Counting and Combinatorics involved in DNA and Genomes
DNA and Genomes: The hereditary information of a living organism is encoded using deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), or in certain viruses, ribonucleic acid (RNA). DNA and RNA are extremely complex molecules, with different molecules interacting in a vast variety of ways to enable living process. Here in this post, I will brief about description of how DNA and RNA encode genetic information. DNA molecules consist of two strands consisting of blocks known as nucleotides. Each nucleotide contains subcomponents called bases, each of which is adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), or thymine (T). The two strands of DNA are held together by hydrogen bonds connecting different bases, with A bonding only with T, and C bonding only with G. Unlike DNA, RNA is single stranded, with uracil (U) replacing thymine as a base. So, in DNA the possible base pairs are A-T and C-G, while in RNA they are A-U, and C-G. The DNA of a living creature consists of multiple pieces of DNA forming separate chromosomes.