24.

1 DNA and its replication

Labelled red: DNA with radioactive 32 - isotope Virus attach to bacteria and inject material agitate mixture to shake off whatever was left on outside of bacteria (in a kitchen blender) centrifuge (spin at super high speed) so bacteria collects in a "pellet" at bottom of centrifuge tube Tested pellet: found most of 32 - labelled DNA in bacteria and not in the liquid medium Conduction: DNA entered bacteria

Labelled red: protein capsid with radioactive 35 Virus attaches to bacteria and inject genetic material Agitate mixture to shake off whatever is on outside of bacteria Centrifuge culture to form pellet on bottom of centrifuge tube No 35 found in pellet; most 35 found in liquid medium Conclusion: radioactive protein capsids remained on outside of bacteria and were shaken off by blender into the liquid medium

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Experiments proved that DNA of a virus, and not its protein, enters the host, where viral reproduction occurs Therefore, DNA is a genetic material It transmits all genetic information needed to produce new viruses

Read Page 487 (Eleventh Edition) / 491 (Twelfth Edition) Q: Who discovered the structure of DNA? A: James Watson, an American biologist as well as British physicist Francis Crick. They met at the University of Cambridge in the year of 1953 and conducted a research on DNA structure. They later-on discovered that DNA has a twisted, ladder like structure; the sugar-phosphate molecules make up the sides of the ladder, and the bases make up the rungs. Further, they determined that A is normally hydrogenbonded with T, while C is with G, then the rungs always have a constant width, consistent with the X-ray photograph. Q: What is Chargaff's rule? A: Regardless of the species under consideration, the number of purines in DNA always equals the number of pyrimidine. Moreover, the amount of adenine equals the amount of thymine; the amount of guanine equals the amount of cytosine.

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Q: How did Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Willkins contribute to the research? A: They prepared an X-ray diffraction photograph of DNA. It showed that DNA is a double helix of constant diameter and the bases are regularly stacked on top of one another.

DNA is a polynucleotide Composed of 3 subunits: nitrogenous base, phosphorus group, and pentose sugar 4 bases: 2 purines (Adenine, Guanine) with double ring, 2 pyrimidine (Cytosine, Thymine) with single ring Backbone made of sugars and phosphates Double helix structure of 2 twisting strands held together by hydrogen bonds between bases (A-T, C-G)

The 2 DNA strands are antiparallel; they run in opposite directions Can see sugar molecules oriented differently 5th carbon is uppermost in one strand - 5' (5 prime) 3rd carbon (attached to the phosphate) is uppermost in 2nd strand - 3' (3 prime)

DNA Replication: process of copying one DNA helix into 2 identical helices Each old strand serves as template for formation of complementary new strand Semiconservative: each new strand has one old strand (conserved) and one new strand (new, so was not conserved) Semiconservative feature of DNA replication:

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1. Strands H-bonded to each other 2. DNA helicase (an enzyme) unwinds and unzips the double-stranded DNA (break up weak N bonds) 3. Complementary DNA nucleotides joined to old strand by DNA polymerase (an enzyme) 4. DNA ligase (an enzyme) seals any breaks in sugar - phosphate bonds 5. the 2 new double helixes are identical to the original strand The animation video of DNA replication process with weird background music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teV62zrm2P0

Some chemotherapeutic drugs are analogs that have similar, but not the same, structure as the 4 nucleotides When cancer cells mistakenly use these to synthesize DNA, replication stops and cancer cells die off.

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1. What do we mean when we say that 2 strands of DNA are antiparallel?

2. Label the 5 Carbons in ribose and attach a phosphate group and a base to the right Carbon; connect them another nucleotide that has its Carbons labeled too.

3. Draw 3 sugar-phosphate backbones (using pentagons and circles and sticks); label the 5' Carbon and 3' Carbon in each one

4. Using 2 different colours (1 for old strand, 1 for new strand), draw a simple ladder-like DNA double helix. In a cartoon, show how the helix unwinds, how new bases are added and why the new strands are semiconservative.

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