UNIVERSITY OF THE CORDILLERAS

GOV. PACK ROAD, BAGUIO CITY

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

ASSIGNMENT # 7 GENES AND NUCLEIC ACIDS

NAME: Sindac, John Robert C. DATE: 11/10/2021

SCHEDULE:SCI 100 WSAT 3:30PM-7:30PM

INSTRUCTION: RESEARCH THE FOLLOWING

Human Karyotype
It is defined as the grouping of chromosomes within cells, which are organized by: Shape. Size.
Features.

NUCLEIC ACIDS
are long-chain polymeric molecules, the monomer (the repeating unit) is known as the
nucleotides and hence sometimes nucleic acids are referred to as polynucleotides.
FUNCTIONS OF NUCLEIC ACIDS
1.Nucleic acids are responsible for the transmission of inherent characters from parent to offspring.

2.They are responsible for the synthesis of protein in our body

3.DNA fingerprinting is a method used by forensic experts to determine paternity. It is also used for the
identification of criminals. It has also played a major role in studies regarding biological evolution and
genetics.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DNA AND RNA

FACTORS DNA RNA
1. Sugar Deoxyribose is the sugar found while ribose is the sugar found

2. # of Strand double stranded single stranded

3. Base pairing A to T and G to C A to U and C to G

4. Location located mainly in the nucleus  forms in the nucleolus, and then
moves to specialised regions of
the cytoplasm depending on the
type of RNA formed
5. Chainlike molecule usually composed of around 200  short strand
million nucleotide pairs (about 2
inches)

6. Main function is like a flash drive or computer is like the decoder as it makes a
chip with all the information copy of this drive and relays the
needed to carry out cellular instructions to the rest of the cell.
processes and produce proteins

HISTORY OF THE CHEMICAL BASIS OF HEREDITY

1. Fred Griffith
was a British doctor, specialist in bacteriology, who explained through one of his experiments what the
process of bacterial transformation consisted of while looking for a cure for a certain type of pneumonia.

2. Oswald Avery, Collin Macleod, and Maclyn Mccarty

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Maclyn McCarty, American biologist who, with Oswald Avery and Colin M. MacLeod, provided the first
experimental evidence that the genetic material of living cells is composed of deoxyribonucleic acid
(DNA).
3. Hershey & Chase
conducted an experiment to discover whether it was protein or DNA that acted as the genetic material that
entered the bacteria.
4. James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins
their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information
transfer in living material.

5. Erwin Chargaff
was one of those men, making two discoveries that led James Watson and Francis Crick to the double
helix structure of DNA. At first, Chargaff noticed that DNA - whether taken from a plant or animal -
contained equal amounts of adenine and thymine and equal amounts of cytosine and guanine

Why does Adenine pair with Thymine? Why does Cytosine pair with Guanine?
The chemical structures of thymine and cytosine are small, and the chemical structures of adenine
and guanine are large. The size and structure of a particular nucleotide means that adenine and thymine
are always paired, whereas cytosine and guanine are always paired. Therefore, the two strands of DNA
are considered complementary.

INFORMATION FLOW IN BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS (CENTRAL DOGMA)

1. Replication of DNA
occurs every time a cell divides to form two daughter cells. Under the influence of enzymes,
2. Transcription of DNA
 Transcription is the first step in gene expression, in which information from a gene is used to construct a
functional product such as a protein. The goal of transcription is to make a RNA copy of a
gene's DNA sequence.
3. TRANSLATION
is the process that takes the information passed from DNA as messenger RNA and turns it into a series of
amino acids bound together with peptide bonds.

THE GENETIC CODE

 is the term we use for the way that the four bases of DNA--the A, C, G, and Ts--are strung
together in a way that the cellular machinery, the ribosome, can read them and turn them into a protein.

Special transfers of biological sequential information

1. RNA replication (RNA – RNA)

occurs in the nucleus using a virus-coded enzyme (this may be same as the RNA polymerase
involved in transcription of mRNAs, or a modified version).
2. Reverse transcription (RNA- DNA)
The process by which DNA is synthesized from an RNA template by means of the enzyme
reverse transcriptase.
3. DNA translation (DNA – Protein)
DNA translation is the second step for creating proteins. In translation, the messenger RNA (or mRNA) is
decoded in order to build a protein, which consists of a particular series of amino acids.

REFERENCES:
https://scopeheal.com/human-karyotype/
Nucleic Acids - Definition, Examples & Functions of Nucleic acids (byjus.com)
https://www.technologynetworks.com/genomics/lists/what-are-the-key-
differences-between-dna-and-rna-296719
https://www.reference.com/science/dna-located-b532d280c86d862c
DNA vs RNA - What are the Key Differences and Similarities? (nebula.org)
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https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maclyn-McCarty
https://byjus.com/biology/dna-genetic-material/
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1962/summary/
https://nationalmedals.org/laureate/erwin-chargaff/
https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/DNA+replication
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/ap-biology/gene-expression-and-
regulation/transcription-and-rna-processing/a/overview-of-transcription
https://askinglot.com/what-is-translation-dna
https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Genetic-Code
https://www.microbiologybook.org/mhunt/rna-ho.htm
https://www.wordnik.com/words/reverse%20transcription
DNA Translation |Introduction, Steps & Daigram (ibiologia.com)