Watson The Double Helix

B-68MI20401 J. D. Watson The Double Helix , Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1968. 147... 

James D. Watson, The double helix. Harmondsworth Penguin, 1968. [ A personal account of the discovery of the structure of DNA, written by a Nobel Prize Winner in the style of a picaresque novel.]... 

American Association for the Advancement of Science. Illustration by Cameron Slayden 17.8 From J. D. Watson, The Double Helix, p. 

J.D. Watson, The Double Helix A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure ofDNA, Atheneum, New York, 1968. 

VOLTAIRE Candide translated and edited by Robert M. Adams WATSON The Double Helix edited by Gunther S. Stent WHITMAN Leaves of Grass edited by Sculley Bradley and Harold W. Blodgett WOLLSTONECRAFT A Vindication of the Rights of Woman edited by Carol H. Poston... 

F. H. C. Crick. J. B. Watson and M. H. F. Wilkins (with Rosalind Franklin) establish the double helix structure of nucleic acids (Nobel Pnze 1962). 

One of the most thoroughly investigated examples of polymeric biomolecules in regard to the stabilization of ordered structures by hydration are the DNAs. Only shortly after establishing the double-helix model by Watson and Crick 1953 it became clear, that the hydration shell of DNA plays an important role in stabilizing the native conformation. The data obtained by the authors working in this field up until 1977 are reviewed by Hopfinger155>. 

This behavior is readily explained by the double helix an A molecule in one strand is always hydrogen-bonded to a T molecule in the second strand. Similarly, a C molecule in one strand is situated properly to form a hydrogen bond with a G molecule in the other strand. In 1962, Watson, Crick, and Wilkins received the Nobel Prize in medicine (Franklin died in 1958). 

Watson, James D. The Double Helix. New York Atheneum, 1968. 

It is now almost 50 years since the structure of DNA was elucidated by Watson and Crick (1) (Fig. 1). Since then the double helix has become an icon for modern scientific achievement. With the rapid growth of molecular biology and the consequent success of the human genome project (2) we are now firmly in a post-genomic era. However, in spite of, or perhaps because of this, efforts to understand fundamental aspects of metal-ion interactions with DNA continue to be vigorously pursued. 

C2 Z = 4 Dx = 1.41 R = 0.102 for 4,115 intensities. The structure is a 3 2 complex of proflavine and CpG. The asymmetrical unit contains one CpG molecule, 1.5 proflavine molecules, 0.5 sulfate ion, and 11 5 water molecules. Two CpG molecules form an antiparallel, Watson-Crick, miniature duplex, with a proflavine intercalated between the base pairs through the wide groove. The double helix has exact (crystallographic), two-fold symmetry, and the crystallographic, two-fold axis passes through the C-9-N-10 vector of the intercalated proflavine. A second and a third molecule of proflavine are stacked on top of the C - G pairs ... 

Most DNA occurs in nature as a right-handed double-helical molecule known as Watson-Crick DNA or B-DNA (Fig I-1-9). The hydrophilic sugar-phosphate backbone of each strand is on the outside of the double helix. The hydrogen-bonded base pairs are stacked in the center of the molecule. There are about 10 base pairs per complete turn of the helix. A rare left-handed double-helical form of DNA that occurs in G-C-rich sequences is known as Z-DNA. The biologic function of Z-DNA is unknown, but may be related to gene regulation. 

The most famous stracture in aU chemistry is the Watson-Crick double helix for DNA (figure 12.3). The discovery of this structure by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953 was the beginning of molecular biology. An amazing number of insights about the nature of life have been derived from this structure. 

The Watson-Crick double helix is the outcome of three lines of work. The first is the discovery by Erwin Chargaff of Chargaff s rules." Specifically, for all normal DNAs, A = T, G = C and A + G = C + T. The actual content of each base in DNA varies from species to species over a wide range. Despite this variation, the content... 

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