DNA Replication

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a type of Nucleic acid.

RNA

RNA, or Ribonucleic acid, is another type of nucleic acid. Unlike DNA, it is 1 stranded. it is also found in the cytoplasm instead of the nucleus. DNA's nitrogen bases are Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, and Guanine. However, in RNA, the Thymine is replaced with Uracil. Another difference is that DNA is self-replicating, but RNA is created by a template of DNA.



DNA

Every cell in your body has the exact same copy of DNA. It will copy itself trillions of times using half of the original molecule as a template. First, here is some basic knowledge of DNA structure:

DNA is made up of strings of nucleotides.
A nucleotide is composed of a :

• 5- carbon sugar molecule that is also known as a pentose sugar
• a phosphate group
• nitrogen-containing/nitrogenous base

 

 

 

 The 5-carbon sugar molecule and the phosphate group bond together to form the backbone of the DNA molecule. They create two parallel ones on each side creating the double helix. They both run anti parallel to each other which means they run opposite ways. A double helix resembles a twisted ladder.
 
There are four types of nitrogen bases:        

 

       1        Adenine

2.       Guanine

3.       Thymine

4.       Cytosine

These make up the middle of the DNA molecule.
 Adenine is always paired with Thymine and
   Cytosine is always paired with Guanine
   
 
 

The nitrogen bases are connected by a hydrogen bond.



The enzyme Helicase "unzips your genes" or breaks this hydrogen bond.
The point where the replication starts is called the Replication Fork. The top strand is knows as the Leading strand while the bottom strand is known as the Lagging strand.

The Leading strand and the Lagging strand get their names because the leading is simpler to copy and the lagging is more difficult. In the Lagging strand, the enzyme DNA Polymerase adds matching nucleotides along the molecule. However, before it can start it needs a primer or something to hook on to. That is where RNA Primase comes in. It adds a primer in the beginning by adding the matching base pairs for a few and then DNA Polymerase can start down the molecule.
 On the Lagging strand the process is more complex. DNA Polymerase can only build on strands that are in [5'-->3'] (5 prime to 3 prime) direction and since each sugar phosphate side is antiparallel to each other, the Lagging strand is in the [3'-->5'] (3 prime to 5 prime) direction. For this, RNA Primase has to lay down an occasional short little RNA primer to give polymerase a starting point to work backwards along stand. They work in 1000 to 2000 base pair long segments. These segments are called Ozaki Fragments. After this, DNA Polymerase has to go back and replace RNA primers. Then, the fragments get joined up by an enzyme, DNA Ligase.

DNA replication gets it wrong about 1 in every 10 billion nucleotides. DNA Polymerase also proofread, removing nucleotides from an end of a strand when they discover a mismatched base.

And this is how DNA replicates......

Darwin's Theory of Evolution

                                                Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

            Charles Darwin contributed most to our understandings of evolution. Darwin set sail from England to voyage around the world in 1831 at age 22. During his trip Darwin made many observations and collected lots of information to propose a revolutionary hypothesis about life changes over time. His hypothesis became the theory of evolution. Whenever his ship landed Darwin collected many plant and animal specimens so that he can analyze when he was back on the sea waiting to set foot on another land. Darwin was astonished by the fact that that many of the plants and animals were well suited for the environment in which they were living in. Darwin was also puzzled by the fact that one animal that lived in one climate did not also live on a land with the exact same climate and land vegetation. On his voyage Darwin also collected fossils that looked similar to animals that were still around but some of the fossils looked like a creature that he had never seen before. On Darwin’s notes that were found he seemed very interested while at the Galapagos Islands because here two islands relatively close to each other had very distinct climates. Here he noted that the shape of tortoise’s shells were different when they lived in different climates. He also noted that their necks seemed to be adjusted according to where their food was located. Tortoise’s with short necks has their food close to the ground but tortoises with food a little higher had longer necks to reach their food. Darwin also collected several different types of birds to look at. On these birds he noted that the shapes of their beaks distinct. When Darwin was heading back home to Europe he started to put all of the information that he collected together. After seeing the same type of animal in a different and them looking similar but with different details Darwin came up with the idea that one type of species spread to other lands and evolved to fit certain needs based on food, climate, and land vegetation. In Darwin’s era mostly everybody believed that the earth was only a few thousand years old. When the people from his era heard his hypothesis of Earth’s age they were outraged. Darwin stated that his findings from his voyage could show how people, plants and animals have evolved and how this can simply mean that the earth is old.