In: Biology
What are 2 things that cells do with their DNA? When does the cell do these things?
Cell is the structural and functional unit of organisms or body. Organism may be unicellular or multicellular. Many of the unicellular and most of the multicellular organisms have DNA as their genetic material inside the cell. Every cell must have to maintain DNA as this biomolecule contains the coded information on which the structure and function of each cell depends. So, to maintain this DNA, Cells do two things with their DNA. These are: replication and transcription.
(I) Replication : A cell must divide in order to increase their number. So, every daughter cell must have their DNA also. So, the DNA in the cell must undergoes Replication so that the daughter cells can have their information storehouse.
(II) Transcription: The function inside the cell is also associated with DNA. The DNA will make a transcript of the information in the form of RNA. The process of this transcript formation is called as transcription. Here, mostly mRNA is formed and encode information in the form of triplet Codons. This information is decoded by the translation machinery of the cells and thus the function is achieved.