Nucleic Acids

• 7.1A1: Franklin and Wilkins’ investigation of DNA structure by X-ray

diffraction.
• Wilkins, Crick, and Watson were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for
Physiology or Medicine, "for their discoveries concerning the
molecular structure of nucleic acids
• 7.1S1: Analysis of Hershey and Chase experiment providing evidence
that DNA is the generic material.

• Bacteriophage (virus)

• Sulphur only in protein

• Phosphorous only in DNA

• Centrifuge pellet and supernatant

• 7.1: DNA structure suggested a mechanism for DNA replication
• 7.1U2: Nucleosomes help to supercoil the DNA
• 7.1S2: Utilization of molecular visualization soft wear to analyse the
association between protein and DNA within a nucleosome.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbSIBhFwQ4s
• 7.1U3: DNA replication is continuous on the leading strand and
discontinuous on the lagging strand.
• 7.1U4: DNA replication is carried out by a complex system of enzymes
• 7.1U5: DNA polymerase can only add nucleotides to the 3’ end of a
primer
• 7.1U6: Some regions of DNA do not code for proteins but have other
important functions.

• Telomeres
• Introns and regulatory regions (will be discussed in 7.2 and 7.3)
• A telomere is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences at each end
of a chromosome, which protects the end of the chromosome from
deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes.
• 7.1 A2: Tandem repeats are used in DNA profiling
• 7.1A3: Use of nucleotides containing dideoxy ribonucleic acid to stop
DNA replication in preparation of samples for base sequencing.
YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND THIS
TECHNOLOGY
• Restriction enzymes (endonucleases)
• Gel electrophoresis

• Taq Polymerase
• Polymerase chain reaction PCR

• Deoxyribonucleic acid
• DNA sequencing (using PCR and gel electrophoresis)
• Tandem repeats come in variable numbers:
Taq Polymerase
Thermus Aquaticus bacteria lives here…
PCR