have no idea!! (1 Viewer)

[da_butterfree]

ok,
we just started the net topic the blueprint of life (thank god!!) but i have no clue what the teacher is talking about. i am an immigrant and have never known or have had anything to do with dna in my country and now my teacher he is going on about the dna strand and the helix pairing and glucose and crap!!

can anyone help!! please??

 

[Halo]

Perhaps it is best if you read the introduction in textbooks and the Contextual Outline in the Syllabus, if you have not already. That should give you a general feel of what the module is teaching. Anyhow, a small overview:

The Blueprint of Life module examines the processes required to reproduce in order for the continued existence of organisms. DNA is claimed to hold the information about an individual, so that growth and reproduction can take place. So, you will learn how DNA accomplishes these processes, by passing genetic information to other cells and to offspring and therefore dubbed as "the Blueprint of Life". The double helix structure of DNA (proposed by Crick and Watson) solves how the DNA's property allow this to occur: it DNA enables to create a copy of itself (for reproduction) and to release information to the cell (for growth).

That should be what you are learning... if they did not change the Syllabus

 

[da_butterfree]

thanks a lot for that halo! that shud be of gr8 help! we did a bit more abt the workin of dna and i figured out that there are umm.. 4 bases? A, T, C and G and A &T and C&G always go together. 3 bases together make an aminoacid! is that rite?? what i dont get is whats with phospate and sugar or glucose?? what have they got to do in the dna strand??

 

[Halo]

Four bases is correct. The complementary nature of these bases underpins how the DNA release genetic information for the cell's uses and perform DNA replication.

It is more correct to say three bases (called a "triplet" on the DNA strand) "code" for an amino acid. The sequence of bases in the triplet holds the information to code for an amino acid (different amino acids are based on different sequences). The actual creation of the amino acid is after a few phases from copying the information in the triplet.

If I remember correctly, phosphate and sugar form the "link" between each base, forming the actual DNA strand. Look at your textbook's diagram, I think it will make it much clearer.

 

[da_butterfree]

hey thanks heaps!!! i reckon it shud fit in place once i look properly into the books.