Human and banana: DNA
Every piece of information about our genome is stored in our DNA. So it can be said without exaggeration that our entire organism, our entire being, is determined by this structure. However, if you believe that human DNA is a one-of-a-kind marvel, you should rethink and take a look at the banana.
What is DNA exactly?
DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid or on German Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). This is a double helix that consists of several building blocks. Desoxyribose (a sugar), phosphate residues and the bases adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine should be mentioned here. Two of the bases form a bridge between the main strands: adenine and thymine or cytosine and guanine.
- The DNA of a living being is in every cell of its body and represents, so to speak, a blueprint according to which the being is built. A person (like most other living beings) receives these basic building blocks equally from both parents.
- The DNA strand can be divided into genes. This is specific genetic information, each of which represents a section on the strand. Everyone has around 30,000 to 40,000 genes. Although these are present in every cell in the body, not every gene is active in every cell.
What do people have to do with bananas?
- In absolute terms, human DNA is just as unique as the genome of every single person, as there are fundamental differences - identical twins are an exception. In relative terms, however, the human genome does not represent anything special in the realm of nature. The genome of lung fish, for example, is around twenty times more complex than that of humans.
- The similarity between human DNA and the genetic make-up of other life forms is also curious. It is well known that we share up to 99% of our genes with great apes such as chimpanzees. But even with the banana, humans still have around 50% of their genetic makeup in common. This similarity comes about because the basic metabolic processes in almost all forms of life are very similar. Incidentally, the genome of the wild banana was completely deciphered in 2012.
Amino acid sequencing is the partial decoding of a ...
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