BACTERIAL GENETICS

Lecture # 02: DNA

DNA
• DNA is a single molecule that has all of the information for making all
of the proteins in each of the body’s trillions of cells.

• Our knowledge of how deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) stores

information came from its structure.

• The determination of the structure of DNA in 1953 by James Watson

and Francis Crick, using data from Rosalind Franklin, was the most
important biochemistry advance of the 20th century.
DNA (contd.)

• The structure of a DNA molecule looks like a rope ladder twisted on

itself.

• Two sides of the ladder serve as backbones of individual DNA strands,

each of which is a long polymer.

• The repeating subunits comprising the polymer are called

nucleotides, each of which is made up of 3 components:
DNA (contd.)
• 5-carbon sugar,

• a nitrogen-containing part called a base, and

• one or more phosphates.

• Without phosphate, the resulting molecule is called a nucleoside.

• Nucleotides that DNA is built from are called deoxyribonucleoside

triphosphates (dNTPs).
DNA (contd.)

• Deoxyribose, the sugar in DNA nucleotides, has 5 carbons, designated

1ʹ, 2ʹ, 3ʹ, 4ʹ, and 5ʹ.

• The sugar in DNA would be ribose, except that its 2ʹ carbon lacks an
oxygen and has only a hydrogen atom attached.

• So, this sugar is called deoxyribose or 2ʹ deoxyribose.

DNA (contd.)
• Each nucleotide for building DNA brings energy to the job in the form
of 3 phosphates attached to the carbon at the 5ʹ position.

• Also attached to the deoxyribose sugar is a structure called a base.

• There are 4 different bases in DNA nucleotides:

• adenine (A), guanine (G),

• cytosine (C), and thymine (T).

DNA (contd.)
• The related molecule called RNA has the same bases except that
uracil (U) substitutes for thymine.

• The only structural difference between uracil and thymine is the

presence of a methyl group at position C5.

• Two of the bases, A and G, are structurally similar and are called
purines.

• The other 3—C, T, and U—are called pyrimidines.

DNA (contd.)
• Nucleotides get joined together in DNA strands by linking a
phosphate to the sugar of an adjacent nucleotide.

• When the cell builds DNA from nucleotides, the hydroxyl on the
sugar’s 3ʹ position of one nucleotide is linked to the phosphate closest
to the 5ʹ carbon on the next.

• During joining, the other 2 phosphates from the triphosphate starter

material get chopped off, releasing energy to form the bond.
DNA (contd.)
• A polynucleotide is a long chain of nucleotides.

• The backbone of the polynucleotide chain consists of an alternating

series of pentose (sugar) and phosphate residues.

• The chain is formed by linking the 5ʹ carbon of one pentose ring to

the 3ʹ carbon of the next pentose ring via a phosphate group; thus
the sugar–phosphate backbone is said to consist of 5ʹ–3ʹ
phosphodiester linkages.
DNA (contd.)

• Specifically, the 3ʹ carbon of one pentose is bonded to one oxygen of

the phosphate, whereas the 5ʹ carbon of the other pentose is bonded
to the opposite oxygen of the phosphate.

• The nitrogenous bases “stick out” from the backbone.

• One end of a strand has phosphates at the 5ʹ carbon of the first

nucleotide and is known as the 5ʹ end.
DNA (contd.)
• The other end of the strand has a free hydroxyl group at the 3ʹ
carbon, known as the 3ʹ end.

• It is conventional to write nucleic acid sequences in the 5ʹ to 3ʹ

direction—that is, from the 5ʹ terminus at the left to the 3ʹ terminus
at the right.

• DNA can contain thousands or even millions of nucleotides strung

together in long, threadlike structures.
DNA (contd.)
• A double helix contains 2 such DNA strands oriented in opposite, or
antiparallel, directions, with the 5ʹ end of one across from the 3ʹ end
of the other.

• Bases in the 2 strands are oriented such that As and Ts always face
each other and Gs and Cs are always across from each other.

• The pairs of bases, then, form what look like the rungs of a ladder
inside the DNA helix, with the sugar-phosphate backbones forming
the sides.
DNA (contd.)

• The ladder twists on itself, resembling a spiral staircase.

• Bases pair as they do—and never switch partners—because the

hydrogen bonds between the bases only properly align when G is
adjacent to C and when A is adjacent to T.

• The As and Ts share 2 hydrogen bonds, while Gs and Cs have 3

hydrogen bonds between them.
DNA (contd.)

• Because A pairs with T and G pairs with C, it means that if the order,
or sequence, of bases in one DNA strand is known, then the sequence
of bases on the partner strand can be determined.

• It is in the order, or sequence, of these bases that information is

encoded.