Posted by I chose to do my final project on DNA, specifically the acids in DNA. The nucleic acid in DNA creates a language that stores information about who we are on a genetic level. This language nucleic acids make is referred to as codons. For my media, I made a 3D structure of DNA. There is only one start codon, AUG which is formed from TAC, so I started my DNA Structure with that codon. I only made a structure that could hold to codons. The second codon I used is the UAA stop codon.
White = hydrogen Gray = Carbon Blue = Nitrogen Red = Oxygen
Nucleic acids are diverse and make up the foundational aspects that encode for the human genome. These structural formations are what determine how we are and what we become. This being said, we aimed to find the definitive answers that show the build-up of what the codes are. Nucleotides are the building blocks of nucleic acid and two prominent makeups are being: DNA and RNA. With each nucleic acid being built up in four different elements we come to see they have each distinctive matching pair as well. These four elements include Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, and hydrogen. With that, we were able to also determine that this macromolecule was a significant figure in needing to match up correctly to not have certain misintended results that can be defined as a mutation. We have Adenine which matches up with Thymine and we have Guanine matching up with cytosine and at times we have Uracil matching with Adenine. We notice as we get down to the chemical aspects of the formations that these nucleotides are significant in representing how each must match up out of the 64 possibilities. Having the codon which is where we can see the cells and how it happens from such a small level. We see there being 1 start codon and then we can see that there are 3 stop codons. The everyday usage, biological makeup, and the functionalities that we come across can lead to positives and negatives to the buildup of how a human being is acting, looks, and much more for other beings as well.
Ms. Gengler’s STEAM project focuses on the structure of the polymer and biological macromolecule known as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Their STEAM project also touches on the discrete units of genetic expression known as codons. Specifically, their project hones in on the objectives “identify nucleic acids, lipids, carbohydrates, and proteins by their structure” and “compare and contrast the different organic molecules.” Ms. Gengler used what appears to be two different kind of metal wires and various colored beads to portray the three-dimensional, spiraled structure that is DNA’s double helix structure. The gray metal wires represent the inorganic phosphate “backbone” and the copper or brown wires represent the carbon scaffolding of the nucleosides themselves.