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DNA is like Coca-Cola -Life on Planet Earth-chapter 10

By biology, From cbs.dtu.dk, Date: 2008-03-06 05:38:36

cokeloreb.gif




"...A structure this pretty just had to exist."
                - James Watson in The Double Helix




DNA is like Coca-Cola
coke_logo.gif  


 

1. The central Dogma
2. DNA is like Coke
3. The Family of DNAs
4. A few words about the SIZE of genes.
5. References
 BOOKS on DNA
A Brief History of DNA
Nobel Prizes for work related to genetics/DNA

DNA helix


1. The central Dogma:

DNA -> RNA -> protein
 
 
 

DNA is the gentic material
The First demonstration of bacterial transformation.
Experiments done by Frederick Griffith (in London) in 1928 found there were two different types of the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae:

An "S" or SMOOTH coat strain, which is lethal to mice.
Figure 11_1a from Griffiths et al., 1996
An "R" or rough strain, which will not hurt the mouse.
Figure 11_1b from Griffiths et al., 1996
Griffith found that he could heat inactivate the smooth strain.
Figure 11_1c from Griffiths et al., 1996
However, if he were to take a mixture of the heat-inactivated S strain,
mixed with the R strain, the bacteria would die.  Thus there was some
Material in the heat-killed S strain that was responsible for "transforming"
the R strain into a lethal form.
Figure 11_1d from Griffiths et al., 1996
 
Fred Griffith (and a lab co-worker) was killed in their laboratory in 1940 from a German bomb.  However, their work continued on in the U.S., and in 1944, Oswald Avery, C.M. MacLeod, and M. McCarty carefully demonstrated that the ONLY material that was responsible for the transformation was DNA - thus, DNA was the "Genetic material" - however, many scientists were still not sure that it was REALLY DNA (and not proteins) that was the genetic material.

In 1952, Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase (she was an UNDERGRADUATE at the time!) demonstrated clearly that DNA must be the genetic material, using bacteriophage T2.

RNA -> protein
We will discuss more on the "Central Dogma" on Monday and Wednesday of next week.

DNA images/dna60.gif
 
 
2. DNA is like Coke. 
Coke bottle 
DNA is like Coca-Cola
CokeDNASolubility
waterwater
-
Sugar (sucrose) Sugar (dexoyribose)
VERY 
High
Phosphate  
(PO4- acid)
phosphate
moderate
caffeinebases  
(A,T,C,G)
extremely
low
 


Compare the structures of Caffeine: Caffeine

with Adenine: Adenine
Here's the structure of caffeine, flipped:

Caffeine is a "base analogue" of Adenine, and in fact can sometimes be incorporated into a growing DNA chain, instead of Adenine.  Caffeine is a weak mutagen, for this reason.

The VERY MOST important property contributing to DNA helix stability is the stacking of the base-pairs on top of one another, due to hydrophobic forces.  (Remember, the bases "hate" water, and are not very soluble.)  Free bases will stack on top of each other and form a helix in solution!  This type of process is called "self-assembly", where you just throw something in solution, and it fits together on its own, with no extra work needed.
 

dnamovdnamovdnamovDNAmovdnamovdnamov

 

Properties of individual dinucleotide base pairs
Dinucleotide 
base pairs
Stacking energies 
(Kcal/mol bp)
twist angle
bp/turn
(GC).(GC)
-14.59
40.0
9.0
(AC).(GT)
-10.51
34.4
10.5
(TC).(GA)
-9.81
36.9
9.8
(CG).(CG)
-9.61
29.8
12.1
(GG).(CC)
-8.26
33.7
10.7
(AT).(AT)
-6.57
32.1
11.4
(TG).(CA)
-6.57
34.5
10.4
(AG).(CT)
-6.78
27.9
13.0
(AA).(TT)
-5.37
35.6
10.1
(TA).(TA)
3.82
36.0
10.0
The base stacking energies are from: Ornstein,R.L., Rein,R., Breen,D.L., and MacElroy,R.D., Biopolymers, 17:2341-2360, (1978).  The helical twist angles (and their implied bp/turn) are from Kabsch,Sander, and Trifonov, Nucleic Acids Research, 10:1097-1104, (1982).
 
