DNA

The genetic material of most viruses and all cellular organisms, humans included, consists of one or more molecules of deoxyribonucleic acid, better known as DNA. In the nucleus of each human cell, there are 46 chromosomes, and each chromosome contains a single DNA molecule. For comparison, in the bacterial species Escherichia coli, each cell has only one chromosome and thus only one DNA molecule. Regardless of the organism, every molecule of DNA is constructed of two …

…bases that gives each individual of a species its particular characteristics such as brown eyes or blue eyes, and finally, it is the difference in number and sequence of bases that distinguishes a human from a chimpanzee. The sequence of bases in DNA serves as a genetic code to determine the corresponding sequence of amino acids in each protein of an organism. The actual mechanism of protein synthesis involves the use of intermediary RNA molecules.