Question: does every living thing have DNA :)

Asked by chayes to Dirk, Elise, Janette, Renee, Yusuf on 21 May 2012.

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  1. Photo: Dirk SlawinskiDirk Slawinski
    answered on 21 May 2012:

    YES! I’ll leave to Janette our resident geneticist to explain alllllllll about it, over to you Janette

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  2. Photo: Janette EdsonJanette Edson
    answered on 21 May 2012:

    Thanks Dirk! The short answer is yes. DNA is needed by every living organism as it is the code or information that is needed to allow living organisms to grow, survive and reproduce. Living things are made up of cells, and with DNA these cells just can’t exist!

    Here’s some more information about DNA: http://www.genome.gov/25520880

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  3. Photo: Renee WebsterRenee Webster
    answered on 21 May 2012:

    They do! It is really incredible to think that everything from humans to fish to trees to bacteria are all based on DNA. The same phosphate backbone, the same sugars and the same nucleotide bases are common between every living thing on the planet – I think this is an amazing fact.

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  4. Photo: Elise PelzerElise Pelzer
    answered on 21 May 2012:

    DNA is the masterplan for all living cells. It is interesting to note too that viruses (which many scientists believe to be ‘non-living’) also have DNA and sometimes RNA as their instruction manual!

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  5. Photo: Yusuf PisanYusuf Pisan
    answered on 22 May 2012:

    Yes. DNA is good for replication which is necessary for continued existence.

    We will at some point have to modify our definition of what “living” means. Can a robot be a living thing? What if it looks like human, has unique thinking patterns similar to a brain, has a way of making other robots for reproduction. At what point would we call the robot human?

    🙂

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Comments

  1. Photo: admin_kristinadmin_kristin
    commented on 24 May 2012:

    You can find more information on DNA through the TechNyou site: http://technyou.edu.au/

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