Dept. of Agronomy,台大農藝系 NTU 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 1 The Search for the Genetic Material
• 1. Some substance must be responsible for
passage of traits from parents to offspring. For a substance to do this it must be: • a. Stable enough to store information for long periods. • b. Able to replicate accurately. • c. Capable of change to allow evolution.
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 2
The Search for the Genetic Material
• 2. In the early 1900s, chromosomes were
shown to be the carriers of hereditary information. In eukaryotes they are composed of both DNA and protein, and most scientists initially believed that protein must be the genetic material.
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 3
Chromosome theory of inheritance
• The transmission and behavior of the abstract
factors of Mendel and the physical behavior of chromosomes in mitosis, meiosis, and fertilization led Sutton, Roux and Boveri proposed the chromosome theory of inheritance.
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 4
Genetic Materials
• Chromosome consists of protein and nucleic acid
• Candidate: Protein v.s. nucleic acid • Protein: 20 kinds of amino acid • Nucleic acid: 4 kinds of nucleotides • Complexity of life very complicated protein or nucleic acid to account for the level of complexity?
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 5
Griffith’s Transformation Experiment
• 1. Frederick Griffith’s 1928 experiment with
Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria in mice showed that something passed from dead bacteria into nearby living ones, allowing them to change their cell surface. • 2. He called this agent the transforming principle, but did not know what it was or how it worked.
• Animation: DNA as Genetic Material: The Avery Experiment
• 1. In 1944, Avery, MacLeod and McCarty published results of a study that identified the transforming principle from S. pneumoniae. Their approach was to break open dead cells, chemically separate the components (e.g., protein, nucleic acids) and determine which was capable of transforming live S. pneumoniae cells. • 2. Only the nucleic acid fraction was capable of transforming the bacteria. • 3. Critics noted that the nucleic acid fraction was contaminated with proteins. The researchers treated this fraction with either RNase or protease and still found transforming activity, but when it was treated with DNase, no transformation occurred, indicating that the transforming principle was DNA.
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 8
Fig. 2.3 Experiment that showed that DNA, not RNA, was the transforming principle
• Animation: DNA as Genetic Material: The Hershey-Chase Experiment
• 1. More evidence for DNA as the genetic material came in 1953 with Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase’s work on E. coli infected with bacteriophage T2. • 2. In one part of the experiment, T2 proteins were labeled with 35S, and in the other part, T2 DNA was labeled with 32P. Then each group of labeled viruses was mixed separately with the E. coli host. After a short time, phage attachment was disrupted with a kitchen blender, and the location of the label determined. • 3. The 35S-labeled protein was found outside the infected cells, while the 32P-labeled DNA was inside the E. coli, indicating that DNA carried the information needed for viral infection. This provided additional support for the idea that genetic inheritance occurs via DNA.
• 1956, A. Gierer and G. Schramm • Infected tobacco plant with purified RNA typical virus- infected lesion • RNA treated with RNAase then injected into tobacco not lesion • 1957 Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat and B. Singer reconstitue the RNA of one type with the protein of the other type and vice versa and injected to two tobacco plants the progeny viruses isolated from the resulting lesion were the type specified by the RNA, not by the protein.
dimensional model (Figure 2.14) has these main features: • a. It is two polynucleotide chains wound around each other in a right-handed helix. • b. The two chains are antiparallel. • c. The sugar-phosphate backbones are on the outside of the helix, and the bases are on the inside, stacked perpendicularly to the long axis like the steps of a spiral staircase.
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 28
• d. The bases of the two strands are held together by hydrogen bonds between complementary bases (two for A-T pairs and three for G-C pairs). Individual H-bonds are relatively weak and so the strands can be separated (by heating, for example). Complementary base pairing means that the sequence of one strand dictates the sequence of the other strand.
