DNA: Definition, Structure & Discovery

Deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA is a molecule that contains the instructions an organism needs to develop, live and reproduce. These instructions are found inside every cell, and are passed down from parents to their children.

DNA is made up of molecules called nucleotides. Each nucleotide contains a phosphate group, a sugar group and a nitrogen base. The four types of nitrogen bases are adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G) and cytosine (C). The order of these bases is what determines DNA's instructions, or genetic code. Human DNA has around 3 billion bases, and more than 99 percent of those bases are the same in all people, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM).

DNA was first observed by a German biochemist named Frederich Miescher in 1869. But for many years, researchers did not realize the importance of this molecule. It was not until 1953 that James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin figured out the structure of DNA — a double helix — which they realized could carry biological information.

Watson, Crick and Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1962 "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material." Franklin was not included in the award, although her work was integral to the research. [Related: Unraveling the Human Genome: 6 Molecular Milestones]

Man as a living being

1. Man’s nature is different from all other life forms, including animals. This distinction is of great importance for two reasons. First, without this distinction, government can treat humans as though animals. Second, because man does not see, or understand the difference, he can see no escape from the tyranny he suffers.

That is why the ongoing debate about the ethic of cloning is a controversial one.

2. Twins are clones – two organisms that share the same genetic material – but not all clones are twins. If the cloned organisms are born at the same time, then they’re twins.There is no known technology that can create an instant copy of a living organism. Experiments are intergenerational (относящийся к разным поколениям), meaning the clone will be younger than the original.

3. Despite (вопреки) several high-profile claims (заявление) in the past, there is no scientific evidence that anyone has successfully delivered an artificially cloned human being. Researchers can apply for a licence to clone human embryos for stem cell research. It is illegal, however, for any of those embryos to be implanted into a surrogate mother. Human-animal hybrids – In 2008, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority approved research into ‘cytoplasmic’ hybrids, the transfer of human genetic material into a cow egg cell.

4. The man is fundamentally different from all other life forms by genus, yet within that family, is a precious and unique individual, is of fundamental importance to understanding ethics, morality, human rights, politics, the law and justice. It begs we fully understand that each individual’s relationship to others, in societal terms, not only must begin with study of the individual, it must also conclude with that satisfaction, because without individuals there is no societal aggregation. 

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What Is Biophysics?

Biophysics is the field that applies the theories and methods of physics to understand how biological systems work.

Biophysics has been critical to understanding the mechanics of how the molecules of life are made, how different parts of a cell move and function, and how complex systems in our bodies—the brain, circulation, immune system, and others— work. Biophysics is a vibrant scientific field where scientists from many fields including math, chemistry, physics, engineering, pharmacology, and materials sciences, use their skills to explore and develop new tools for understanding how biology—all life—works.

Physical scientists use mathematics to explain what happens in nature. Life scientists want to understand how biological systems work. These systems include molecules, cells, organisms, and ecosystems that are very complex. Biological research in the 21st century involves experiments that produce huge amounts of data. How can biologists even begin to understand this data or predict how these systems might work?

This is where biophysicists come in. Biophysicists are uniquely trained in the quantitative sciences of physics, math, and chemistry and they are able tackle a wide array of topics, ranging from how nerve cells communicate, to how plant cells capture light and transform it into energy, to how changes in the DNA of healthy cells can trigger their transformation into cancer cells, to so many other biological problems.

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