DNA

The Structure and Nature of DNA

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the basic system upon which life on Earth is constructed. In a very real sense, DNA is a kind of program for life that cells use to replicate themselves and transmit information from generation to generation. Over eons, as life changes and adapts to new environmental conditions, that information is stored in the genetic code of all life on the planet as DNA molecules evolve and are altered to meet those changing conditions. The result is the myriad of different kinds of life that is now present on the planet, a variety that is all the more remarkable because it is based on the same fundamental piece of biological software: DNA. Incredibly DNA is a relatively simple chemical compound, so simple in fact that early researchers were dubious that it could be considered the molecule of life ("The...
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