TOGETHERNESS

DNA is the genetic material from which all animals are formed. DNA is made up of NUCLEOTIDES and a pentose bond on the outside. NUCLEOTIDES are made up of three parts- a pentose sugar, a NITROGEN BASE, and a phosphate group. In DNA, the pentose is Deoxyribose. The NITROGEN BASE can be one of four choices- adenine, cytosine, guanine, or thymine. The order of these four bases in a DNA molecule is how genetic information is stored. This information can be grouped several ways. A GENE is a small part of a DNA molecule. It can include anywhere from a thousand NUCLEOTIDES to hundreds of thousands of them. These genes can be grouped into certain ALLELES. An ALLELE is a specific trait identified by a gene. An example of an ALLELE is the GENE that causes people to have brown hair. The brown hair GENE is a NUCLEOTIDE. A CHROMOSOME is another grouping. A CHROMOSOME is a group of several DNA strands banded together, usually in an X or Y shape.