DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the important material that makes up our genes. It's like a blueprint that shapes things like our eye color, height, and even how likely we are to get certain diseases.

What is DNA Made Of?

DNA has a cool shape called a double helix, which looks like a twisted ladder.

This ladder is made of two long strands, and each strand is built from small pieces called nucleotides.

Each nucleotide has three parts:

• A phosphate group
• A sugar called deoxyribose
• Four nitrogen bases: adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), and guanine (G)

Pairing Up:

• The bases pair up in a special way: A always goes with T, and C always goes with G.
• This pairing creates specific sequences that are really important.

How Much DNA Do We Have?

In humans, our DNA is made up of around 3 billion base pairs.

These base pairs code for about 20,000 to 25,000 genes.

What Do Genes Do?

• Each gene is a unique sequence of DNA that tells our body how to make a specific protein.
• These proteins help determine traits like how tall we are or what color our eyes are.

Understanding Alleles:

Sometimes, there are different versions of the same gene. These are called alleles.

For example, the gene that decides eye color can have several alleles, which may result in blue, green, or brown eyes.

Copying DNA:

When our cells divide, DNA replication happens. This process makes sure that each new cell gets an exact copy of the DNA.

It’s done really well, too—there’s only about 1 mistake for every 1 billion base pairs, thanks to special tools in the cell that help check the DNA.

In Summary:

The way DNA is structured and how it works is super important.

The order and arrangement of the nucleotides in DNA help decide the traits and features of every living thing.