 
 

3. The Family of DNAs

A-, B-, and Z-DNAs
A-DNA (left), B-DNA (middle) and Z-DNA (right) -- 12 bp each
From Dickerson et al. in Cold Spring Harbor Symposium for Quantitative Biology
(1982) v47 p13-24.
 
 
 

3 families of DNA helices:



A-DNA conformation
A-DNA family - this is most common for double stranded RNA, RNA/DNA hybrids, as well as for certain DNA sequences, such as long stretches of purines.






B-DNA family - DNA exists in the "B-DNA form", most of the time inside the cells of living organisms.  This is the classical "Watson-Crick" structure.

B-DNA conformation




B-DNA


 

B-DNA


Z-DNA conformation
Z-DNA family - this is much more rare than the other two families, although certains sequences (such as runs of GC repeats (GCGCGC)) can form Z-DNA easily.







 

4. A few words about the SIZE of genes & genomes...


  • Bacterial genes are often around 1000 bp long.       
    (NOTE: we will talk more about what a gene actually is, on Monday)
  • Many human genes are more than 100,000 bp long, and a few (like the gene for muscular dystrophy & cystic fibrosis) are close to 1,000,000 bp long!
     
  • The complete GENOME (or all the DNA) from an organism is much generally larger for more complex organisms.  (NOTE, however, that for plants the size can be perhaps 100x to 1000x the size of many animal genomes - this is due to chromosomal duplication, which happens more often in plants than animals.
 
Relative sizes of genomes
 


 

A Timeline of The Human Genome
YEAR
# human genes mapped to a definite chromosome location
# years it would take to sequence the human genome
1967
none
 
sequencing not possible yet
1977
3 genes mapped 
4,000,000 years to finish at 1977 rate
1987
12 genes mapped 
1000 years to finish at 1987 rate
1997
30,000 genes mapped 
50 years to finish at present rate
NOTE: The genome project is actually ahead of schedule, and it is very likely that the first complete sequence of a human genome will be finished within 3 or 4 years from now (probably during the year 2001).  This is based on an article by Richard A. Gibbs ("Hares and tortoises in the race to sequence the human genome: expectations and realities", Trends in Genetics, 13:381-383, (October, 1997)).
 
leaf 41
 
 The human genome project has also had a major influence on the rest of biology, as other organisms are being sequenced as goals towards the ambitious end of the 3,000,000,000 bp (or so) nucleotide sequence for the human genome.  In particular, the sequencing of complete bacterial genomes is revolutionising the field of microbiology.   Presently, bacterial genomes are being sequence at a rate of slightly faster than one new genome every month!  As technology improves, this rate will increase.  It is estimated that within the next two years, we will know the complete genomic sequence of most major pathogenic bacteria.
 
Organisms sequenced
Year
# genomes sequenced
1994
0
1995
2
1996
4
1997
9
1998
30 (est.)
Reference: Tang,C.M., Hood,D.W., Moxon,E.R., "Haemophilus influence: the impact of whole genome sequencing on microbiology", Trends in Genetics, 13:399-404, (1997).
 


 
REFERENCES

BOOKS on DNA
 

 1. Sinden, R.R. DNA Structure and Function, (San Diego: Academic Press, 1994).

 Richard Sinden's book
 

 2. Saenger, W. Principles of Nucleic Acid Structure, (New York, Springer-Verlag, 1984).  A very good, though a bit old, book for the most DETAILED analysis of DNA Structure
 

Some other good textbooks:

* 3. Calladine, C.R. and Drew, H.R. Understanding DNA - The Molecule & How It Works, (San Diego:Academic Press, 1992). (* I like this book!)
 Understanding DNA
 

 4. Adams, R.L.P., Knowler, J.T. and Leader, D.P. The Biochemistry of the NUCLEIC ACIDS, (London:Chapman and Hall, 1986, Tenth edition).
 

 5. Blackburn, G.M. and Gait, M.J. Nucleic Acids in Chemistry and Biology, (Oxford:IRL Press at Oxford University Press, 1990).
 

