Building Things with DNA
Word Count: 500
We all know that DNA (DeoxyriboNucleic Acid) is the stuff that makes us who we are. We read about CRISPR and the possibility of designer babies in the news. We order test kits to learn about our genetic history. We are building a library of the entire human genome. DNA is the Lego that is used to build humans, and we are learning to play with the pieces to understand ourselves and improve our lives.
But what if we used the same Lego blocks to build things other than people? The Microsystems and Mechanobiology Lab at Carnegie Mellon University specializes in building structures out of DNA. Things like tubes, tiles, smiley faces, tiny robots - shapes you would never find in nature. When I joined the lab it made me interested in biology for the first time because we were using DNA to build things that I understood, like beams and tubes, instead of things that have always confused me, like genes and chromosomes. But even though I am an engineer, I still need to learn the biology behind how DNA works.
DNA is the code that describes how to make all the different molecules that make up a human being. A single nucleotide - the most basic unit of the DNA molecule - is repeated many times to form a long filament. The structure of a DNA molecule is similar to a ladder, and you could think of each rung of the ladder as a nucleotide .
A long strand of DNA (made up of anywhere from hundreds to millions of nucleotides) will code for making a particular structure in your body, like a protein. This long strand is called a gene, and cells in your body can read it like a computer program. I always thought that each of us must have really different genes because we all look so unique. However, in reality, over 99% of my genes are the same as yours. The differences that you see between people is due to variations in less than 1% of all the genes you have. So although we all look very different, we all have a lot in common, genetically speaking .
Genes themselves are contained in chromosomes. Chromosomes are large structures made out of DNA that is wrapped around histone proteins to give it some rigidity. Every human has 46 chromosomes, and spread across these chromosomes are all the genes you need to build a person. Together, the chromosomes contain your genome - in other words, the chromosomes contain all the genes that you have . Each chromosome contains on average 100 million base pairs (we will talk more about base pairs soon). Altogether, the human genome - all of your DNA code - is made up of over 6 billion base pairs .
Next time we will dive down into the molecular structure of DNA. But until then, maybe you’ve read enough about DNA to imagine how it could be used to build structures that we have never seen before. What would you build with DNA?
 Khan Academy. “DNA.” https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/dna-as-the-genetic-material/structure-of-dna/v/dna-deoxyribonucleic-acid Visited 05/13/2019.
 National Institutes of Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine. “What is a gene?” https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/basics/gene Visited 05/13/2019.
 National Institutes of Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine. “What is a genome?” https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/hgp/genome Visited 05/13/2019.
"Kutumia DNA: ""Kutumia DNA"" ni neno la Kiingereza linalomaanisha ""Deoxyribonucleic acid"" na linamaanisha ""kitu kinachofanya sisi kuwa sisi.""" Habari za CRISPR na uwezekano wa kuzaliwa kwa watoto waliobuniwa kwa njia ya kompyuta Sisi kuagiza vifaa vya kupima kujifunza kuhusu historia yetu ya maumbile. Tunatengeneza maktaba ya genome nzima ya binadamu. DNA ni Lego ambayo hutumiwa kujenga wanadamu, na tunajifunza kucheza na vipande hivyo ili tujielewe na kuboresha maisha yetu. Lakini vipi ikiwa tungetumia vitalu vya Lego sawa kujenga vitu vingine mbali na watu? Maabara ya Microsystems na Mechanobiology katika Chuo Kikuu cha Carnegie Mellon ina utaalam katika kujenga miundo kutoka kwa DNA. Vitu kama vile mirija, vigae, nyuso zenye tabasamu, roboti ndogo - maumbo ambayo huwezi kamwe kuipata katika asili. "Nilipoingia kwenye maabara hiyo, nilivutiwa na biolojia kwa mara ya kwanza kwa sababu tulikuwa tukitumia DNA kujenga vitu ambavyo nilielewa, kama vile vipande vya umeme na mabomba, badala ya vitu ambavyo vimenisumbua daima, kama vile jeni na kromosomu.""" Hata kama mimi ni mhandisi, bado ninahitaji kujifunza biolojia ya jinsi DNA inavyofanya kazi. DNA ni kificho cha kuunda molekuli zote zinazotengeneza binadamu. Nucleotidi moja - kiungo cha msingi zaidi cha molekuli ya DNA - hurudiwa mara nyingi ili kufanyiza nyuzi ndefu. Muundo wa molekuli ya DNA ni sawa na ngazi, na unaweza kufikiria kila hatua ya ngazi kama nucleotide. Mnyororo mrefu wa DNA (unaoundwa na nuklia mia moja hadi milioni moja) utaandika kanuni ya kutengeneza muundo fulani katika mwili wako, kama vile protini. "Kifungu hiki kirefu kinaitwa ""jini"" na chembe za mwili zinaweza kukisoma kama programu ya kompyuta." Sikuzote nilifikiri kwamba kila mmoja wetu lazima awe na chembe za urithi tofauti sana kwa sababu sote tunaonekana kuwa wa kipekee sana. Hata hivyo, zaidi ya asilimia 99 ya chembe zangu za urithi ni sawa na zako. Tofauti za binadamu ni kwa sababu ya tofauti za chini ya 1% ya jeni zote. Ingawa sisi sote tunaonekana tofauti sana, sisi sote tuna mengi ya kawaida, kwa kusema kwa maumbile. Jeni zenyewe ziko katika kromosomu. Chromosomes ni muundo mkubwa wa DNA uliofungwa kwenye protini za histoni ili kuifanya iwe imara. Kila binadamu ana kromosomu 46 na katika kromosomu hizo kuna jeni zote zinazohitajiwa ili kuunda mtu. Pamoja, kromosomu zina genome yako - kwa maneno mengine, kromosomu zina jeni zote ambazo una. Kila kromosomu ina pairi za msingi milioni 100 (tutazungumza zaidi juu ya pairi za msingi hivi karibuni). Kwa ujumla, genome ya binadamu - nambari yako yote ya DNA - ina zaidi ya jozi bilioni sita za msingi. Wakati mwingine tutaweza kuingiza katika muundo wa molekuli ya DNA. Lakini hadi wakati huo, labda umesoma vya kutosha juu ya DNA kufikiria jinsi inaweza kutumika kujenga miundo ambayo hatujawahi kuona kabla. Ungetengeneza nini kwa kutumia DNA? Chuo cha Khan. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika makala ya ""DNA: Biolojia na Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti wa Utafiti." Taasisi ya Kitaifa ya Afya, Maktaba ya Kitaifa ya Tiba ya Marekani. "Kuna ""Gene"" katika lugha ya Kiingereza, ""Gene"" katika lugha ya Kiingereza, ""Gene"" katika lugha ya Kiingereza, ""Gene"" katika lugha ya Kiingereza, ""Gene"" katika lugha ya Kiingereza." Taasisi ya Kitaifa ya Afya, Maktaba ya Kitaifa ya Tiba ya Marekani. "Kuna ""genome"" ambayo ni sehemu ya ""genome"" (kitu kinachotumiwa katika chembe za urithi) na ""genome"" (kitu kinachotumiwa katika chembe za urithi) na ""genome"" (kitu kinachotumiwa katika chembe za urithi) na ""genome"" (kitu kinachotumiwa katika chembe za urithi) ni pamoja na ""genome"" (genome)."