ZO 363: Molecular

Biology Chapter 1: Nucleic Acids and Chromatin

Course Credits: 02

1.1 Structure of RNA & DNA

1.2 Types of RNA.
1.3 DNA as genetic material - evidences
• Griffith’s experiment
• Avery et al. experiment
• Hershey and Chase experiment
• RNA as genetic material - TMV 4.
1.4 Structure of Chromatin, packaging of DNA,
Heterochromatin, Euchromatin.
 INTRODUCTION
Cells genetic information is stored and transmitted to the next
generation in the form of DNA .
 DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic acid.
Location-
•Eukaryotes- Inside the nucleus
•Prokaryotes - Concentrated in a region called nucleoid.
A segment of a DNA molecule that contains the information required for the synthesis of
a functional biological product, whether protein or RNA, is referred to as a gene.

Genes are located on chromosome and it is made up of DNA.

 DNA is polymer of nucleotide which have three characteristic
components:
1) Nitrogenous (nitrogen containing) base
2) Pentose and
3) Phosphate

Fig- Structure of nucleotide.

Nucleoside- a nucleotide without phosphte.
1) Nitrogenous (nitrogen containing) base-
a) Purine- Adenine (A) and Guanine (G)

b) Pyrimidine- Cytosine (C) and Thymine (T)

2) Pentose-
 A five carbon 2’-deoxyribse sugar is present.

3) Phosphate group is present-

Phosphate group
The base of nucleotide is joined
covalently (at N-1 of pyrimidines and
N-9 of purines) in an β-glycosyl bond
to the 1’ carbon of pentose.

 The successive nucleotides are

covalently linked through phosphate-
group “bridges” in which the 5’-
phosphate group of one nucleotide
unit is joined to the 3’-hydroxyl group
of the next nucleotide creating a
phosphodiester linkage.

The backbone of DNA consist of

alternating phosphate and pentose
residues
Fig- Structure of nucleotide showing
phosphodiester linkages in the covalent
backbone of DNA.
Friedrich Meischer (1868)-
• Isolated and characterized the DNA.

• He called the DNA as phosphorus containing substance “nuclein”.

Oswald T. Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty- Identified

DNA as the material genes are made of.

•Avery and his colleagues found that DNA from virulent strain of
Streptococcus pneumoniae when injected into nonvirulent strain of
the same bacterium transformed the nonvirulent strain in to a
virulent strain.

•Alfred D. Hershey and Martha Chase (1952) studied the infection of

bacterial cells by bacteriophage T2 with radioactively labeled DNA
and protein prove that carries the genetic information.
 Erwin Chargaff and his colleagues (1940)-
•The base composition of DNA generally varies from one species to
another.

•DNA specimens isolated from different tissues of the same species

have the same base composition.

•The base composition of DNA does not in a given species does not
changes with an organisms age, nutritional state or changing
environment.

•Regardless of species, A=T and G=C, from these relationships it

follows that the sum of purine residues equals the sum of
pyrimidine residue, that is A+G =T+C.
Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins (1952)- X-ray diffraction
• DNA is helical with two periodicities along their axis a primary one
of 3.4 Å and secondary one of 34 Å.

Fig- Franklins X-ray diffraction picture of DNA.

• The above picture was Shared by Wilkins with Watson in London on

January 30,1953.
 James D. Watson and Francis Crick (1953)- Three dimensional
model of DNA structure that accounted for all the data.

 DNA consist of two helical chains wound around the same axis
to form right handed double helix.

 The backbones of alternating deoxyribose and phosphate

groups are on the outside of the double helix.

Purine and pyrimidine bases of both strands are stacked inside

the double helix with their hydrophobic and planar ring structures
very close together and perpendiular to the long axis.

The offset pairing of the two strands creates a major groove and
minor groove on the surface of the duplex.
Fig- Watson and Crick Model for the structure
of DNA
Each nucleotide base of one strand paired
in the same plane with a base of other
strand.

 Three hydrogen bonds can form between

G and C whereas two hydrogen bonds form
between A and T.

Two strands of DNA are antiparallel to each

other.

 Vertically stacked bases inside the double

helix are 3.4 Å apart and 10 base pairs are
present in each turn of the double helix
producing repeat distance of 34 Å.
Fig-Complimentarity of
 Complementary base pairing is present in strands in the DNA double
the DNA. helix.
 RNA- Ribonucleic acid
RNAs have a broader range of functions, and several classes are found in
cells.
RNA is found in both the nucleus and the cytoplasm, and an increase in
protein synthesis is accompanied by an increase in the amount of
cytoplasmic RNA and an increase in its rate of turnover.

RNAs are broadly classified in to three categories-

1)Messenger RNAs (mRNAs) -

are intermediaries, carrying genetic information from one or a few genes to
a ribosome ,where the corresponding proteins can be synthesized.

The protein coding region of the mRNA consist of an ordered series of

three nucleotide long units called codon that specify the order of amino
acids.
5% of total RNA in cell
2) Transfer RNAs (tRNAs)-
are adapter molecules that faithfully translate the information in mRNA
into a specific sequence of amino acids.

It provide the physical interface between the amino acids being added to
the growing polypeptide chain and the codons in the mRNA.

Enzymes called amino acyyl tRNA synthetases couple amino acids to

specific tRNAs that recognizes the appropriate codon.

3) Ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs)-

 are components of ribosomes, the complexes that carry out the synthesis
of proteins.
 80% of total RNA
Ribosomes –
• Multi-megadalton machine composed of both RNA and protein.
• Coordinates the correct recognition of the mRNA by each tRNA and
catalyzes peptide bond formaation between the growing polypeptide
chain and the amino acids attached to the selected tRNA.
Page 443- j.d. watson mol. Bio o the gene- trna
Page 452- j.d. watson mol. Bio o the gene- ribosomes
 1.3 DNA as genetic material -evidences
• Griffith’s Transformation Experiment
• Avery et al. experiment
• Hershey and Chase experiment
• RNA as genetic material - TMV 4

 Griffith’s Transformation Experiment

 In 1928, Frederick Griffith, a British
medical officer, was working with
Streptococcus pneumoniae (also called
pneumococcus), a bacterium that causes
pneumonia.

 Griffith used two strains of the bacterium:

• S strain: Produces smooth, shiny colonies
and is virulent (highly infectious)
• R strain: Produces rough colonies and is
nonvirulent (harmless)

Colonies of S (smooth) Colonies of R (rough)

strain. strain.
 The virulence of the S strain is due to
the presence of a polysaccharide coat—
a capsule—surrounding each cell.
 The coat is also the reason for the
smooth, shiny appearance of S colonies.
 The R strain is genetically identical
except that it carries a mutation that
prevents it from making the
polysaccharide
 In this case, a mutation in a gene affects
the ability of the bacterium to make the
coat and, hence,
alters the virulence state of the bacterium.
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