1.2 Nanoscale Actors and Their Properties

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Figure 1.9: Structure of DNA and the base pairs of DNA.

is encoded (Figure 1.9). Additionally, a base can interact with a base on another DNA

strand with specific hydrogen bonds, which are strong enough that another structure

results, the famous double helix. The specificity and strength of the hydrogen bonds is

such that it can be used to translate the DNA information into proteins or create more

DNA that is exactly the same in mitosis (see Section 1.1).

Structure and function of molecules – amino acids, peptides and proteins. The other

important polymers in the body are peptides or proteins, which are made out of amino

acids. Here, the specificity due to hydrogen bonding and other intermolecular forces

continues: Proteins are the specific polymers that DNA information is translated into.

Basically, specific hydrogen bonds of DNA are transcribed into specific hydrogen bonds

of RNA, which then are translated via specific hydrogen bonds to transfer-RNA (tRNA),