Name to DNA.
Convert your name into a DNA sequence using reverse translation
Letters B, J, O, U, X and Z have no amino acid, so they show in grey
All living things have DNA. DNA is like an instruction manual that tells our bodies how to grow and work properly. Sometimes scientists want to find out what a piece of DNA does or how it works. But they may not know what the end result should look like.
A biological process called 'reverse translation' helps here. It is like looking at a finished cake and working out the ingredients that made it. Usually you start with the ingredients and make the cake. Here you start with the cake and work out the ingredients. In reverse translation, scientists start with a protein that they want to understand. Then they try to find the DNA sequence that makes it. It is like doing the steps of making a protein in reverse order
What
DNA uses an alphabet of 4 letters (A, T, C, G). Proteins use an alphabet of 20 letters (A, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, Y). Each protein letter is one amino acid. DNA bases group into sets of 3, called "codons". A codon is the link between DNA and protein. For example, the letter "M" is the amino acid Methionine. The codon ATG codes for it, and ATG contains the 3 DNA bases A, T and G
How
This app uses JavaScript to convert the letters that you type into a DNA sequence. It treats each letter as an amino acid and looks up a codon for it. In reverse mode, it splits a DNA string into codons of 3 bases. Then it looks up the amino acid for each codon
A restriction enzyme cuts DNA at one short sequence, called a restriction site. Most sites are palindromes, so the site reads the same on both strands and the enzyme can cut both strands at the same place
Why
To teach people about biology