Table of Contents:

Page 2: Table of contents

Pages 3-8: Part 1-DNA Structure

Pages 9-14: Part 2-DNA Replication

Pages 15-21: Part 3-DNA Transcription/Translation/Protein Synthesis

Page 23: Glossary

Page 24: Sources

Part 1: DNA Structure

Once upon a time...

Two best friends were outside talking about how excited they were for Christmas and admiring all the lights.

Until the little girl, Emma, thought of something she learned in class.

You know, all of these Christmas lights kind of remind me of DNA.

What?! How?

Chris, the little boy, was shocked.

Well, all the colored light bulbs represents the nitrogen bases in DNA. And the whole entire strands of lights represent a strand of DNA.

But, what are nitrogen bases?

There are four nitrogen bases: Cytosine, Guanine, Adenine, and Thymine. Each one is needed to make a DNA strand.

Oh I get it! You can't make a light strand without the different colors, just like how you can't make a DNA strand without the nitrogen bases. But how else is DNA and colored light strands the same?

Well, when you first open up a box of lights, they are all spiraled and twisted, just like DNA! DNA is like twisted lights with each light bulb being a different color in order to make a light strand.

Wow, that's really cool!

Then, the two friends went on with their night and went around town to look at all the different lights.

Part 2: DNA Replication

One snowy winter night, a grandma was making gingerbread cookies for her grandchildren.

All of a sudden, the grandma said:

Back in my day, when I was your age, I was learning all about DNA replication.

What's that?!

It's when a double helix DNA strand splits into two and adds another strand to each separated strand.

I don't get it.

When I make cookies and don't have enough batter, I normally add more flour. I separate the batter that I already have in half then add in new flour to each half. That's kinda like when a DNA strand separates and adds a new strand to the old strand.

I think I'm starting to get it. So, DNA replication in simple terms is basically when a double helix DNA strand is separated and each old strand acts as a template for the new strands added.

Very Good! Now, enjoy some nice homemade ginger bread cookies!

Thanks grandma!

Part 3: DNA Transcription/ Translation/ Protein Synthesis