 6. Watson, J., Hopkins, N., Roberts, J., Steitz, J. and Weiner, A. The Structures of DNA. In: Molecular Biology of the Gene, (The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc., 1992).
 

 7. Cantor, C.R. and Schimmel, P.R. Structures of nucleic acids. In: Biophysical Chemistry, Part I, (San Francisco: W.H. Freeman & Co., 1980, p. 155-205).

 some good (less technical) books, written more for people outside the field:

 8. Berg, P. and Singer, M. DEALING WITH GENES - The Language of Heredity, (Mill Valley, California:University Science Books, Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1992).
 

 9. Frank-Kamenetskii, M.D. Unravelling DNA, (Cambridge:VCH Publishers (UK) Ltd., 1993).
 

10. Drlica, K. Understanding DNA and Gene CLONING - A Guide for the Curious, (New York:John Wiley & Sons, 1984).
 

11. Rosenfield, I., Ziff, E. and Van Loon, B. DNA for Beginners, (New York:W.W. Norton and Company, 1983).
 


A Brief History of DNA
(in relation to Biology 210 - Genetics, @ Roanoke College, Spring, 1998)
For a more detailed list, see the first day's lecture notes (14-Jan-98)
 

1865 Gregor Mendel describes "unit of heredity"

1869 Friedreich Miescher isolates "nuclein" (DNA) from trout fish from the Rhine.

1903 Walter Sutton proposes that chromosomes contain genetic material

1908 T.H.Morgan proposes that genes can mutate (somehow), based on work with Drosophila

1927 Muller discovers x-rays induce mutations in chromosomes.

1941 Beadle & Tatum propose "one gene - one enzyme" hypothesis.

1944 Avery, MacLeod, McArty show DNA is "transforming" agent (e.g., genetic material)

1952 Alfred Hershey & Martha Chase demonstrate that DNA contains genetic material

1953 Postulation of complimentary, double helical structure for DNA (by Watson & Crick)
 
1960 Discovery of messenger RNA

1966 Establishment of complete genetic code

1973 Eukaryotic genes cloned in bacterial plasmids

1977 DNA sequencing becomes possible - X174 virus

1984 Human Genome project first started - projected to take 20 years and cost $4,000,000,000.

1993 First clinical trials for gene therapy in humans started in England

1995 First complete bacterial genome sequenced
 
1997 Cloning of "Dolly the sheep"?


A Brief History of DNA

Some  interesting books about the history of DNA:
 

Early 1900抯 (1900-1929)

12.  Thomson, J.A., HEREDITY (New York: R.V. Coleman, National Book Buyer's Service, 1907).  This is an interesting view of genetics, BEFORE Mendell抯 work had been linked to (Darwinian) evolution, and (of course) long before anybody knew about genes and DNA.

* 13. Morgan, T.H. The Physical Basis of Heredity, (Philadelphia:J.B. Lippincott Company, 1919). In this book, Morgan proposes the idea that perhaps these chromosomes that he observes in Drosophila, might contain the genetic material.  This is the work for which he received the Nobel prize, more than a decade later!

 

1930抯

14. Fisher, R.A., The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection, (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1930).  This is the first link between Mendellian genetics and Darwinian evolution, even though both of Darwin and Mendell published around the same time (1850抯 to 1860抯).  Francois Jacob (1973, see below) makes a strong argument that the two ideas were not really deemed compatible in the late 1800抯, and it was not until the beginning of this century that Mendell抯 genes could be considered as a valid mechanism for explaining evolution.

15. Levene, P.A. and Bass, L.W. NUCLEIC ACIDS, (New York:American Chemical Society, 1931). This book was written more than 20 years BEFORE it was known (or even suspected) that DNA contains the genetic material!
 

1940抯

16. Dobzhansky, Th., Genetics and the Origin of Species  (New York: Morningside Heights: Columbia University Press, 1941).  In this edition, Dobzhansky further links Darwinian evolution to Mendellian genetics (see Fisher (1930), above) - Dobzhansky抯 book was important for establishing this idea in the US.

