Question

Why can damage to a nucleic acid lead to a person not producing an enzyme?

Answer 1

Damage to a nucleic acid can lead to a faulty genetic message being sent to the messenger RNA. This means that the person would end up producing the incorrect protein/ enzyme since it received the wrong translation.

Answer 2

Nucleic acids are essentially the genetic makeup of an organism, meaning that contains the blueprint of the genetic material of a living organism. The central dogma of biology states that for a protein to be coded for the message must be transcripted from nucleic acid particularly messenger RNA and this is translanted and eventually becomes a protein, and enzymes are proteins. If the genetic message coming from the nucleic acid is faulty then the desired transcription and translation of the protein will not take place and hence not produce the correct enzyme.