The Discovery of DNA

1928 Frederick Griffith

Question: Can the genetic trait of pathogenicity be

transferred between bacteria?

Experiment- Injected heat killed pathogenic cells into mice.

Then, mixed heat killed pathogenic cells with living nonpathogenic cell and injected the combination into mice

Results- Mice injected with heat killed pathogenic bacteria

survived. Mice injected with the combination of heat killed
pathogenic bacteria and non-pathogenic bacteria died.

Conclusion- Living non-pathogenic bacteria were

transformed into pathogenic bacteria by an unknown
heritable substance.

1944 Avery, MacLeod, McCarty

Similar experiment to Griffith except they

purified the four biological molecules
from the dead pathogenic strain bacteria.
Transformation occurred only when the live
non-pathogenic strains were mixed with
the pathogenic strain DNA.
Their finding was not believed by the
scientific community because proteins
were believed to be better candidates for
the genetic material

1952 Alfred Hershey & Martha Chase

Question: Is it protein or DNA that is the genetic

material?
Experiment- First viral protein was radioactively
tagged and these viruses were mixed with bacteria. Then,
the viruses and bacteria were separated and invected
bacteria were tested for radioactivity. Process was
repeated with viral DNA radioactively tagged instead of
protein.

Results- Radioactive tags showed that viral DNA was

incorporated into the bacteria but the protein remained
outside the bacteria. When cultured, viral DNA showed up
in new bacterial cells.
Conclusion- DNA is the genetic material, not protein.

Early 1950s Erwin Chargaff

Analyzed the base

composition of DNA
Set the stage for the
base-pairing rules

# of adenines = # of
thymines
# of cytosines = # of
guanines
Known as Chargaffs Rule

Early 1950s Maurice Wilkins &

Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Franklin
took X-ray
crystallography
diffraction
photograph of DNA
Very important to
the discovery of
DNA structure

1953 James Watson

& Francis Crick

Constructed model of DNA as

a double helix
Purine + pyrimidine for
consistent width
A and G are PURINES
(bigger- 2 carbon rings)
T and C are PYRIMIDINES
(smaller- 1 carbon ring)

The Structure of
DNA

Monomer= nucleotide
Each nucleotide is made
up of:
1.Deoxyribose (sugar)
2.A phosphate group
3.A nitrogenous base
A paris with T
C pairs with G

The Structure of
DNA

Backbone
sugar to PO4 bond
phosphodiester bond

phosphate added to new

base added to sugar of

previous base

The Structure of
DNA
DNA is double stranded
Nucleotides bond
with WEAK
HYDROGEN bonds
between
DNA strands
A > T = 2 hydrogen
bonds
G > C = 3
hydrogen bonds

The Structure
of DNA

DNA strands are

antiparallel

They run in opposite

directions
5 and 3 ends

Label your diagram

Deoxyribose sugar

Phosphate
Adenine
Thymine
Cytosine
Guanine

5 ends