What about DNA?

A better understanding of what DNA is, and what it does, is warranted in order to appreciate why its integrity must not be violated.  In the first place DNA is the framework from which genetic signals come.  Mutations occur from problems in meiosis due to faulty DNA.    Also, in Mitosis, i.e., simple asexual cell division, can run rampant if DNA is tampered with giving rise to too many cell divisions, which is basically what cancer is.  DNA, or Deoxyribonucleic Acid, may be explained as follows:

If we start with basic atoms of unique elements and organize different ones into various combinations we are able to concoct unique substances.  If no Carbon atoms are involved we typically refer to the combination as an inorganic compound.  Common table salt, i.e., Sodium Chloride is just that.  If Carbon atoms are involved the result is organic material.  Petrochemicals and solvents have various arrangements of Carbon and Hydrogen atoms strung together, or in rings, making up the different products we take for granted. Two or more atoms together of the same element or of two or more elements make molecules.  Examples are: H₂0 (Two Hydrogen atoms bonded to one Oxygen atom) making a water molecule, also known as “Dihydrogen Monoxide” and Propane (Carbon atoms with Hydrogens attached) also know as C₃H₈.  In both of these cases we view the result as a liquid or gas that may be converted back and forth, but perhaps more often than not, the combination results in a solid, like the table salt, which because of its crystalline organization and other factors, is more precisely known as a mineral.   Obviously, when water freezes the resultant ice is a solid; hence H₂0 is known as a mineral when in that state.

1) Pentose  Sugars:    

A ribose sugar molecule looks like a pentagon when drawn schematically, is made up of four carbon atoms and one oxygen atom in a ring.  Attached to each of the foregoing Carbon atoms, are individual Hydrogen atoms on one side, and on the other side (of the Carbon atoms) in three cases, there is an intervening Oxygen atom between the Carbon atom, and the usual, second,[1] Hydrogen atom.  If we take away the particular Oxygen atom (circled in red in the diagram) that is attached to the second Carbon clockwise from 12 o’clock, and just reattach the Hydrogen atom, we have a deoxyribose sugar instead.  This singular elemental difference also means that when connecting other molecules to these two kinds of sugars, we either end up with DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid--without the intervening Oxygen atom), or RNA (Ribonucleic acid) with the intervening Oxygen atom, as aforesaid.

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