BASIC PRINCIPLES OF

MEDICINE 1:
FOUNDATIONS TO MEDICINE
Structure and Function
Nucleic Acids
Part 2 – Structure of DNA
X-ray crystallography
conducted by Rosalind
Franklin suggested
that DNA had a helical
structure.
DNA hydrolysis experiments by Erwin Chargaff showed that all
double stranded DNAs contained 50% purine bases (A & G)
and 50% pyrimidine bases (C & T).

Chargaff’s Rule:

A=T
C=G

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 Molecular structure of DNA
Properties of DNA:

1)The DNA molecule consists

of two polynucleotide chains
wound around each other in a
right-handed double helix.

2) The two chains are

antiparallel. One strand is
oriented in a 5’ to 3’ way and
the other strain is oriented 3’ to
5’.
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 Molecular structure of DNA
Properties of DNA (cont.):

3) The sugar-phosphate
backbones are on the
outsides of the double
helix, with the bases
oriented toward the
central axis.

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 Molecular structure of DNA

4) The bases of the

opposite strand are
bonded together by
hydrogen bonds.

5) Specific base pairing

is complementary
such that A pairs with
T, and G pairs with C.

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Properties of DNA (cont.):

5) Specific base pairing is complementary such that A pairs with T,

and G pairs with C.

Example 1:

Strand 1: 5’-TATTCCGA - 3’

Strand 2: 3’-ATAAGGCT - 5’

Example 2:

A DNA strand contains 15% G and 35% T.

Therefore, the same strand will contain
15% C and 35% A.

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Properties of DNA (cont.):

6) The base pairs are 0.34 nm

apart in the DNA helix. A
complete turn takes 3.4 nm;
therefore there are 10 bases
per turn. The external
diameter of the helix is 2nm.

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DNA Packaging Problem:

6 X 109 base pairs (bp)/human cell

bp are 0.34 X 10-9 meters (m) apart

so the length of DNA/cell is

6 X 109 X 0.34 X 10-9 m = 2 meters

109 =billion
10-9 =one billionth
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Properties of DNA (cont.):

7) The DNA double helix

possess a major and minor
groove. These grooves are
regions in which proteins can
interact and make contact with
the bases.

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Melting or denaturation of
DNA:
•The melting temperature Tm is the
temperature at which 50% of the DNA
becomes single stranded

•Tm increases with G-C content

•Tm is influenced positively by ionic

strength

•Important for a number of molecular

biology techniques

•Strand separation occurs in the cell by the

action of various enzymes

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Annealing or Renaturation of G C G C
DNA: C G C G
A T A T
G C G C
•Single strands of complementary T A T A
DNA can re-anneal with each other
by hydrogen bond formation denaturation

G C G C
•The rate of annealing is C G C G
dependent on the size and A T A T
G C G C
complexity of the DNA strands A A
T T

•Important for various cellular annealing

processes (eg. microRNA) and in
G C G C
molecular biology techniques - C G C G
“hybridization” (eg. FISH). A T A T
G C G C
T A T A
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