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DNA


In nucleic acids each nucleotide has one phosphate group attached. .
             .
             The Arrangement Of Components.
             X-Ray Diffraction.
             During the 1940's and 1950's scientists were using X-Ray Diffraction to look at the structure of protein. In X-Ray diffraction X-Rays are directed at crystal of the substance studied. The X-Rays are diffracted by the crystal, and the patterns they make give a skilled scientist, armed with a computer, information about the positions of atoms in the molecule. .
             Once DNA had been identified, as the genetic material scientists were keen to use the same technique to study at DNA. This was not easy because DNA was difficult to crystallise. Two of the scientists who succeeded in overcoming the technical difficulties were Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins. Wilkins was the first to obtain crystals of pure DNA but these were crystals of the A form of DNA: this structure formed when little water is present. In contrast, Franklin worked on crystals of the B form: this is the structure that DNA forms when more water is present. Both scientists showed that DNA was a helix. It is the B form of DNA that proved to be more biologically important.
             Meanwhile James Watson and Francis Crick were working with atomic models at Cambridge. Not much was achieved until Watson went to Kings College to have a look at the picture taken by Rosalind Franklin. When Watson returned they began to work intensely on the project. Soon Watson came up with the final piece of the puzzle, the base pairing system of A, T, G and C. Watson realized that if A paired with T, and G paired with C, the two pairs had the same shape and would be held together nicely by hydrogen bonds. He was able to fit the bases into a double standard phosphate sugar backbone helix with phosphate sugar backbone on the outside. Below is a picture of James Watson (left) and Francis Crick with their model of the DNA molecule.
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             One scientist, Erwin Chargraff, set out to prove that DNA was a more complex molecule than had first been thought, a molecule that was worthy to be the genetic material.


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