DNA

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DNA
An Short (pre)Historical Perspective
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Seven-Week War (June 15, 1866 August 23, 1866)
Prussia Italy ? Austria Bavaria
Württemberg Saxony Hanover Baden Overtly
fought over control of Schleswig-Holstein, the
war was decided in the Battle of Königgratz and
paved the way for the Prussia-led German Empire
of 1871.
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Johann Friedrich Miescher 1844 -1895
1867-1871 Characterizes a new substance in pus
from the wounded in the Seven-Week War (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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1889 Richard Altmann finds that nuclein is
acidic and renames it nucleic acid
(nucleinsäuren).
Ueber Nucleinsäuren. Archiv für Anatomie und
Physiologie. Physiologische Abteilung. Leipzig,
1889, 524-536.
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1881 (Ludwig Karl Martin Leonhard) Albrecht
Kossel determines that nucleic acid is composed
of four bases.
Untersuchungen über die Nukleine und ihre
Spaltungsprodukte (Investigations into the
nucleins and their cleavage products)
1910
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1893 Albrecht Kossel determines that nucleic
acid is composed of four bases.
2 purines
2 pyrimidines
adenine (A)
cytosine (C)
guanine (G)
thymine (T)
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Phoebus Aaron (Theodore) Levene (1869-1940)
1909 Phoebus Levene discovers that DNA is made
of 3 basic components a sugar, an acid, and an
organic base.
1919 Phoebus Levene proposes the
tetranucleotide structure of DNA, whereby the
four bases are arranged one after another.
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1938 Rudolf Signer, Torbjorn Caspersson and
Einer Hammarsten find molecular weights for DNA
between 500,000 and 1,000,000 daltons. Levene's
tetranucleotide is deemed to be a
polytetranucleotide.
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The bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae is the
most common cause of meningitis
1928 Frederick Griffith (above, with Bobby)
demonstrates the transforming principle,
whereby a substance from heat-killed bacteria can
cause heritable changes in live bacteria.
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1944 Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn
McCarty establish that Griffith's transforming
principle is DNA, and suggest 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. 79137-158.
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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
paralleling the reduction in the number of
chromosomes, making DNA look like the genetic
material.
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...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
Felix D'Herelle (1873-1949)
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T4
T2
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1952 Alfred D. Hershey Martha Chase
DNA is the genetic material
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Martha Chase
Alfred D. Hershey
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What is the structure of DNA?
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Linus Carl Pauling 1901-1994
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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, 171346).
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Pauling, L. and Corey, R. B. 1953. A proposed
structure for the nucleic acids Proc. Natl. Acad.
Sci. USA 3984-97.
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1950 The First Parity Rule While DNA
composition varies among species, the following
two equalities are observed (1) A T (2)
G C
Erwin Chargaff
Chargaffs values for humans G 19.9, C
18.8, A 30.9, and T 29.4
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1951
X-ray diffraction of DNA
Rosalind Franklin
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The Birth of an Icon
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Charles Jencks. 2000. Spirals TimeTime Spirals,
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
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• Salvador Dalí. 1957-1958. Butterfly Landscape,
  the Great Masturbator in a Surrealist Landscape
  with DNA, Oil on canvas. Private collection

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