1. The Building Blocks Of Life
DNA
The Building Blocks Of Life

2. DNA Deoxyribonucleic Acid Is a type of nucleic acid
What chromosomes (and genes) are made of
Made up of repeating nucleotide subunits
1 nucleotide looks like:

3. Nitrogen Bases 4 types of Bases Complementary Base Pairs: Adenine (A)
Guanine (G)
Cytosine (C)
Thymine (T)
Complementary Base Pairs:
A binds with T only
C binds with G only

4. What base? TACGCGATCGAGTAAA
What would the other strand of DNA look like?
TACGCGATCGAGTAAA
What would the other strand of DNA look like?

5. Chargaff’s Rule The amount of A will always match the amount of T
The amount of C will always match the amount of G

6. Chargaff’s Practice
In a 100 base pair piece of DNA there are 18 A’s. How many C’s are there? 32
In a 100 base pair piece of DNA there are 27 A’s. How many T’s are there? 27
In a 50 base pair piece of DNA there are 29 G’s. How many T’s are there? 21

7. Differences? SANTA SATAN
If we all have the same DNA…which we do – then how are we all different?
It’s the sequence of A’s T’s C’s and G’s that make us all different.
Different letters = different people
SANTA
SATAN

8. Bases on the inside (bases fit like puzzle pieces)
DNA
Phosphates and sugars on the OUTSIDE
Bases on the inside (bases fit like puzzle pieces)

9. Double Helix Shape is a DOUBLE HELIX
Double Helix – 2 spirals wound around each other
Rosalind Franklin took an X-ray photo of DNA
James Watson and Francis Crick interpreted the photo and discovered the double helix structure (they won the Nobel Prize)

10. Codon Codon: Group of 3 bases Ex. ACT, CGA, GAA
Genes: a piece of DNA that codes for traits
The code is the order of the bases (letters)
Genes are hundreds or thousands of bases long
Ex. Eye color gene, dimple gene, hair color gene

11. DNA Rap http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1UPf7lXeO8
Label the following DNA parts on the diagram above AND color them with the correct colors
Base Pair – NO COLOR
Nitrogen Base – NO COLOR
Sugar-phosphate backbone – BLACK
Adenine – RED
Guanine – YELLOW
Thymine – BLUE
Cytosine - GREEN
DNA Rap