What does DNA stand for?
DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic Acid. It is a molecule that carries the genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning, and reproduction of all known living organisms and many viruses. DNA is composed of two strands that coil around each other to form a double helix, a structure first described by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953. Each strand is made up of a sequence of nucleotides, which consist of three components: a phosphate group, a sugar called deoxyribose, and a nitrogenous base.
The four types of nitrogenous bases in DNA are adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), and guanine (G). These bases pair up to form the rungs of the DNA ladder, with adenine pairing with thymine and cytosine pairing with guanine. The sequence of these bases encodes genetic information, functioning like a biological blueprint that instructs cells on how to make proteins and perform various functions.
Understanding DNA is crucial to many fields such as genetics, molecular biology, and biotechnology. Its discovery has led to advances in medicine, forensics, and evolutionary biology, making it a fundamental topic in educational resources and trivia quizzes aimed at enhancing knowledge in the vast field of biology.