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DNA STRUCTURE: Page 1 

Teachers, Students, Home School Scholars, and Inquiring Minds of all ages --

 DNA is a long strand made up of 4 different nucleotides.  The nucleotides are synthesized from 4 different 'bases' (adenine, thymine, cytosine, and quanine), sugar and phosphate. 

The DNA double helix is often compared to a circular staircase.  Once linked together in a strand of DNA, the sugar and phosphate form the 'handrails' of the double helix, while the bases form the 'stairsteps'.

Genes come in differing lengths and code for different proteins.  Only a stretch of DNA that codes for a protein is called a 'gene'. 

Other stretches of the DNA act as regulation sites to turn genes on or off.

The function of other stretches of DNA are not yet known to scientists.

DNA STRUCTURE: Page 1 

DNA Structure Links of choice:
Biochemistry - DNA structure (textbook by Berg, Tymoczko, and Lubert) on the National Institutes of Health website
Wikipedia - DNA structure
DNA From the Very Beginning - concept = nonsense DNA
DNA From the Very Beginning - concept = gene regulation

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