Welcome to Adenine.
Adenine is one of 4 bases that make up the DNA and RNA code. It's a pyrimidine with the formula C5H5N5. Adenine is held in place along the DNA polymer through its attachment to the strucural phosphate backbone. Adenine forms 2 hydrogen bonds with Thymine, acting as one of the 4 most important molecules in existence. Unlike the other bases (Guanine, Cytosine, and Thymine) Adenine is a molecule crucial to the strucural of several compounds essential to life on earth. These include ADP(Adenine Triphosphate), NAD(Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide), and FAD(Flavin Adenine Dinucleotide).
This geocache is a part of a competition between 7thgraders at Loveland classical school. We have been learning how to transcribe and translate the code into the proteins that do the work in our cells. We get points for you finding our cache, and even more points if you LOG PHOTOS.... PRETTY PLEASE.
This cache is part of a series that explains the “Central Dogma of Molecular Biology.” Everyone seems to know that DNA is a code, but they couldn’t tell you what it codes for. Well DNA codes for RNA, which codes for protein. The proteins are little machines doing all the work inside of our cells. When you hear about genetic diseases such as Muscular Dystrophy, Sickle Cell Anemia, Haemophelia etc… it’s not a broken gene that’s the culprit of disease, but a broken protein. A broken gene results in broken RNA, and eventually a broken protein.
This Geocache was created and is maintained by Stanley Polley, a Science teacher at Loveland Classical Schools.