分子生物学Chapter3NucleicAcidsandGenomics.docVIP

Chapter 3 Nucleic Acids and Genomics Review of nucleic acids The structure of DNA, Deoxyribonucleic acid, was first published in the British journal Nature in 1953 by J.D. Watson and F.H. Crick. However, the constituents of DNA had been known since the turn of the century. The simple model proposed by Watson and Crick implemented X-ray crystallography performed by M.H.F. Wilkins and R. Franklin. Additionally, work by L. Pauling provided the rules of bonding and the elucidation of the alpha helix structure. E. Chargraff had provided the data on the abundance of the four nucleotides (Adenine, Thymine, Guanine, and Cytosine) and the relationships between them from chemical analysis. E. Chargraff determined that distribution of A and T were proportional, and that distribution of G and C were also proportional suggesting the complementary arrangement of adenine-thymine and guanine-cytosine. Since the arrangement of DNA was complementary, the sequence of one chain must be compatible to the sequence of the opposite chain. Francis Crick (left), Jim Watson (centre), and Linus Pauling (right). Images from the Nobel Prize Foundation web site Maurice Wilkins showed a diffraction pattern of DNA at a scientific meeting in Naples in 1951. This was the first diffraction pattern that Watson saw of DNA and it had a decisive impact in his decision to study DNA. Watson moved to the Cavendish laboratory in Cambridge where he struck up his famous collaboration with Francis Crick. Their first attempt at a model structure, late in 1951, was wrong - embarassingly so for them at the time, since they had arranged for Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin to travel up from London to view their structure. Their model was a triple helix in which the polynucleotide backbones were placed at the centre of the structure with the bases pointing out in solution. But, this arrangement of chains was chemically impossible and once this was pointed out, the model fell apart. X-Ray fibr