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 29
• e. The base pairs are 0.34 nm apart, and one full turn of the DNA helix takes 3.4 nm, so there are 10 bp in a complete turn. The diameter of a dsDNA helix is 2 nm. • f. Because of the way the bases H-bond with each other, the opposite sugar-phosphate backbones are not equally spaced, resulting in a major and minor groove. This feature of DNA structure is important for protein binding. • 3. The 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Francis Crick, James Watson and Maurice Wilkins (the head of the lab in which Franklin worked). Franklin had already died, and so was not eligible.
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 30
Different DNA Structures • X ray diffraction studies show that DNA can exist in different forms (Figure 2.16). • a. A-DNA is the dehydrated form, and so it is not usually found in cells. It is a right-handed helix with 10.9 bp/turn, with the bases inclined 13° from the helix axis. A-DNA has a deep and narrow major groove, and a wide and shallow minor groove. • b. B-DNA is the hydrated form of DNA, the kind normally found in cells. It is also a right-handed helix, with only 10.0 bp/turn, and the bases inclined only 2° from the helix axis. B- DNA has a wide major groove and a narrow minor groove, and its major and minor grooves are of about the same depth. • c. Z-DNA is a left-handed helix with a zigzag sugar-phosphate backbone that gives it its name. It has 12.0 bp/turn, with the bases inclined 8.8° from the helix axis. Z-DNA has a deep minor groove, and a very shallow major groove. Its existence in living cells has not been proven. 台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 31 台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 32 DNA in the Cell
• All known cellular DNA is in the B form.
• A-DNA would not be expected because it is dehydrated and cells are aqueous. • Z-DNA has never been found in living cells, although many organisms have been shown to contain proteins that will bind to Z-DNA.
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 33
• iActivity: Cracking the Viral Code
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 34
The Organization of DNA in Chromosomes
• 1. Cellular DNA is organized into
chromosomes. A genome is the chromosome or set of chromosomes that contains all the DNA of an organism. • 2. In prokaryotes the genome is usually a single circular chromsome. In eukaryotes, the genome is one complete haploid set of nuclear chromosomes; mitochondrial and chloroplast DNA are not included. 台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 35 Viral Chromosomes • 1. A virus is nucleic acid surrounded by a protein coat. The nucleic acid may be dsDNA, ssDNA, dsRNA or ssRNA, and it may be linear or circular, a single molecule or several segments. • 2. Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria. Three different types that infect E. coli are good examples of the variety of chromosome structure found in viruses.
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 36
T-even phage
• 3. The T-even phages (T2, T4 and T6) have
similar structures (Figure 2.4); all have dsDNA genomes composed of a one linear DNA molecule surrounded by a protein coat. The genomes of these viruses show circular permutation, meaning that the starting point of each is different, because these viruses package slightly more than 100% of a genome length of DNA when they form.
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 37
Fig. 2.17 Circularly permuted and terminally redundant double-stranded DNA molecules
• In 1959, Robert Sinsheimer found that the DNA of ΦX174 has a base composition that does not fit the complementary base-pair-rules. single strand DNA rather than dsDNA
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 43
λ phage
• Bacteriophage λ is somewhat like the T-even
phages in structure. However, its chromosome changes form. A linear molecule of dsDNA is packaged inside the protein head (Fig. 2.19), but after the virus infects its host the chromosome becomes circular due to base-pairing of complementary 12-base single-stranded regions at the ends of the linear molecule (Fig. 2.20).
• 1. The typical prokaryotic genome is one circular dsDNA
chromosome, but some prokaryotes are more exotic, with a main chromosome and one or more smaller ones. When a minor chromosome is dispensable to the life of the cell, it is called a plasmid. Some examples: • a. Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease in humans) has a 0.91-Mb linear chromosome, plus an additional 0.53-Mb of DNA in 17 different linear and circular molecules. • b. Agrobacterium tumefaciens (crown gall disease of plants) has a 3.0-Mb circular chromosome and a 2.1-Mb linear one.
