how to tell if dna is alive or dead
Moderators: AmyCowen, kgudger, bfinio, MadelineB, Moderators
-
softballsmiles1
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 5:20 pm
- Occupation: school
- Project Question: I am doing a project with a onion and putting it into dna form and see how long it will live, but I don't know how to tell if it is alive. Can you help me?
- Project Due Date: feburary 6
- Project Status: I am conducting my experiment
how to tell if dna is alive or dead
I am doing a project on seeing if dna can live seperated from other cell components and if it does live how long by using an onion. But i do not know how to tell whether the dna is alive or dead. Can you help me?
-
tdaly
- Former Expert
- Posts: 1415
- Joined: Sat Nov 08, 2003 11:27 pm
- Occupation: Planetary Scientist
- Project Question: N/A
- Project Due Date: N/A
- Project Status: Not applicable
Re: how to tell if dna is alive or dead
Hello softballsmiles1,
I'm not 100% certain I understand your question. DNA is a molecule, made up of atoms that are connected to one another in specific and intricate ways. The ways that these atoms are connected (structure) are largely responsible for the way that DNA behaves (functions). DNA is used to perform certain tasks in the cell (such as protein synthesis, mitosis, and meiosis), but it is not ever alive. Since DNA is not a living organism, it isn't alive while it is inside the cell and it isn't alive when it is outside the cell. It is never alive because it is not a living organism. This website explain this concept more fully: http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/gen-link/1 ... 01248.html.
Good luck on your project! Let us know if we can be of more help!
I'm not 100% certain I understand your question. DNA is a molecule, made up of atoms that are connected to one another in specific and intricate ways. The ways that these atoms are connected (structure) are largely responsible for the way that DNA behaves (functions). DNA is used to perform certain tasks in the cell (such as protein synthesis, mitosis, and meiosis), but it is not ever alive. Since DNA is not a living organism, it isn't alive while it is inside the cell and it isn't alive when it is outside the cell. It is never alive because it is not a living organism. This website explain this concept more fully: http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/gen-link/1 ... 01248.html.
Good luck on your project! Let us know if we can be of more help!
All the best,
Terik
Terik