Why was it important to determine the structure of DNA to understand how DNA stored, copied, and transmitted information?

Structure of DNA provides basic information about its packing, replication and copying of the stored genetic information. It tells how the parent DNA strands are copied during the process of cell division.

Explanation:

The double-helical structure of DNA is the basis for its ability to store the genetic information, to replicate itself and to transmit the genetic information. DNA is a polymer of four nucleotides. It stores the genetic information in the sequence of these four nucleotides. The complementary base pairing between the DNA bases tells how DNA template strands are copied during the process of replication.

The newly formed DNA strands have complementary nucleotide sequence to the template DNA strands. Similarly, during the transmission of genetic information, the nucleotide sequence of the DNA is copied into the nucleotide sequence of the mRNA. Therefore, knowledge about the structure of DNA is required to understand its functions.