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Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid containing the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms. The chemical DNA was discovered in 1869, but its role in genetic inheritance was not demonstrated until 1943. The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes.
Recombination allows chromosomes to exchange genetic information and produces new combinations of genes, which increases the efficiency of natural selection and can be important in the rapid evolution of new proteins. [140] Genetic recombination can also be involved in DNA repair, particularly in the cell's response to double-strand breaks. [141]
Biological databases are stores of biological information. [1] The journal Nucleic Acids Research regularly publishes special issues on biological databases and has a list of such databases. The 2018 issue has a list of about 180 such databases and updates to previously described databases. [ 2 ]
Nuclear DNA is a nucleic acid, a polymeric biomolecule or biopolymer, found in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells.Its structure is a double helix, with two strands wound around each other, a structure first described by Francis Crick and James D. Watson (1953) using data collected by Rosalind Franklin.
Reverse transcription is the transfer of information from RNA to DNA (the reverse of normal transcription). This is known to occur in the case of retroviruses, such as HIV, as well as in eukaryotes, in the case of retrotransposons and telomere synthesis. It is the process by which genetic information from RNA gets transcribed into new DNA.
Cellular organisms use messenger RNA (mRNA) to convey genetic information (using the nitrogenous bases of guanine, uracil, adenine, and cytosine, denoted by the letters G, U, A, and C) that directs synthesis of specific proteins. Many viruses encode their genetic information using an RNA genome.
The information in DNA is held in the sequence of the repeating units along the DNA chain. [8] These units are four types of nucleotides (A, T, G and C) and the sequence of nucleotides stores information in an alphabet called the genetic code.
An organism's genome is made up by its entire set of DNA and is responsible for its genetic traits, function and development. The composition of DNA itself is an essential component to the field of molecular genetics; it is the basis of how DNA is able to store genetic information, pass it on, and be in a format that can be read and translated ...