DNA Discovery and Organization

DNA DISCOVERY AND
ORGANIZATION
What is DNA
• DNA, abbreviation of deoxyribonucleic acid, organic

chemical of complex molecular structure that is found in
all prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and in many viruses.
DNA codes genetic information for the transmission of
inherited traits
Discovery
• 1- Friedrich Miescher
• The molecule now known as DNA was first identified in
the 1860s by a Swiss chemist called Johann Friedrich
Miescher.
• Johann set out to research the key components of white
blood cells, part of our body’s immune system. The main
source of these cells was pus-coated bandages collected
from a nearby medical clinic.
• Johann called this mysterious substance ‘nuclein’,
because he believed it had come from the cell nucleus.
• Later on the nuclein was found to be acidic in nature so it
was named as nucleic acid
• For many years, scientists continued to believe that
proteins were the molecules that held all of our genetic
material. They believed that nuclein simply wasn’t
complex enough to contain all of the information needed
to make up a genome.
2-PA Levene
• American biochemist who studied the structure and function of
nucleic acids.
• He characterized the different forms of nucleic acid, DNA from
RNA, and found that DNA contained adenine, guanine,
thymine, cytosine, deoxyribose, and a phosphate group.
• Levene is known for his tetranucleotide hypothesis which
proposed that DNA was made up of equal amounts of adenine,
guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Before the later work of
Erwin Chargaff, it was widely thought that DNA was organized
into repeating tetranucleotides in a way that could not carry
genetic information. Instead, the protein component of
chromosomes was thought to be the basis of heredity; most
research on the physical nature of the gene focused on
proteins, before the 1940s
3-Erwin Chargoff
• Erwin Chargaff was one of those men, making two
discoveries that led James Watson and Francis Crick to
the double helix structure of DNA.
• At first, Chargaff noticed that DNA – whether taken from a
plant or animal – contained equal amounts of adenine and
thymine and equal amounts of cytosine and guanine.
• These equalities provided clues into the chemical pairings
that make up the double helix.
• In addition, Chargaff also found that amounts of guanine,
cytosine, adenine and thymine vary by species – an
indication that DNA, not protein, might be the genetic
material for life.
4-Rosalin Franklin
• n 1951 Franklin joined the Biophysical Laboratory at
King’s College, London, as a research fellow.
• There she applied X-ray diffraction methods to the study
of DNA. When she began her research at King’s College,
very little was known about the chemical makeup or
structure of DNA. However, she soon discovered the
density of DNA and, more importantly, established that
the molecule existed in a helical conformation.
5-Watson and Crick
• Rosalin work to make clearer X-ray patterns of DNA
molecules laid the foundation for James Watson and
Francis Crick to suggest in 1953 that the structure of DNA
is a double-helix polymer, a spiral consisting of two DNA
strands wound around each other.
Organization of Genome in Prokaryotes
• In prokaryotes, the genome is composed of a single,
double-stranded DNA molecule in the form of a loop or
circle.
• The region in the cell containing this genetic material is
called a nucleoid (remember that prokaryotes do not
have a separate membrane-bound nucleus).
• Some prokaryotes also have smaller loops of DNA
called plasmids that are not essential for normal growth.
Bacteria can exchange these plasmids with other
bacteria, sometimes receiving beneficial new genes that
the recipient can add to their chromosomal DNA.
Antibiotic resistance is one trait that often spreads through
a bacterial colony through plasmid exchange.
The size of the genome in one of the most well-studied
prokaryotes, E.coli, is 4.6 million base pairs (which would
be approximately 1.1 mm in length, if cut and stretched
out). So how does this fit inside a small bacterial cell?
The DNA is twisted by what is known as supercoiling.
Supercoiled DNA is coiled more tightly than would be
typically be found in a cell (more than 10 nucleotides per
twist of the helix).
If you visualize twisting a rope until it twists back on itself,
you have a pretty good visual of supercoiled DNA. This
process allows the DNA to be compacted into the small
space inside a bacteria.
Organization of Genome in Eukaryotes
Histones
• Eukaryotic DNA is associated with tightly bound basic
proteins called as histones.
• These serve to order DNA into fundamental structure units
called nucleosomes that resemble beads on string
• There are 5 classes of histones
• H1
• H2A
• H2B
• H3
• H4
• Histones are positively charged due to the presence of
high content of Lysine and Arginine
• Histones form ionic bond with DNA and neutralizes it
Nucleosomes
• H2A, H2B, H3, and H4 histones are present in octamer
form
• Around this octamer DNA double helix is wound nearly
twice forming super twisted helix
• Neighboring nucleosomes are joined by “linker” DNA
approximately 50bases pair long
• Histone H1 binds to inker DNA between two
nucleosomes.
Fate of Histones during DNA replication
• In order to be replicated the highly ordered chromatin
structure must be relaxed
• Histones are displaced and dissociated from the DNA and
remain loosely associated with only one of the parental
strands
• New histones synthesis occur simultaneously with DNA
replication and new histones attach with daughter cells

DNA Discovery and Organization

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

DNA Discovery and Organization

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

DNA Discovery and Organization

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

DNA DISCOVERY AND

• DNA, abbreviation of deoxyribonucleic acid, organic

You might also like