The structure of DNA

Prof. Dr. Dalal Elkaffash

Clinical Pathology Dept.
Modeling by Watson and Crick

The double-helix structure of DNA was elucidated

by Watson and Crick in 1953. Watson described
in his thrilling book The Double Helix (1968) the
account of the formidable discovery made with
Crick. The two researchers then have the
following elements:
(I) the chemical composition of the DNA
(deoxyribose, nitrogenous bases, and phosphate
groups).
(Ii) X-ray diffraction patterns of crystallized DNA,
mainly due to Rosalind Franklin and Maurice
Wilkins of King's College. These photographs
show a cross figure, characteristic of helical
structures.
Modeling by Watson and Crick

the work of Erwin Chargaff, who had shown that

for every DNA molecule the number of molecules
of adenine is equal to the number of molecules of
thymine and that of cytosine is equal to that of
guanine
electron microscopy analysis , which showed that
the diameter of the DNA molecule was 20 ,
suggesting that the molecule contained two
deoxyribose-phosphate chains.
Modeling by Watson and Crick

It is by successively developing several molecular

models that Watson and Crick succeed in
proposing a structure that satisfies all the
crystallographic and biochemical data then
available.
This structure is now known to all, it has become
the emblem of molecular biologist
Modeling by Watson and Crick

Two strands constituted by phosphate groups and

sugars form a double helix in which the
orientations of each of the strands are opposite.
The nitrogenous bases are bonded to the sugars
of each of the two strands, each base of one
strand being held opposite to a base of the other
strand by hydrogen bonds. A cytosine always
faces a guanine, and an adenine to a thymine.
The two strands of a DNA molecule are said to be
complementary.
The double helix structure
of DNA is elucidated by
Watson and Crick in 1953
L'laboration du modle par Watson
et Crick
Crick, Watson, and Wilkins received the Nobel
Prize in 1962, which Peter Medawar described as
"the greatest scientific achievement of our
century."
Rosalind Franklin would likely have been
associated with this price if the disease had
prematurely taken her away. As she died in 1958
by ovarian cancer
Wilkins Watson et Crick
James Watson

Jim Watson was born in Chicago on April 6, 1928.

Very early, he entered the University of Chicago at the
age of 15 years. He prepares his thesis between 1948
and 1950 in the laboratory of Salvador Luria, of which
he is the first student. He is therefore well informed of
the work carried out by the phage group. He did a
short post-doctoral period in Denmark, before joining
Francis Crick in Cambridge in 1951 at the Cavendish
Laboratory (directed by Max Perutz and Lawrence
Bragg). In 1953, Crick and Watson elucidated the
double helix structure of DNA. From 1953, Watson
was a Senior Research Fellow at the Californian
Institute of Technology until 1956, when he became a
professor at Harvard University.
James Watson

In 1962, the Nobel

Prize for Physiology
and Medicine was
awarded to James
Watson, Francis Crick
and Maurice Wilkins
for their "discovery of
the molecular
structure of nucleic
acids and its
importance in the
transfer of information
in living systems."
James Watson

The same year is Kendrew Perutz

awarded the Nobel
Prize in Chemistry to
Max Perutz and John
Cowdery Kendrew for
"their studies of the
structure of globular
proteins". These two
prices crown the
application of X-ray
diffraction to the
determination of
structures of biological
molecules
Francis Crick

Francis Crick is a physicist by training. He first

worked at University College London on the
viscosity of water at high pressure and high
temperature. Once the war ended, he turned to
crystallography, in the Cavendish laboratory,
directed by Max Perutz and Lawrence Bragg.
This is where he joined Jim Watson in 1951. Crick
was then 35 years old, and he was still preparing
his thesis. Watson and Crick devoted themselves
to the structure of DNA, for which they proposed
a model in 1953. This work was crowned by a
Nobel prize awarded in 1962.
 Francis Crick
Francis Crick is a physicist by training. He
first worked at University College London
on the viscosity of water at high pressure
and high temperature. Once the war
ended, he turned to crystallography, in the
Cavendish Laboratory, directed by Max
Perutz and Lawrence Bragg. Crick was
then 35 years old, and he was still
preparing his thesis. Watson and Crick,
who devoted themselves to the structure
of DNA, for which they proposed a model
in 1953. This work was crowned by a
Nobel prize awarded in 1962.
Francis Crick

Crick has made important contributions to several

fields of molecular biology: he is responsible for
the central dogma of biology, which states that
the flow of information from nucleic acids to
proteins is meaningful unique. Moreover, he was
one of the first authors to propose in 1968 that
the genetic material of the first living organisms
was RNA. Finally, in 1980, he contributed to the
elaboration of the notion of selfish DNA.
 Rosalind Franklin

Born in 1920, Franklin studied at

the University of Cambridge. In
1947, she worked in a Parisian
laboratory, until 1951, where she
joined King's College, working on
the structure of DNA. His
relations with his colleagues are
mediocre, and Watson has
painted a caricature in The
Double Helix
 Rosalind Franklin

It is to this that all the X-ray

diffraction patterns of DNA, which
allow Watson and Crick to propose
their model in 1953, are recognized.
On the other hand, it recognizes two
distinct forms for the crystals of d
DNA, which it calls form A
(compacted form) and form B
(hydrated form). These works are
published in the same issue of
Nature as that describing the model
of Watson and Crick.
Linus Pauling

Linus Pauling (1901 - 1994) was probably the

greatest chemist of this century, who successfully
tackled various fields such as quantum physics,
crystal structure, or molecular biology. His first
major contributions were in chemical bonding,
and he was particularly the first to recognize the
importance of weak bonds.
Linus Pauling

In 1940, with Delbrck, he develops the idea that

stereospecific complementarity is the basis of
molecular interactions in biology. He published
two books that revolutionized chemistry: The
Nature of Chemical Bonding (1939), and General
Chemistry (1947). More than any other, it
contributes to making the structure of molecules
the essential theme of biochemistry.
Linus Pauling

It elucidates the structure of several hundred

mineral substances, and it is the discoverer of
certain protein structures, such as alpha helix and
beta sheet ;. He is also the first to bring a
molecular explanation to a genetic disease: sickle
cell anemia, for which he proposes as origin an
alteration of hemoglobin.
Linus Pauling

All of these works earned him a first Nobel Prize

in 1954. A Nobel Peace Prize was also awarded
to him in 1962, due to his pacifist commitments to
disarmament (only three other researchers were
awarded two Nobel Prizes: Mary Curie, Antoine-
Henri Becquerel, and Frederick Sanger). Again, it
is a pioneer, since it is the first to argue that
radiation can be dangerous for the genetic
heritage.
 Linus Pauling

Pauling is also behind the use of

protein sequences for the
reconstruction of phylogenetic
trees, and in 1965, with Emile
Zuckerkandl, he proposed the
concept of molecular clocks. He
also works on the structure of
DNA, and has been the most
serious competitor of Watson and
Crick.
Linus Pauling

In 1953 he published what he believed to be the

structure: three chains of phosphate ribos tightly
wrapped around one another, and the
nitrogenous bases pointing radially outwardly of
this bundle. This completely erroneous idea can
be explained in part by the fact that Pauling did
not have access to the recent results of Rosalind
Franklin
Linus Pauling

From the 1970s, he was interested in

antioxidants, in particular vitamin E and vitamin C.
He gave these molecules important anti-
carcinogenic and anti-aging virtues. This leads
him to a singular enthusiasm for vitamin C, which
he advocates consumption without moderation ...