DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid, if you please) is the specific module in the human body, the animal body, or the body of a plant or microorganism that carries detailed genetic data and information for the core functioning and ongoing development of that body.
Now, unless you are a professional working within a scientific discipline, it is highly likely that is where your knowledge on the subject ends, and so, in an attempt to broaden your awareness in this area, are five fascinating facts about DNA.
From a child, you will most likely have been told that you are entirely unique. While this isabsolutely true and results in criminals being identified purely by any small piece of DNA they have left behind at the crime scene, only 1% is useful.
The other approximately 99% of your DNA is shared with every other human being, with the remaining 1% being responsible for your appearance, eye color, shape of your skill, and skin color.
Your Own DNA is Longer Than You Could Possibly Imagine
If you were to unwind the twisted strands of your DNA in one single cell, it would measure approximately six feet from end to end.There are, on average, one hundred trillion cells in your body from head to toe, so if each strand of your DNA was extracted from your cells and laid out end to end, your DNA alone would reach to the sun from the earth and back again, an overwhelming six hundred times.
Your DNA Changes Every Day
Another fascinating and somewhat flabbergasting fact relating to DNA is that every day, one form or another of mutation occurs in your cells, sometimes even over a hundred times in a twenty-four-hour period.
In the vast majority of cases, these small mutations within your cells are entirely harmless, with your body’s existing cells easily adapting to the new changes, but in rare cases, such mutations can go on to cause diseases, most notably cancer.
DNA from One Organism is Used to Save the Life of Countless Others
With such scientific specialist fields as cell line development and the HepG2 transgenic cell line, knowledgeable and established medical professionals working with DNA are experimenting with trial drugs to help win the fight against different forms of terminal cancers.Often, skin xenografts are taken, either from a healthy subject or even a rodent, to assess and expertly analyze the effects of the proposed drug on both them and a person with the disease in question. The HepG2 cells have low activity, so they are also used for in vitro screening.
A Human Genome Holds 3 Million DNA Pairs
Think of the image of DNA as intricately twisted strands coming together to create the image of a soft and wavy ladder.The metaphorical rungs on this ladder are called bases, which are either A (Adenine), C (Cytosine), G (guanine), and T (Thymine) and are locked permanently together in pairs, with these pairs being named Hydrogen Bonds.
