Please note: This exhibit may be out of date, please visit our new Genetics online exhibit.

Information Helix

If you could pull apart the double helix, you would see the exposed ends of four different chemicals waving in the air. Those four chemicals, called bases carry the information used to make a body and to keep it running.

Scientists named each of the four bases with a letter, G, A, T or C. All of the letters in one cell make up the human genome, a complete set of instructions for making a person.

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In a complete helix, the A's always line up with the T's and the G's with the C's. In the picture, the white and red bases always hook up together and blue and green are always together.
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