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STRUCTURE SHOWS ACTION

x "It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a
possible copying mechanism for the genetic material" wrote Watson and Crick in the scientific
paper that was published in Nature, April 25, 1953.
x This was indeed a breakthrough in the study of how genetic material passes from generation to
generation.
x Once the model was established, its mere structure hinted that DNA was indeed the carrier of the
genetic code and thus the key molecule of heredity, developmental biology and evolution.
x The specific base pairing underlies the perfect copying of the molecule, which is essential for
heredity. During cell division, the DNA molecule is able to "unzip" into two pieces.
x One new molecule is formed from each half-ladder, and due to the specific pairing this gives rise to
two identical daughter copies from each parent molecule.

STRUCTURE

x In living organisms DNA does not usually exist as a single molecule, but instead as a pair of
molecules that are held tightly together.
x These two long strands entwine like vines, in the shape of a double helix.
x The nucleotide repeats contain both the segment of the backbone of the molecule, which holds the
chain together, and a nucleobase, which interacts with the other DNA strand in the helix.
x The backbone of the DNA strand is made from alternating phosphate and sugar residues.
x The sugar in DNA is 2-deoxyribose, which is a pentose (five-carbon) sugar.
x The sugars are joined together by phosphate groups that form phosphodiester bonds between the
third and fifth carbon atoms of adjacent sugar rings.

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x These asymmetric bonds mean a strand of DNA has a direction.

x In a double helix the direction of the nucleotides in one strand is opposite to their direction in the
other strand: the strands are antiparallel.
x The asymmetric ends of DNA strands are called the 5′ (five prime) and 3′ (three prime) ends,
WATSON AND CRICK
x J. D Watson, an American biologist and F.Crick an English chemist in 1953 designed the model of
the DNA molecule to explain its structure.
x They got the 1962 Nobel prize for the same along with wilkins.
x They did not perform any new experiment but intelligently enough synthesized the data provided
by others.(Wilkins and Franklin, Chargaff).
x Watsons book, the double helix provides fascinating insight into their work.
x Acc to their model, the DNA molecule consists of two long , parallel chains ( strands ) which are
joined together by short crossbars at regular intervals.
x The two chains are spirally coiled around a common axis in a regular manner to form a double helix.
x The double helix is of constant diameter of 2 nanometers or 20angstorm and has major groove
about 22 A wide and minor groove about 12 A wide alternately.
x One complete spiral turn of the helix is 3.4 nm (34A) long and has 10 base pairs.
x The base face the interior of the double helix and are stacked 0.34 nm, 3.4.A apart.

DNA STRUCTURE

RIGHT-HANDED AND LEFT-HANDED HELICES

x Is your model a right-handed helix or a left-handed helix?
x If you hold it pointing away from you and it twists clockwise moving away, it is right-handed,
otherwise it is left-handed.
x These models are mirror images and can not be converted one into the other by rotation.
x The helix of normal DNA is right-handed.
x Left-handed helices have been produced experimentally and may be present in living cells.

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RIGHT AND LEFT HANDED

DNA COMPOSITION
y 5 carbon deoxyribose sugar.
y Each deoxyribonucleotide unit consists of 3 different molecule.
y Phosphate( po4),
y Nitrogen gives the base its basic nature.
The nitrogenous base may be 9 membered double ringed purine ie adenine (A) , or guanine(G) ;
or 6 membered single ringed pyrimidine ie thymine or cytosine.
COMPONENTS OF DNA
y DNA is a polymer. The monomer units of DNA are nucleotides, and the polymer is known as a
"polynucleotide."
y Each nucleotide consists of a 5-carbon sugar (deoxyribose), a nitrogen containing base attached to
the sugar, and a phosphate group.
y There are four different types of nucleotides found in DNA, differing only in the nitrogenous base.
The four nucleotides are given one letter abbreviations as shorthand for the four bases.
y A is for adenine
y G is for guanine
y C is for cytosine
y T is for thymine
PURINE
y Adenine and guanine are purines. Purines are the larger of the two types of bases found in DNA.
y The 9 atoms that make up the fused rings (5 carbon, 4 nitrogen) are numbered 1-9. All ring atoms
lie in the same plane.

Gene It’s Nature Expression and Regulation