DNA Structure and Function

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the structure and function of DNA. DNA occupies a critical role in cells, because it is the source of all intrinsic genetic information. Chemically, DNA is a very stable molecule, a characteristic important for a macromolecule that may have to persist in an intact form for a long period of time before its information is accessed by the cell. Although DNA plays a critical role as an informational storage molecule, it is by no means as unexciting as a computer tape or disk drive. The structure of the DNA described by Watson and Crick in 1953 is a right handed helix of two individual antiparallel DNA strands. Hydrogen bonds provide specificity that allows pairing between…