1. DNA structure is the same in all organisms.
Question Set #1 Go to the link and answer the question in your DNA Project Guide.
Glowing Mice

2. Question Set #2
Go to the link below and watch the first 11:00 minutes of “Cracking the Code of Life”. Answer the questions in DNA Project Guide.
Cracking the Code of Life

3. DNA—(Deoxyribonucleic Acid)-a nucleic acid that carries the genetic information of the cell. It forms and controls the physical make-up and chemical processes of living organisms. IN OTHER WORDS—IT IS THE “CODE OF LIFE”

4. DNA is composed of four types of nucleotides.
DNA is made up of a long chain of nucleotides.
Each nucleotide has three parts.
a phosphate group
a deoxyribose sugar
a nitrogen-containing base
phosphate group
deoxyribose (sugar)
nitrogen-containing
base

5. The nitrogen containing bases are the only difference in the four nucleotides. Be sure to put all 4 bases in your notes!!

6. Question Set #3
The History of DNA
Go to the site “Interactives of DNA” using the link below. Use the timeline to answer the questions in your DNA Project Guide.
Interactives of DNA

7. Watson and Crick determined the three-dimensional structure of DNA by building models.
They realized that DNA is a double helix that is made up of a sugar-phosphate backbone on the outside with bases on the inside. In 1953, they won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA.

8. Watson and Crick’s discovery built on the work of Rosalind Franklin and Erwin Chargaff.
Franklin’s x-ray images suggested that DNA was a double helix of even width.

9. Nucleotides always pair in the same way.
The base-pairing rules show how nucleotides always pair up in DNA.
A pairs with T
C pairs with G
Because a pyrimidine (single ring) pairs with a purine (double ring), the helix has a uniform width. C G T A

10. The backbone is connected by covalent bonds.
The bases are connected by hydrogen bonds.
hydrogen bond
covalent bond

11. Nucleic Acids Store Information!
Nitrogenous bases form a code with four “letters”.
Inside the cell, this code is deciphered and used as a template to build proteins (you will get the details on this later on).
All cells in an organism have the same molecules of DNA in every cell. In other words, each cell carries the same “library” of information in its nucleus.

12. DNA GAME
Question Set #4
Go to the link below. Play the DNA Double Helix Game.
Place the names of the three identified organisms on your DNA Project Guide.
DNA The Double Helix Game

13. Nucleotide Polymers
A strand of DNA can have more than 100 million nucleotides linked in a chain. A train with that many cars would easily stretch across the US. And I’m talking about a toy train with cars only a couple of inches long!

14. I:Anatomy of A Chromosome
Click on the hyperlink and view the interactive.
Journey into Human DNA

15. Karyotypes—Human Chromosomes—Just for Fun!!