What is DNA?
We know that every person is unique. This all has to do with a personal code in the very depths of our cells. A code we call DNA. But what exactly is DNA?
What is DNA?
DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. Simply put, it is the carrier of all our hereditary information. Half of this information has been passed on by your father, and the other half by your mother. The molecule is often described as the recipe of life. It contains all the ingredients you need to develop and survive. Every living thing contains DNA. Inside every human being, DNA is hidden in all of our thirty trillion (30,000,000,000,000) cells. In the nucleus of the cell to be exact.
DNA as a spiral staircase
Let’s zoom in on this cell nucleus. Here you can find a DNA molecule in the characteristic shape of a double helix. This double helix has its own building blocks, called nucleotides. In turn, these building blocks consist of three parts: a phosphate group, a sugar group and a nitrogenous base. If we compare the double helix with a spiral staircase, the banisters consist of the phosphate and sugar groups. And the railings are held together by nitrogenous bases: the steps.
Your personal ingredients
The steps can be a combination of one of four nitrogenous bases: adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G) or cytosine (C). Each handrail provides one base for each stair step. When this is base A, the other handrail will have to connect base T to it. Base A and T form a duo, just like base T and base G. The spiral staircase contains the recipe. But it is the order of the steps that indicate your personal ingredients.
How is DNA read?
Those ingredients must of course be read. For this, the DNA double helix is broken open in such a way that the nitrogenous bases no longer form duos. The reading can begin. Suppose part of the sequence consists of ATTGCA. It may just be that this piece of DNA indicates that your eyes should be brown. Such a piece is also called a gene. As humans, we have nearly 25,000 genes. And they contain much more information than just eye color.
Unravel the mystery behind your DNA
This information varies from skin aging to metabolism, from maximum oxygen uptake to caffeine breakdown. But what does your DNA say? By having your DNA tested, you can easily find out. And at Omniyou, we can do this for you. Do you have a predisposition to acne? Are you sensitive to salt? Or do you have a talent for strength sports? Unravel the mystery behind your DNA and see what DNA tests we can offer you.
