Running head: DNA & PROTEINS AS EVOLUTIONARY TAPE MEASURES
DNA & PROTEINS AS EVOLUTIONARY TAPE MEASURES
University of Phoenix
BIO
101
Mark Cope
March 27, 2009
DNA & PROTEINS AS EVOLUTIONARY TAPE MEASURES
Genes or Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) is a hereditary material in humans, animals and most all other organisms (US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, 2009) which determines physical traits, our hair, height, skin tone, even eye color. The dissertation has been set aside to describe the relationship between the concepts of DNA & Proteins as evolutionary tape measures. Identifying the relationship between DNA and Proteins means one would need to understand the definition of both. After acknowledging the relationship, the importance of DNA & Proteins as evolutionary tape measures will be examined and associated to the use within today’s working industry from the crime lab to the hospital laboratory. From the information provided one will be able to conclude DNA and proteins are used as tape measures or guides to solidify relations in a variety of industrial areas.
DNA is made up of four chemical bases adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine (Campbell, Reece, & Simon, 2007). These bases pair up to form units, each attached to a sugar and phosphate molecule to be called nucleotides. The nucleotides are arranged in two long strands to form a spiral called a double helix, which with the bases form a ladder (US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, 2009). The linear sequences of nucleotides in DNA molecules are passed from parents to offspring, and these DNA sequences determine the amino acid sequences of proteins in the offspring (Campbell et al.). The DNA and proteins of siblings are more similar than the DNA and proteins of unrelated individuals (Campbell et al.).
In 1865 Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian Monk, found...