Introduction to Microbial Genetics

Dr. Sandeep Kumar

Assistant Professor,
Dept. of Life Sciences
Jain Deemed-to-be University.
Microbial genetics had its origins in the 1940s and 1950
Joshua Lederberg -
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1958
Microbial genetics
• Microbial
genetics provi
des powerful
tools for
deciphering
the regulation,
as well as the
functional and
pathway
organization,
of cellular
processes.
Operon
Nucleic Acids
• A most remarkable property of living cells is their ability to produce
exact replicas of themselves.
• This is due to the cells containing fact that all the instructions needed
for making the complete organism of which they are a part.
• Nucleic acids are the molecules within a cell that are responsible for
these amazing capabilities.
• The first isolation of nucleic acid we now refer to as DNA was
accomplished by Swiss physiologist Johann Friedrich Miescher circa
1870 while studying the nuclei of white blood cells.
Nucleic Acids
• In the 1920's nucleic acids were found to be major components of
chromosomes, small gene-carrying bodies in the nuclei of complex
cells.
• Elemental analysis of nucleic acids showed the presence of
phosphorus, in addition to the usual C, H, N & O.
• We now know that nucleic acids are found throughout a cell, not just
in the nucleus, the name nucleic acid is still used for such materials.
Nucleic Acids
• A nucleic acid is a polymer in which the monomer units are
nucleotides.
• There are two Types of Nucleic Acids:
• DNA: Deoxyribonucleic Acid: Found within cell nucleus for storing and
transfering of genetic information that are passed from one cell to
other during cell division.
• RNA: Ribonucleic Acid: Occurs in all parts of cell serving the primary
function is to synthesize the proteins needed for cell functions.
Structure of Nucleic Acids

• The nucleic acids are very

large molecules that have
two main parts. The
backbone of a nucleic
acid is made of
alternating sugar and
phosphate molecules
bonded together in a long
chain, represented below
Structure of Nucleic Acids
• Though only four different nucleotide bases can occur in a nucleic
acid, each nucleic acid contains millions of bases bonded to it.
• The order in which these nucleotide bases appear in the nucleic acid
is the coding for the information carried in the molecule.
• In other words, the nucleotide bases serve as a sort of genetic
alphabet on which the structure of each protein in our bodies is
encoded.
DNA
• In most living organisms (except for viruses), genetic information is
stored in the molecule deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA.
• DNA is made and resides in the nucleus of living cells. DNA gets its
name from the sugar molecule contained in its backbone(deoxyribose);
however, it gets its significance from its unique structure.
• Four different nucleotide bases occur in DNA: adenine (A), cytosine (C),
guanine (G), and thymine (T).
Base pairing
Hydrophobic interactions

• Although geneticists emphasize the importance

of the hydrogen bonding between the two DNA
strands, these are not the only forces influencing
the structure of the DNA.
• The bases themselves are hydrophobic, and will
tend to form structures in which they are
removed from the aqueous environment. This is
partially achieved by stacking the bases on top of
one another
• The double-stranded structure is stabilized by
additional hydrophobic interactions between the
bases on the two strands.
Hydrophobic interactions
• The hydrogen bonding not only holds the two strands together but also
allows the corresponding bases to approach sufficiently closely for the
hydrophobic forces to operate.
• The hydrogen bonding of the bases is, however, of special importance
because it gives rise to the specificity of the base-pairing between
the two chains.
• Although the bases are hydrophobic, and therefore very poorly soluble
in water, nucleic acids are quite soluble, due largely to the hydrophilic
nature of the backbone, and especially the high concentration of
negatively charged phosphate groups.
Supercoiling

• Within the cell, the DNA helix is wound up

into coils
• The amount of twist in a particular DNA
strand, which determines the amount of
strain on it.
• The given strand may be "positively
supercoiled" or "negatively supercoiled"
(more or less tightly wound).
• The amount of a strand’s supercoiling
affects a number of biological processes,
such as compacting DNA and regulating
access to the genetic code