Molecule which carries genetic information

DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid is a long molecule that contains our unique genetic code. Like a recipe book it holds the instructions for making all the proteins in our bodies. Streptococcal infections are any type of infection caused by the group of bacteria Streptococcus.

The DNA code contains instructions needed to make the proteins and molecules essential for our growth, development and health. The discovery of the structure of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick in is one of the most famous scientific discoveries of all time. If you have any other comments or suggestions, please let us know at comment yourgenome.

Can you spare minutes to tell us what you think of this website? Open survey. In: Stories In the Cell. Frederick carried out a series of experiments to investigate the strains further. First he killed S bacteria with heat and injected them into the mice.

The mice survived. He then injected heat-killed S bacteria along with living R bacteria. The mice died. After studying the blood of these mice he was surprised to find living S bacteria in it, somehow the rough R bacteria had transformed into smooth S bacteria.

Image credit: Genome Research Limited. Related Content:. What is DNA? What are Streptococcal infections? How do genes direct the production of proteins? From Genetics Home Reference. Topics in the How Genes Work chapter What are proteins and what do they do? Can genes be turned on and off in cells? What is epigenetics? How do cells divide?

How do genes control the growth and division of cells? How do geneticists indicate the location of a gene? Over the years the team made incremental tweaks until they produced enzymes that could work on XNAs. In effect, the first XNA passed its information on to the new one — albeit in a roundabout way. This is the first time artificial molecules have been made to pass genes on to their descendants. Because the XNAs can do this, they are capable of evolution.

Once the XNAs were installed, they could replicate and evolve on their own. Astrobiologists have long suspected as much. Holliger suspects RNA was an opportunistic choice. Instead, life may have started with RNA simply because it was made in large quantities on the early Earth.