DNA, presented infographically.

April 22, 2009 9:05 PM

I'm designing a series of DNA infographics and would like to know what sorts of information would be the most ... well, informative.

My audience would be casual viewers and my goal is to to present interesting and relevant facts in a graphical manner so that a basic grasp of the molecule could be gained by taking in all of the information presented.

This is going to be presented as a series of 3 separate graphics.

I intend to include structural characteristics of the molecule ( i.e. the double-helix, codons, base pairing, the ribose-phosphate backbone, minor/major grooves), conservation of DNA across species, and perhaps diagramming the central dogma.

So my question is, what information about our genetic code do you find the most interesting, or would be the most informative in this context?


I'm doing this as a final project for an art course, and as a biochemistry/molecular biology major, would like to know what sorts of information would be the best to display for an audience outside of that community.

posted by clearly to media & arts (9 comments total)

A broadly important concept that can easily be explained to a general audience using DNA is that structure gives rise to function. Given the base pairing rules it is very easy to see that if you take one strand away from a double-stranded DNA molecule, you can very easily produce the sequence of the missing strand. It is not much of a stretch to explain in an extremely basic, conceptual way how the cell uses the same principle to replicate DNA.

The central dogma. A lot of people know DNA stores some sort of information but far fewer people understand what happens even to the level of "proteins do things, DNA describes how to make proteins." The exception to the central dogma: reverse transcription - a HIV connection could be interesting because it shows that the general concepts you're presenting explain how things they have heard of work.

Regulation is cool presented from the angle that every cell in your body has the same genetic material and the only reason different cells look and work differently is because they use their "genetic potential" differently. Could tie this into stem cells if you really wanted...
posted by david06 at 9:18 PM on April 22

This is somewhat tangential to your question, but I would recommend checking out the work of Paul Rothemund at Caltech who does what he calls "DNA Oragami." It's an interesting, and I would argue stunningly artful, manner of integrating DNA into artwork.

More related to your question: The Nobel Prize people generally have very good art for their prizes, many of which have involved what you outlined above (double helix, codons, central dogma, etc). You can look at their website for real inspiration here.
posted by u2604ab at 9:19 PM on April 22

In the context of conservation, one of the most fascinating things to me is how you can figure out what kind of function a piece of genetic material has by looking at the pattern of conservation—not just whether there are changes, but what kind of changes. The figures in this 12 Drosophila genomes paper from the Kellis lab show some particularly striking examples.

I think the central dogma is a bit too simplistic, you might want to diagram a network of lots of different pathways of information flow from DNA. So various kinds of RNAs, including rRNA, tRNA, miRNA, transcriptional activators, repressors, and insulators, and epigenetic modifications in the form of histone modifications and cytosine methylation. Okay, that might be a bit much for one diagram. Maybe you could just present something like the lac operon, which is still such a great example.

Would love it if you would post the product here when you are done.
posted by grouse at 9:25 PM on April 22 [1 favorite]

Popular science journalism talks about ~97% of the human genome being "junk" DNA, but, in fact, there's a rich store of controlling genetic information there that we're just starting to understand: microRNAs, repeat elements, gene regulation regions, parasitic DNA. The coding aspect of the genome "code" is only a small part of the myriad amazing ways in which life does its dance.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:36 PM on April 22 [1 favorite]

i like the DNA-RNA-Protein information presented by the nobel prize website.

The fact that dna is conserved through species is very important for any biologist, though. So that needs due reference as well.

The basic ideas presented in Jurassic Park are pretty fundamental and darn interesting, too.
posted by cmchap at 9:53 PM on April 22

Every time someone mentions anything related to biology, I whip out my Campbell's 6th Edition Biology, which you've probably got kicking around from a 101 class. I spent most of my time in AP Bio and college freshman bio staring at their graphics and diagrams. The purple enzyme blobs, yellow mitochondria, brown little ribosomes. Lucky Charms of microbiology. But once you had these finger puppet, super simplifications of subjects down, it also showed you how things really work with microscope photos. How things really work aren't all neat and orderly, and I think that can sometimes be lost with infographics.

I still love biology, but went on to major in Graphic Design. Campbell's infographics made me understand the "biochemistry magic" that was going on. I'm also still constantly shocked when otherwise very educated and intelligent people have no idea what DNA really is or how it works. Some variation of "hurrf durrf banana trees have lots of DNA in common with Hoomans, lol" seems to have worked it's way into the lexicon.

To me the most fascinating aspect of DNA is how it makes us-- protein replication. From 2 base pairs, to 3 nucleotides in a codon, to 20* amino acids, to millions of proteins, and the vast array of life on earth-- you me and the banana tree.
posted by fontophilic at 9:59 PM on April 22

DNA packing, histones, and assembly into chromosomes (I'd be surprised if many non-scientists could give you an accurate definition of chromosome, yet we talk about them all the time) is something that would be beautiful to picture and would fit in nicely with diagrams for the basic physical structure (I'm a biochemist, so my opinions of what is beautiful might be a bit skewed).

Seconding some mention of the central dogma: a lot of people have no understanding of the concepts of genome/gene/gene expression/proteins as gene products. I had to give frequent presentations about my research to a group of students who came from all sorts of different backgrounds, and I'm still amazed at some of the feedback I received, more than several college seniors explicitly thanking me for explaining the relationship between genes and proteins, the basics of cloning, mutations, etc.
posted by halogen at 9:59 PM on April 22

Example of what I meant.
posted by halogen at 10:05 PM on April 22

You'll need to show a section that has mutation or damage. From disease to evolution, so much stems from what happens when the processes go slightly wrong, or how harmless damage accumulating over a lifetime can turn suddenly harmful.
posted by -harlequin- at 11:35 PM on April 22