Dna & Rna: Cell Information

Essential Understandings about DNA and RNA:

In general, all cells are made of 4 elements; carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), and nitrogen (N). These four elements along with other elements combine to make up the bio-molecules of all cells; carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids (DNA & RNA).
Cells are constantly making proteins to carry out the work of cells. Proteins are made of building blocks called amino acids. There are about 22 amino acids that are used to make all the proteins of life.
The instructions to make all proteins are contained in the famous DNA molecule. The DNA molecule is shaped like a twisted ladder, a double stranded molecule. The code is on the rungs of the ladder. There are four nitrogen bases (the building blocks) that make up the code: cytosine (C), guanine (G), thymine (T), and adenine (A). In DNA the nitrogen base cytosine (C) always bonds to guanine (G), and thymine (T) always bonds with adenine (A).
Just as words can be communicated in Braille with two symbols (raised dots and flat areas), the information DNA contains is coded with the four bases; C, G, T and A.
A section of DNA that is coding for a specific protein is called a gene. The gene is considered the basic unit of inheritance. Genes are passed from parents to offspring and contain the information needed to specify physical and biological traits. For example such as your eye or hair color. Humans have approximately 25,000 protein-coding genes. The exact number of human genes is not known at this time.
DNA is tightly wound up into structures called chromosomes in eukaryotic cells. In prokaryotic cells DNA can be found in one of two ways; either as a nucleoid (an irregularly shaped region of DNA) , or a plasmid (a small circle of DNA).
RNA is another important nucleic acid, which also stores information. RNA is single stranded (not double stranded like DNA) and uses 4 nitrogen bases to make its code. The nitrogen bases are cytosine (C), guanine (G), adenine (A), and uracil (U). Uracil (U) is used instead of thymine (T) in RNA.