Nucleic Acids Structure Minitutorial

Abstract

With the master molecule of heredity, deoxyribonucleic acid (or DNA), so frequently mentioned in the media — in connections ranging from PCR (polymerase chain reaction) applications (e.g., criminology, medical diagnoses) to cloning and beyond — it is difficult to imagine today that it was only about 50 years ago when Watson and Crick reported their description of the DNA double helix [262, 263, 264]! Based on analysis of DNA fiber diffraction patterns and Chargaff’s rules, they described a spiral image of an orderly helix — two intertwined polynucleotide chains, with a sugar/phosphate backbone on the exterior and pairs of hydrogen-bonded nitrogenous bases in the center. See [78] for a historical perspective of this discovery, including the contribution of all key players.

DNA plays a role in life rather like that played by the telephone directory in the social life of London: you can’t do anything much without it, but, having it, you need a lot of other things — telephones, wires, and so on — as well.

Review of The Double Helix in The Sunday Times, London (1968).