Functions of DNA

Functions of DNA

1.        DNA is the genetic material of living organisms. It is the greatest super chip ever made by man.

2.        DNA contain all the information required for the information of an individual organism.

3.        The genetic information in DNA is converted to characteristic features of living organisms like colour of the skin and eye, height, intelligence, ability to metabolise particular substance, ability to withstand stress, susceptibility to desease and ability to produce or synthesise certain substances.

4.        DNA is the source of information for the synthesis of all cellular proteins. The segment of DNA that contain information for a protein is known as gene.

5.        DNA is transmitted from parents to offsprings and hence transmit genetic information from one generation to another

6.        The amount of DNA in any given species or cell is constant and is not affected by nutritional and metabolic states.

7.        Avery Macleod and Mc Carty in 1944 first demonstrated that DNA contained the genetic information and they referred DNA as ‘transforming factor’

8.        The  nucleotides  present  in  DNA  are  deoxy adenylic acid, deoxy quanidylic acid, deoxy cytidylic acid and deoxy thymidylic acid.