* 17. Schrödinger, E. WHAT IS LIFE & MIND and MATTER, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1944).  This is the famous book that inspired Crick when he was trying to solve the structure of the DNA helix.  Schrödinger makes some predictions about the nature of the genetic material (at the time thought to be PROTEIN (not DNA!), but his predictions turned out to be very true).  He discusses in detail the hypothesis (of Max Delbrück) that the genetic information might be stored in the form of a "code" - and uses Morse code as an example.  Here are a few quotes:
 "... Consequently, we may safely assert that there is no alternative to the molecular explanation of the hereditary substance..."
 "We shall assume the structure of a gene to be that of a huge molecule, capable only of discontinuous change, which consists in a rearrangement of the atoms and leads to an isomeric molecule.  The rearrangements may affect only a small region of the gene, and a vast number of different rearrangements are possible."
 

* McCarty,M., The Transforming Principle - Discovering that Genes are made of DNA, (New York: W.W.Norton & company, 1985) - Although this book was written more recently, it is an excellent history of the research that was going on in the early 1940's.  I would strongly recommend the reading of this text.
 

18. Pauling,L., The Nature of the Chemical Bond - and the structure of molecules and crystals (New York: Cornell University Press, 1948).
 

1950抯

19. Sinnot, E.W., Dunn, L.C., and Dobzhansky, Th., Principles of GENETICS (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1950).

20. Dunn, L.C., Genetics in the 20th Century - Essays of the Progress of Genetics During Its First 50 years (New York: The MacMillan Company,1951).

* 21. Chargaff, E. and Davidson, J.N. The NUCLEIC ACIDS, Volumes 1-3, (New York:Academic Press, Inc., 1955)  This is the "classic" reference work for obscure facts about DNA.  This book was published shortly after the discovery of the structure of the double helix, and before much was known about DNA being the "genetic material".

* 21. McElroy,W.D., Glass,B., (editors)A Symposium on THE CHEMICAL BASIS OF HEREDITY, (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1957).  This is an edited book from a symposium held in 1956, to discuss the recent discoveries of the DNA structure, and that DNA contains the genetic material.  Note that this is still several years before the "genetic code problem" had been solved.  The contributors were at the forefront of research at the time - many of them were later to receive Nobel prizes for their work!

22. Zamenhof, S., The Chemistry of Heredity (Springfield, Illinois, USA: Charles C. Thomas - Publisher, 1959).  This book is written for the "non-scientist", and does a good job of explaining WHY it is important to know about DNA.
 

1960抯

23. Steiner, R.F. and Beers, R.F., POLYNUCLEOTIDES - Natural and Synthetic Nucleic Acids (New York: Elsevier Publishing Company,1961).

24. Davidson, J.N. , The Biochemistry of Nucleic Acids  (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1965).

* 25. Watson, J.D. Molecular Biology of the Gene, New York:W.A. Benjamin, Inc., 1965. This is the first edition of the "classic" textbook on molecular biology.  At the time it was written, the genetic code was just being completely deciphered.

26.  Phage and The Origins of Molecular Biology , (Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory of Quantitative Biology, 1966).

* 27. Beadle, G. and Beadle, M., THE LANGUAGE OF LIFE - An Introduction to the Science of Genetics, (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1966).  This is a good overview of genetics, the discovery of DNA, and the "breaking of the [genetic] code".  It was written about 10 years after George Beadle had won the Nobel prize.

* 28. Kendrew, J.C., The Thread of Life - an introduction to molecular biology (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1967).  This is a thin book that gives a good, plain explanation of the "recent discoveries" of the structure of DNA and proteins.  The explanation of how to interpret X-ray diffraction patters is especially nice.

29. Harbers, E., Domagk, G.F., and Müller, W., Introduction to NUCLEIC ACIDS - Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Functions  (New York: Reinhold Book Corporation, 1968).

30. Hayes, W., The Genetics of Bacteria and their Viruses - Studies in Basic Genetics and Molecular Biology  (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1968).

31. Watson, J.D. The Double Helix, (New York:W.W.Norton & Company, 1968). This is a fun, very readable, "gossipy" account of the discovery of the DNA double helix.  Of course, it is very biased, but nonetheless it makes good reading, and is very insightful into the personalities and politics involved in solving the basic structure of DNA.

