Few people can imagine how much DNA information is contained in one cell as a "data store", without which no living creature can develop. Starting from the simplest and ending with a person, each cell of which contains a certain program for the development of the body: when to be born, how to develop, when to grow old. The spiral ladder of the genetic code can break and thus data is exchanged between chromosomes. If part of the code is damaged (for example, when copied), mutations occur that differ from the true development process. How does DNA information lead a person through life, accumulating data on the development of all mankind.
A little history about deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA or Deoxyribonucleic acid is a macromolecule, along with RNA and protein, capable of storing information about the development of all living organisms.
At the initial stage of the development of the science of genetics, it was believed that proteins were information carriers. Gradually, in the course of research, the role of data storage was transferred to DNA. The structure of the DNA molecule was studied until the 1950s. Until that time, scientists assumed that the code consists of a chain of nucleotides, but no one could definitely prove how many of these chains are, how they are arranged and how they are connected.
Read also: Epigenetics: it is not genes that rule a person, but a person rules genes
Only in 1953, scientists F. Crick and J. Watson proposed the true structure of DNA in the form of a double helical ladder. These conclusions of scientists were discussed and studied for another decade. Researchers in the field of genetics were awarded the honorary Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962.
DNA information – 20 facts about "data storage" in a cell
1. To print the human genome, it would take 50 years to print 1 word per second (working 8 hours a day).
2. There are individuals who live without sexual reproduction – Bdelloid rotifers – for 80 million years they have been without a male sex, remain exclusively females and reproduce by borrowing the DNA information of other animals.
3. A bone marrow transplant transfers the donor's DNA into the bloodstream, sometimes leading to confusion during identification or arrest.
4. During the bite of the braconid wasp, it injects the victims with a virus that can suppress the immune system and creates all the conditions for the reproduction of the wasp larvae. Studies of this virus have shown that it is unique in its kind, which has no analogues. This virus is about 100 million years old. It's interesting that that the DNA information of the virus has completely merged with that of the wasp.
5. Parents and children, like brothers and sisters, have 50% of common genes in their blood.
6. A million times a day, the DNA polymer chain can be damaged (broken), but under the influence of internal factors it is quickly restored. If the body did not have a clear system that restores the DNA chain, this would lead to the death of cells and the whole organism.
7. There are only 4 families in Iceland whose DNA points to Native Americans. This is evidence that the Vikings came to Europe with a Native American woman over 1000 years ago.
8. It is earthworms that are the closest relatives of man.
9. DNA information of just one person – a girl named Brooke Greenberg, may be the key to immortality. This girl looked like a child all her life. And she died at the age of 20, looking like a little girl.
10. Mankind will not die out even if a global catastrophe happens: the DNA of the most prominent people (Lance Armstrong and Stephen Hawking) is stored on the International Space Station.
11. After studying the DNA of the Polynesians, it turned out that they discovered America 200 years earlier and founded Chile in 1300.
12. 40% of DNA consists of the genome of viruses that have ever infected the cells of ancient human ancestors.
13. All the world's information that is stored in digital form can fit in 2 g of DNA.
14. The genetic information of all people on earth is 99.9% the same and differs by only 0.1%.
15. If you stretch the DNA of one person, the code will take 16 billion km. For comparison – this is the distance as from the planet Pluto and back.
16. The DNA of the egg is successfully replaced by the genetic code of men. Thus, two men can be the parents of a child.
17. Human DNA is 50% identical to the banana genetic code.
18. Scientists have calculated that the shelf life of DNA is 521 years, after which the information will begin to break down. And the genetic code will be unreadable in 1.5 million years.
19. People of non-African origin have remnants of Neanderthal DNA.
20. In 2013, a "time capsule" was buried deep in the ocean. It contains DNA, hair and blood samples from all animals. This project was carried out with the aim of reviving in the future those species of animals that will become extinct.
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