DNA

 DNA is often called

the blueprint of
life.
 In simple terms,
DNA contains the
instructions for
making proteins
within the cell.

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Watson and Crick discovered the
double helix by building models to
conform to X-ray data
 By the beginnings of the 1950’s, the race was on
to move from the structure of a single DNA
strand to the three-dimensional structure of
DNA.
 Among the scientists working on the
problem were Linus Pauling, in California,
and Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin,
in London.
 Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin used X-
ray crystallography to study the structure of
DNA.
 In this technique, X-rays are diffracted as
they passed through aligned fibers of
purified DNA.
 The diffraction pattern can be used to
deduce the three-dimensional shape of
molecules.
James Watson “learned”
from their research
that DNA was helical
in shape and he deduced
the width of the helix Fig. 16.4
and the spacing of bases.
 The key breakthrough came when Watson put
the sugar-phosphate chain on the outside and
the nitrogen bases on the inside of the double
helix.
 The sugar-phosphate chains of each strand
are like the side ropes of a rope ladder.
 Pairs of nitrogen bases, one from each
strand, form rungs.
 The ladder forms a twist every ten bases.
DNA Structure
 DNA consists of two molecules that are arranged
into a ladder-like structure called a Double
Helix.

 A molecule of DNA is made up of millions of

tiny subunits called Nucleotides.

 Each nucleotide consists of:

1. Phosphate group
2. Pentose sugar
3. Nitrogenous base
Nucleotides

Phosphate

Nitrogenous
Base

Pentose
Sugar
Nucleotides
 The phosphate and sugar form the backbone
of the DNA molecule, whereas the bases form
the “rungs”.

 There are four types of nitrogenous bases.

A T

C G

T A

C G

A T

G C

T A
Nucleotides
A T

Adenine Thymine

C G

Cytosine Guanine
Nucleotides
 Each base will only bond with one other
specific base.

 Adenine (A)
Form a base pair.
 Thymine (T)

 Cytosine (C)
Form a base pair.
 Guanine (G)
Two Kinds of Bases in DNA
N
N C

O C C

N C

N
N C
C C
N
N C
N C

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 Thymine and Cytosine are
pyrimidines

N
O
N N C
C

O C C
O C C
C
N C
N C

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DNA Structure
 Because of this complementary base pairing,
the order of the bases in one strand
determines the order of the bases in the other
strand.
A T

C
G

T A

C
G

A T

G C

T A
 Two Stranded DNA
 Remember, DNA
has two strands
that fit together
something like a
zipper.
 The teeth are the
nitrogenous
bases but why do
they stick
together?

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 Hydrogen Bonds
 The bases attract each

N
other because of hydrogen

C
bonds.

N
 Hydrogen bonds are weak
but there are millions and

C
millions of them in a

N
O
single molecule of DNA.

C
 The bonds between N
cytosine and guanine are C N
shown here with dotted
C C O
lines
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C N
 Chargaff’s Rule:
 Adenine and Thymine
always join together
A T
 Cytosine and Guanine
always join together
C G

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DNA Structure
 To crack the genetic code found in DNA we
need to look at the sequence of bases.

 The bases are arranged in triplets called

codons.

AGG-CTC-AAG-TCC-TAG
TCC-GAG-TTC-AGG-ATC
TASK 1:
Decode the DNA and RNA bases of the
following sequence.
AAT - GCA - CCC- TGA - GGA

DNA = TTA - CGT -GGG- ACT - CCT

RNA = UUA - CGT -GGG- UCT -
CCT
TASK 2 :
FIND THE SECRET CODE
1) CTC ACA AAG ATG AAT AGA
ATC ACG TTG CTC GCT CGG
TTG AGA CAG TTG ACC CCA
ATC
 TASK 2:
FIND THE SECRET CODES
HINT:Every time the codon TTG appears, that
indicates a space in between two words.
CODE 1 SECRET CODE
1. DECODING DNA IS FUN
TASK 3:
GIVE THE RNA CODES
1. CTC ACA AAG ATG AAT AGA ATC ACG TTG
CTC GCT CGG TTG AGA CAG TTG ACC CCA
ATC
DNA Structure
 A gene is a section of DNA that codes for a
protein.

 Each unique gene has a unique sequence of

bases.

 This unique sequence of bases will code for the

production of a unique protein.

 It is these proteins and combination of proteins

that give us a unique phenotype.
 DNA by the Numbers
 Each cell has about 2 m
of DNA.
 The average human has
75 trillion cells.
 The average human has
enough DNA to go from
the earth to the sun
more than 400 times. The earth is 150 billion m
or 93 million miles from
 DNA has a diameter of the sun.
only 0.000000002 m.

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