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Properties of Genetic Material - Practice Questions & MCQ
Edited By admin | Updated on Sep 18, 2023 18:34 AM | #NEET
Quick Facts
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Properties of Genetic Material is considered one of the most asked concept.
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7 Questions around this concept.
Solve by difficulty
Assertion: The genetic material possesses stability over generations.
Reason: Genetic material is protected by various mechanisms, such as DNA repair enzymes and histone proteins, which help maintain the stability of the genetic information.
Concepts Covered - 1
Properties of Genetic Material
- Following are the criteria that a molecule must fulfill to act as a genetic material:
- It should be able to replicate.
- It should be chemically and structurally stable.
- It should provide the scope for slow changes
- It should be able to express itself in the form of ‘Mendelian characters’.
- Both the nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) have the ability to direct their duplications.
- The other molecules in the living system, such as proteins fail to fulfill the first criteria itself.
- The genetic material should be stable enough not to change with different stages of the life cycle, age or with change in the physiology of the organism.
- Stability as one of the properties of genetic material was very evident in Griffith’s ‘transforming principle’ itself that heat, which killed the bacteria, at least did not destroy some of the properties of genetic material.
- This now can easily be explained in light of the DNA that the two strands being complementary if separated by heating come together, when appropriate conditions are provided.
- Further, 2'-OH group present at every nucleotide in RNA is a reactive group and makes RNA labile and easily degradable.
- RNA is also now known to be catalytic, hence reactive.
- Therefore, DNA chemically is less reactive and structurally more stable when compared to RNA.
- Therefore, among the two nucleic acids, the DNA is a better genetic material.
- In fact, the presence of thymine at the place of uracil also confers additional stability to DNA.
- Both DNA and RNA are able to mutate. In fact, RNA being unstable mutates at a faster rate. Consequently, viruses having an RNA genome and having a shorter life span mutate and evolve faster.
- The above discussion indicates that both RNA and DNA can function as genetic material, but DNA being more stable is preferred for the storage of genetic information.
- For the transmission of genetic information, RNA is better.
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