Answer to Question #29733 in Biochemistry for luke

Question

In all organisms and viruses, how are the instructions for specifying their characteristics carried?

Answer 1

All specific characteristics of living organisms and virusesare stored in their genome. Genome is a set of genes. Gene is a nucleotidesequence of DNA that contains information about synthesis of one polypeptide chain or RNA chain. Through a process of synthesis these substances, one gene can code one or more phenotypic characteristics. Genetically and evolutionarily established characteristics living organisms gain with gamete's genome of parents, with some individual changes (because of the doubling, addition and modification of parts of the genome), and viruses gain it by replication of existing viral genome to get a complete copy of the genetic precursor.