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02-dnastructure1

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a nucleic acid macromolecule located in the cell's nucleus that codes for proteins essential to life. Key experiments by Griffith, Avery-MacLeod-McCarty, and Hershey-Chase demonstrated that DNA is the genetic material responsible for transferring information between cells. The structure of DNA, discovered by Watson and Crick with contributions from Chargaff and Franklin, is a double helix formed by nucleotides consisting of a phosphate group, deoxyribose sugar, and nitrogen bases that pair in specific combinations.

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6 views18 pages

02-dnastructure1

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a nucleic acid macromolecule located in the cell's nucleus that codes for proteins essential to life. Key experiments by Griffith, Avery-MacLeod-McCarty, and Hershey-Chase demonstrated that DNA is the genetic material responsible for transferring information between cells. The structure of DNA, discovered by Watson and Crick with contributions from Chargaff and Franklin, is a double helix formed by nucleotides consisting of a phosphate group, deoxyribose sugar, and nitrogen bases that pair in specific combinations.

Uploaded by

Heeluhree Vee
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Discovering the

Structure
of DNA
What is DNA?
• DNA = deoxyribonucleic acid
• Holds all our cell’s information
• Located in the cell’s nucleus
What we already know
about DNA
• Codes for proteins essential to life
• A nucleic acid macromolecule
• Monomer of a nucleic acid is a nucleotide
• The three parts of a nucleotide:
– 1. Phosphate group
– 2. Sugar (deoxyribose)
– 3. Nitrogen base
Nitrogen bases
• The nitrogen base can
either be a purine or a
pyrimidine.
• How many carbon rings
does each have?
– Purines have 2
– Pyrimidines have 1
More about nitrogen bases
• DNA has 4 nitrogen
bases:
– Thymine (T)
– Adenine (A)
– Cytosine (C)
– Guanine (G)
• Adenine and Guanine
are purines
• Cytosine and
Thymine are
pyrimidines.
You could draw this in your
notes...

YouTube:
Structure of DNA
DNA
A collaborative effort!
• Early 1900s
– known: information is passed from cell to cell.
– Unknown: what carried the information?
• Some scientists thought a protein was
responsible, others that it was a nucleic
acid.
• Three major experiments helped show that
a nucleic acid carried cell information:
– Griffith
– Avery-MacLeod-McCarty
– Hershey-Chase
Frederick Griffith got
lucky?
• Griffith studied pneumonia
bacteria
• In 1928, he isolated two strains of
bacteria, and injected them into
mice
Griffith’s experiments
• Griffith’s findings:
– Injection of live R strain was harmless (mice lived)
– Injection of live S strain caused pneumonia (mice died)
– Injection of heat-killed S Strain was harmless (mice
lived)
– BUT....Injection of mixture of live R strain with the
heat-killed S strain caused pneumonia (mice died)
What happened to the bacteria?

• Griffith’s conclusions:
– Something transferred from heat-killed bacteria to live
harmless bacteria, making them deadly
• Transformation = process by which one strain
of bacteria changes the gene(s) of another
bacteria
Avery-MacLeod-
McCarty
• Following Griffith (1943), scientists heat killed
the virulent S strain and then selectively destroyed
parts of the bacteria before combining with R
strain
– Destroyed proteins, lipids, carbs = mice died
something different was transforming bacteria
– Destroyed nucleic acids = mice lived! DNA
was transforming bacteria
• Demonstrated
that DNA was
the transforming
agent
Hershey and
Chase
• Experimented (1950)
with bacteriophages to
see if information is
carried on proteins or
DNA
• Used radioactive
elements to “mark” DNA
and protein
• Only the radioactive DNA
was found in bacteria
cells (not proteins)
• Further supported
Avery’s experiment that
genetic material is DNA
http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/VL/GG/images/HERSHEY.gif
Discovery of the structure
of DNA
• Many scientists contributed to determining
the structure of DNA
– Erwin Chargaff
– Rosalind Franklin
– James Watson &
Francis Crick
Erwin Chargaff
• Worked with DNA
nitrogen bases,
discovered (1950):
• In any sample of DNA,
– # adenines (A) = #
thymines (T)
– # cytosines (C) = #
guanines (G)
• Therefore, in DNA, the
bases are always paired:
A with T, and C with G.
• This is Chargaff’s Rule!
Rosalind Franklin
• Worked with x-ray
photography to try to
find DNA structure
• Her “Photo 51” revealed
DNA’s structure (1952)
• Died of cancer in 1958
Watson and Crick http://teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/
lolson/images/watson_crick.jpg

• Credited with finding


the structure of DNA
(1953)
• Watson got a sneak
peak at Franklin’s x-
ray photos and used
them with other
evidence
• They described DNA
as a double helix, with
the strands held
together by weak
hydrogen bonds
formed between the
bases A-T and C-G.
DNA structure
• Looks like a twisted ladder
made of nucleotides
• The nucleotide:
– Phosphate group
– Sugar (deoxyribose)
– Nitrogen base
• Sugars and phosphates make the sides of the
ladder, nitrogen bases are the rungs
• The atoms within the two strands are held
together by strong covalent bonds
• The two strands are held together by weak
hydrogen bonds between the nitrogenous
What bonds with what?
• A bond between two purines
would be too wide.
• A bond between two
pyrimidines would be too
narrow.
• THUS, a purine always bonds
with a pyrimidine.
– A bonds with T
– G bonds with C
Your turn...the structure of
• On the DNA Sugar /P Sugar /P

diagram: backbon
e
Base pair backbon
e

– Circle and
A
label a
nucleotide. Hydrogen bonds

– Label the C
sugar and
phosphate G
molecules. P
– Label the A T
bases that S
are not
already A T
labelled
– Label a base
pair. G C
– Label the
sugar-
phosphate G
backbones.
– Label the
hydrogen nucleotide

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