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 47
• 2. Archaebacteria also vary in chromosomal organization, but only circular forms have been found. Examples: • a. Methanococcus jannaschii has three chromosomes of 1.66- Mb, 58-kb and 16-kb. • b. Archaeoglobus fulgidus has one 2.2-Mb circular chromosome.
• 3. Both Eubacteria and Archaebacteria lack a membrane-
bounded nucleus, hence their classification as prokaryotes. Their DNA is densely arranged in a cytoplasmic region called the nucleoid.
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 48
DNA Supercoiling
• 4. In an experiment where E. coli is gently
lysed, it releases one 4.6-Mb circular chromosome, highly supercoiled. A 4.6-Mb double helix is about 1 mm in length, about 103 times longer than an E. coli cell. DNA supercoiling helps it fit into the cell. • Animation: DNA supercoiling
one chromosome, while most eukaryotes have a diploid number of chromosomes. • 2. A genome is the information in one complete haploid chromosome set. The total amount of DNA in the haploid genome of a species is its C value (Table 2.4). The structural complexity and the C value of an organism are not related, creating the C value paradox. 台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 53 C value paradox
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 54
• 3. Eukaryotic chromosomes are linear dsDNA, and by weight contain about twice as much protein as DNA. The DNA-protein complex is called chromatin, and it is highly conserved in all eukaryotes.
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 55
Chromatin Structure • 1. Both histones and non-histones are involved in physical structure of the chromosome. • 2. Histones are abundant, small proteins with a net (+) charge. The five main types are H1, H2A, H2B, H3 and H4. By weight, chromosomes have equal amounts of DNA and histones. • 3. Histones are highly conserved between species (H1 less than the others). • 4. Non-histone is a general name for other proteins associated with DNA. This is a big group, with some structural proteins, and some that bind only transiently. Non-histone proteins vary widely, even in different cells from the same organism. Most have a net (-) charge, and bind by attaching to histones. HMG (high mobility group) proteins are a well-studied example of non-histone proteins. 台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 56 • 5. Chromatin formation involves histones, and condenses the DNA so it will fit into the cell. Chromatin formation has two components: • a. Two molecules each of histones H2A, H2B, H3 and H4 associate to form a nucleosome core, and DNA wraps around it 1 3⁄4 times for a 7-fold condensation factor. Nucleosome cores are about 11 nm in diameter (Figures 2.25 and 2.27).
chromosomal regions with special functions. • 2. Centromeres are the site of the kinetochore, where spindle fibers attach during mitosis and meiosis. They are required for accurate segregation of chromatids. • 3. Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) centromeres are well-studied. Called CEN regions, their sequence and organization are similar, but not identical, between the chromosomes. Other eukaryotes have different centromere sequences, so while function is conserved, it is not due to a single type of DNA sequence. (Fig. 2-32)
台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 66
Fig. 2.32 Consensus sequence for centromeres of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae
• 4. Repetitive-sequence DNA includes the moderately and highly repeated sequences. They may be dispersed throughout the genome, or clustered in tandem repeats. • 5. Dispersed repetitive sequences occur in families that have a characteristic sequence. Often the same few sequences are highly repeated, and comprise most of the dispersed repeats in the genome. Little is known of their function, or indeed whether they actually serve a function. There are two types of interspersion patterns found in all eukaryotic organisms: • a. SINEs (short interspersed repeated sequences) with 100–500 bp sequences. An example is the Alu repeats found in some primates, including humans, where these 200–300 bp repeats make up 9% of the genome. • b. LINEs (long interspersed repeated sequences) with sequences of 5 kb or more. The common example in mammals is LINE-1, with sequences up to 7 kb in length. • 6. Tandemly repetitive sequences are common in eukaryotic genomes, ranging from very short (1–10 bp) sequences to genes and even longer sequences. This group includes centromere and telomere sequences, and rRNA and tRNA genes. 台大農藝系 遺傳學 601 20000 Chapter 2 slide 73