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DNADNAAn Short History History

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Johann Friedrich Miescher1844 -1895

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Johann Friedrich Miescher1844 -1895

Tübingen Castle

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Johann Friedrich Miescher1844 -1895

1869: Characterizes a new substance in puspus (June 15, 1866-August 23, 1866).

“… the substance was derived from the nucleus of the cell. Hence, we call it nuclein.”

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Pál Plósz (1871) verified the presence of nuclein in the nucleated erythrocytes of birds and reptiles and its absence from the erythrocytes of mammals, which are devoid of a nucleus.

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1881: 1881: (Ludwig Karl Martin (Ludwig Karl Martin Leonhard)Leonhard) Albrecht Kossel Albrecht Kossel determines that nucleic acid determines that nucleic acid is composed of four bases.is composed of four bases.

Untersuchungen über die Nukleine und ihre Spaltungsprodukte (Investigations into the nucleins and their cleavage products)

19101910

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1893: Albrecht Kossel 1893: Albrecht Kossel determines that nucleic determines that nucleic acid is composed of four acid is composed of four bases.bases.

2 purines:2 purines: 2 pyrimidines:2 pyrimidines:

adenine (A)adenine (A) cytosine (C)cytosine (C)guanine (G)guanine (G) thymine (T)thymine (T)

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1889: Richard Altmann 1889: Richard Altmann

finds that nuclein is acidic finds that nuclein is acidic

and renames it and renames it nucleic nucleic

acid acid (nucleïnsäure).(nucleïnsäure).

Ueber Nucleinsäuren. Archiv für Anatomie und Physiologie. Physiologische Abteilung. Leipzig, 1889, 524-536.

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Phoebus Aaron Phoebus Aaron (Theodore)(Theodore) Levene Levene (1869-1940)(1869-1940)

1909: Phoebus Levene discovers 1909: Phoebus Levene discovers that DNA is made of 3 basic that DNA is made of 3 basic components: a sugar, an acid, components: a sugar, an acid, and an organic base.and an organic base.

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Félix D’Herelle (1873-1949)Research Topic:

Diarrhea in Grasshoppers

“... on opening the incubator, I experienced one of those moments of intense emotion which reward the researcher for all his pains. The broth, which the night before had been very turbid, was perfectly clear. All the bacteria had vanished.”

~1910

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Phoebus Aaron Phoebus Aaron (Theodore)(Theodore) Levene Levene (1869-1940)(1869-1940)

1919: Phoebus Levene proposes 1919: Phoebus Levene proposes the the ““tetranucleotidetetranucleotide”” structure structure of DNA, whereby the four bases of DNA, whereby the four bases are arranged one after another.are arranged one after another.

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1928: Frederick Griffith (with Bobby) 1928: Frederick Griffith (with Bobby) demonstrates the demonstrates the ““transforming transforming principle,principle,”” whereby a substance from whereby a substance from heat-killed bacteria can cause heritable heat-killed bacteria can cause heritable changes in live bacteria. changes in live bacteria.

The bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common cause of meningitis

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Nikolai W. Timoféeff-Ressovsky, Karl G. Zimmer, Max Delbrück. 1935. Über die Natur der Gennmutation und der Genstructur (On the nature of gene mutation and gene structure). Nachrichten von der Geselschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Neu Folge, Band 1, № 13.

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1938: Rudolf Signer, Torbjorn 1938: Rudolf Signer, Torbjorn Caspersson and Einer Hammarsten Caspersson and Einer Hammarsten find molecular weights for DNA find molecular weights for DNA between 500,000 and 1,000,000 between 500,000 and 1,000,000 daltons. Levene’s daltons. Levene’s ““tetranucleotidetetranucleotide”” is is deemed to be a deemed to be a ““polytetranucleotide.polytetranucleotide.””

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1944: Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty 1944: Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty establish that Griffith's transforming principle is DNA, and suggest establish that Griffith's transforming principle is DNA, and suggest that it may function as the genetic material.that it may function as the genetic material.Avery, O. T., MacLeod, C. M. & McCarty, M. 1944. Studies of the chemical nature of the substance inducing transformation of pneumococcal types. Induction of transformation by a desoxyribonucleic acid fraction isolated from Pneumococcus Type III. J. Exp. Med. 79:137-158.

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Erwin Schrödinger. 1944. What Is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell. Cambridge University Press. pp. 194

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1949: Roger Vendrely, Colette Vendrely, and André Boivin find half as 1949: Roger Vendrely, Colette Vendrely, and André Boivin find half as much DNA in the nuclei of sex cells as they find in body cells, thus much DNA in the nuclei of sex cells as they find in body cells, thus paralleling the reduction in the number of chromosomes, making DNA paralleling the reduction in the number of chromosomes, making DNA look like the genetic material.look like the genetic material.

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1952: Alfred D. Hershey & Martha Chase1952: Alfred D. Hershey & Martha Chase

DNA is DNA is the the

genetic genetic materialmaterial

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Martha ChaseMartha ChaseAwarded a blender Awarded a blender (?)(?)

Alfred D. HersheyAlfred D. HersheyAwarded the Nobel PrizeAwarded the Nobel Prize

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What is the structure of

DNA?

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Linus Carl Pauling1901-1994

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“We have formulated a structure for the nucleic acids… The structure involves three intertwined helical polynucleotide chains. Each chain… has approximately twenty-four nucleotide residues in seven turns of the helix. The helixes form a right-handed screw. The phosphate groups are closely packed about the axis… with the pentose residues… and the purine and pyrimidine groups projecting radially...”

Linus Pauling & Robert B. Corey (Nature, 1953, 171:346).

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Pauling, L. and Corey, R. B. 1953. A proposed structure for the nucleic acids Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 39:84-97.

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Erwin Chargaff

1950: The First Parity Rule

While DNA composition varies among species, the following two equalities are observed:

(1) A% ≈ T% (2) G% ≈ C%

Chargaff’s values for humans: G = 19.9%, C = 18.8%, A = 30.9%, and T = 29.4%

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Rosalind FranklinRosalind Franklin

X-ray diffraction of DNA

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1951

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1958: DNA Becomes Art

Salvador Dalí. 1957-1958. Butterfly Landscape, the Great Masturbator in a Surrealist Landscape with DNA, Oil on canvas. Private collection

http://judgestarling.tumblr.com/post/58928714266/1958-the-double-helix-becomes-fine-art

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31Charles Jencks. 2000. Spirals Time—Time Spirals, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

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