.
A double-stranded DNA is composed of 2 antiparallel helices. It is made up of a monomer called nucleotides. It consists of 3 elements, namely a group of sugars, a group of phosphates, and a nitrogen base.
A nucleoside is considered a nucleotide without a phosphate group. In DNA, deoxyribose sugar is the sugar present. The backbone of the DNA molecule is made up of sugar and phosphate groups.
There are two kinds of bases of nitrogen present. These are pyrimidine and purine. There are four different bases to which the sugar group can probably be connected. They are purines: adenine (A) and guanine (G), and thymine (T) and cytosine (C) are pyrimidines. The bond of hydrogen between these bases keeps together the two strands. There are 2 bonds of hydrogen between adenine and thymine and 3 bonds of hydrogen between guanine and cytosine are present. Hence, complementary pairs are called adenine and thymine. Similarly, complementary pairs are called guanine and cytosine.
Note: In multicellular species, DNA is contained in the nucleus of cells and was first isolated by the Swiss physician Friedrich Miescher in 1869. The DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) double helix model consists of two intertwined strands. Because of the structures of the various bases, strong intermolecular forces called hydrogen bonds between the bases on opposing strands are responsible for this.