A Science Odyssey: You Try It: DNA Workshop

A Science Odyssey: You Try It: DNA Workshop:

Try this interactive web exploration!  See how DNA Replication and Protein Synthesis work - in a simplified way.

During DNA replication, special enzymes move up along the DNA ladder, unzipping the molecule as it moves along. New nucleotides move in to each side of the unzipped ladder. The bases on these nucleotides are very particular about what they connect to. Cytosine (C) will "pair" to guanine (G), and adenine (A) will "pair" to thymine (T). How the bases are arranged in the DNA is what determines the genetic code.

When the enzyme has passed the end of the DNA, two identical molecules of DNA are left behind. Each contains one side of the original DNA and one side made of "new" nucleotides. It is possible that mistakes were made along the way -- in other words, that a base pair in one DNA molecule doesn't match the corresponding pair in the other molecule. On average, one mistake may exist in every billion base pairs. That's the same as typing out the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica five times and typing in a wrong letter only once! (Source: A Science Odyssey: DNA Workshop www.pbs.org)

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