What is DNA?

Genome research involves the study of DNA, which is the code that makes up the information for your body. DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic (dee-oxy-rye-bow-new-clay-ick-acid) because it's so long people just call it DNA. What we found out was DNA is many atoms ( Which are the building blocks of our bodies) that are formed together in a special pattern to make up the strands of DNA in your bodies' cells. If enough atoms are put together they make molecules which make bases. Under a very strong microscope a DNA strand would look like a ladder twirled up. It's called a double helix. There are four chemical bases in the DNA, those bases make up letters. The letters are the code for you! The four bases are Adenine (ad-en-een), Thymine (thy-meen), Cystosine (cy-toe-seen), and Guanine (gwa-neen) But we'll call them A,T,C, and G. Chemical A is always connected to T and T is always connected to A. So C is always connected to G and G is always connected to C. You only need one side of the double helix and you would have all the information to make you, but like a ladder it comes with both sides. Each base makes up a letter and since they connect their in pairs. There are about 3 billion pairs of these letters in your 23 chromosomes. Researchers think that when the letters get messed up you are born with a birth defect or disease.

Above is a game you can play. You fill in the blank spaces on the bottom strand by using the information we give you.

The April '98 edition of Life Magazine also contains information about how your DNA can effect your body in surprising ways such as giving you obesity, optimism, anxiety, anger, shyness, etc.

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