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2.
Briefly outline the history of our knowledge of the structure of DNA until the time
of Watson and Crick. Which do you think were the principle contributions and
developments?
1869: Johann Friedrich Miescher isolates nuclei from white blood cells and
extracts a substance that was slightly acidic and rich in phosphorous. He calls
it nuclein.
Late 1800s: Albrecht Kossel determines that DNA contains the four nitrogenous
bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine.
1920s: Phoebus Aaron Levine discovers that DNA consists of repeating units, each
consisting of a sugar, a phosphate, and a nitrogenous base.
1950: Erwin Chargaff formulates Chargaffs rules (A=T and G=C).
1947: William Ashbury begins studying DNA structure using X-ray diffraction.
19511953: Rosalind Franklin, working in Maurice Wilkins lab, obtains higher
resolution pictures of DNA structure using X-ray diffraction techniques.
1953: Watson and Crick propose the model of DNA structure.
All of these scientists contributed information that helped Watson and Crick
determine the structure of the DNA double helix. Erwin Chargaff and Rosalind
Franklin made two important contributions that directly led to the discoveries by
Watson and Crick. By combining Chargaffs rules with Rosalind Franklins X-ray
diffraction data, Watson and Crick were able to predict accurately the structure of
the DNA double helix.
*3.
4.
What is transformation? How did Avery and his colleagues demonstrate that the
transforming principle is DNA?
Transformation occurs when a transforming material (or DNA) genetically alters
the bacterium that absorbs the transforming material. Avery and his colleagues
demonstrated that DNA is the transforming material by using enzymes that
destroyed the different classes of biological molecules. Enzymes that destroyed
proteins or nucleic acids had no effect on the activity of the transforming material.
However, enzymes that destroyed DNA eliminated the biological activity of the
transforming material. Avery and his colleagues were also able to isolate the
How did Hershey and Chase show that DNA is passed to new phages in phage
reproduction?
Hershey and Chase used the radioactive isotope 32P to demonstrate that DNA is
passed to new phage particles during phage reproduction. The progeny phage
released from bacteria infected with 32P-labeled phages emitted radioactivity from
32
P. The presence of the 32P in the progeny phage indicated that the infecting phage
had passed DNA on to the progeny phage.
6.
*7.
8.
9.
How does a purine differ from a pyrimidine? What purines and pyrimidines are
found in DNA and RNA?
11.
Which bases are capable of forming hydrogen bonds with each another?
Adenine is capable of forming two hydrogen bonds with thymine. Guanine is
capable of forming three hydrogen bonds with cytosine.
*12. What is local variation in DNA structure and what causes it?
Since DNA is not a static, rigid structure that is invariant, the local variation in
DNA structure refers to the actual variations that exist in a DNA molecule. For
instance, B-DNA is described as having an average of 10 bases per turn. However,
the actual values may be less than or greater than 10, depending on the
environmental conditions.
13.
What are some of the important genetic implications of the DNA structure?
What results would you expect if the Hershey and Chase experiment were
conducted on tobacco mosaic virus?
Infection by TMV results in both the protein coat and the RNA genome entering the
host cell. Inside the plant cell, the TMV protein coat unwinds, releasing the viral
genome, which initiates infection. If Hershey and Chase had used 32P and 35S to
label TMV particles, the RNA molecules would have been labeled with the 32P and
the viral proteins would have been labeled with 35S. However, both the protein coat
and the RNA genome would have entered the cell, so radioactive ghost proteins
would not have been located outside the cell. Newly synthesized viral RNAs would
have contained measurable levels of 32P.
*20. Each nucleotide pair of a DNA double helix weighs about 1 1021 g. The human
body contains approximately 0.5 g of DNA. How many nucleotide pairs of DNA are
in the human body? If you assume that all the DNA in human cells is in the B-DNA
form, how far would the DNA reach if stretched end to end?
If each nucleotide pair of a DNA double helix weighs approximately 1 1021 g,
and the human body contains 0.5 grams of DNA, then the number of nucleotide
pairs can be estimated as: (0.5 g DNA/human)/(1 1021 g/ nucleotide) = 5 1020
nucleotides pairs/human.
DNA that is in B form has an average distance of 3.4 nm between each
nucleotide pair. If a human possesses 5 1020 nucleotide pairs, then that DNA
stretched end to end would reach: (5 1020 nucleotides/ human) (3.4
nm/nucleotide pair) = 1.7 1021 nm or 1.7 109 km.
21. What aspects of its structure contribute to the stability of the DNA molecule? Why is
RNA less stable than DNA?
Several aspects contribute to the stability of the DNA molecule. The relatively strong
phosphodiester linkages connect the nucleotides of a given strand of DNA. The
helical nature of the double-stranded DNA molecule results in the negatively
charged phosphates of each strand being arranged to the outside and away from
each other. The complementary nature of the nitrogenous bases of the nucleotides
helps hold the two strands of polynucleotides together. The stacking interactions of
the bases, which allow for any base to follow another in a given strand, also play a
No.
Yes.
Yes.
A T
1.0
(d) C G
No.
(e)
A G
1.0
CT
Yes.
(f)
A G
C T
No.
A T
(g) G C
Yes.
(h) A G
T C
No.
*23. If a double-stranded DNA molecule has 15% thymine, what are the percentages of
all the other bases?
The percentage of thymine (15%) should be approximately equal to the percentage
of adenine (15%). The remaining percentage of DNA bases will consist of cytosine
and guanine bases (100% 15% 15% = 70%); these should be in equal amounts
(70%/2 = 35%). Therefore the percentages of each of the other bases if the thymine
content is 15% are adenine = 15%; guanine = 35%; and cytosine = 35%.
24. A virus contains 10% adenine, 24% thymine, 30% guanine, and 36% cytosine. Is the
genetic material in this virus double-stranded DNA, single-stranded DNA, doublestranded RNA, or single-stranded RNA? Support your answer.
Most likely the viral genome is single-stranded DNA. The presence of thymine
indicates that the viral genome is DNA. For the molecule to be double-stranded
DNA, we would predict equal percentages of adenine and thymine bases and equal
percentages of guanine and cytosine bases. Neither the percentages of adenine and
O O
OH CH C base
H H
H
OH
O P O
OH CH
H
base
H H
OH
H OH
(a) Make a list of all the mistakes in the structure of this DNA polynucleotide
strand.
(1) Neither 5' carbon of the two sugars is directly linked to phosphorous.
(2) Neither 5' carbon of the two sugars has an OH group attached.
(3) Neither sugar molecule has oxygen in its ring structure between the 1' and
4' carbons.
(4) In both sugars, the 2' carbon has an OH group attached, which does not
occur in deoxyribonucleotides.
O
Base
C
CH
CH
H2
HC C
H2
HO
27. Chapter 1 considered the theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics and
noted that this theory is no longer accepted. Is the central dogma consistent with the
theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics? Why or why not?
The central dogma of molecular biology is not consistent with the theory of
inheritance of acquired characteristics. The flow of information predicted by the
central dogma is:
DNA
RNA
Protein
One exception to the central dogma is reverse transcription, whereby RNA codes
for DNA. However, biologists currently do not know of a process that will allow for
the flow of information from proteins back to DNA. The theory of inheritance of
acquired characteristics necessitates such a flow of information from proteins back
to the DNA.
*28. Write a sequence of bases in an RNA molecule that would produce a hairpin
structure.
For a hairpin structure to form in a RNA molecule, an inverted complementary
RNA sequence separated by a region of noncomplementary sequence is necessary.
The inverted complements form the stem structure, and the loop of the hairpin is
formed by the noncomplementary sequences.