32. Bodmer, W.F., Darlington, A.J., Dunn, L.C., Emerson, S., Grell, R.F., Sobell, H.M., and Taylor, J.H., GENETIC ORGANISATION - A Comprehensive Treatise (New York: Academic Press, 1969).
 

33. Medvedev, Z.A. The Rise and Fall of T.D. LYSENKO, (New York:Columbia University Press, 1969).  I think this is an important book for several different reasons.  First, it is well-written, and tells a nice story about the history of genetics.  Perhaps more importantly, it also warns of what can happen when the government tries to control scientific thought.  In this particular instance, the government was the Soviet Union, under Stalin.  I am told that the communist Chinese still do not officially believe in Mendellian genetics, and that they must be "careful" when they talk about DNA - many government officials consider this as "bourgeoisie capitalistic ideas".

34. Ycas, M., THE BIOLOGICAL CODE (Frontiers of Biology, volume 12) (Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company, 1969).

1970抯

35. Hershey, A.D., The Bacteriophage Lambda (Cold Spring Harbor, New York: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1971).

* 36. Jacob, F. The Logic of Life: A History of Heredity, (New York:Vintage Books, 1973).  This is an excellent historical account of the development of the idea of genes (and DNA) as the source of hereditary units.  He traces the history of ideas, in terms of the overall scientific point of view at various times in history.  Basically, Jacob proposes that, although Darwin and Mendell were contemporaries, the time was not right for acceptance of  Mendellian genetics as the form of Darwinian evolution.  He argues that the development of statistical mechanics, and the concept of "negative entropy" (e.g., the universe is running down, or becoming more random, and that it takes energy to prevent things from becoming more disorganised - thus life requires energy to fight the tendency towards decay) were necessary requirements for the acceptance of the "randomness" of the assortment of genes.  Thus he strongly relates developments in the physical sciences to ideas in biology.

37. Lewin, B., GENE EXPRESSION - vol. 2.  Eukaryotic Chromosomes (London: John Wiley & Sons, 1974).

38. Dawkins, R., The Selfish Gene (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976).

39. Grobstein, C., A Double Image of the Double Helix - The Recombinant-DNA debate (San Francisco: W.H.Freeman & Company, 1979).
 

* 40. Judson, H.F. The Eighth Day of Creation - Makers of the Revolution in Biology, (New York:Simon and Schuster, 1979).  This is a comprehensive treatise (686 pages!), detailing the work leading up to, and past the discovery of the double helix.  It is a wonderful historical account of the development of molecular biology, and also is a good source for gaining a basic understanding of the underlying principles of the concepts.  Unfortunately, it is now a bit dated, but still nonetheless a good "starting point".

1980抯

41. Harsanyi, Z. and Hutton, R., GENETIC PROPHECY: BEYOND THE DOUBLE HELIX (New York: BANTAM BOOKS, 1981).  This book talks about the importance of "genetics" ( = DNA sequence) in determining many aspects of our health and behaviour.  In a sense, because it was written at the early stages of such an explosion in knowledge, this is a good preview of what is happening presently.

42. Watson, J.D. and Tooze, J., THE DNA STORY - A Documentary History of Gene Cloning (San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Company, 1981).  This is kind of like a "scrapbook", with newspaper clippings, old letters, and lots of interesting stories about the beginning of genetic engineering.

* 43. Gribbin, J. In Search of the Double Helix - Quantum Physics & Life, (New York:McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1985).  This book traces the influence of quantum mechanics on molecular biology.  It is written for the "non-specialist", and offers a different perspective on the history of DNA.  Obviously, this is from a very reductionistic point of view.  While I personally think that you cannot explain ALL of biology from a reductionistic point of view, I do think this approach has been quite successful in many applications - and this book is both an explanation of the approach, as well as a look at its success.

44. Hall, S.S., INVISIBLE FRONTIERS - The Race to Synthesise a Human Gene (Redmond, Washington, USA: Tempus Books of Microsoft Press, 1987).  The "gene" referred to is, (of course) the insulin gene, and this reads a bit like Watson抯 gossipy "double helix", but this book is NOT written by one of one of the main characters.

* 45. Crick, F. WHAT MAD PURSUIT - A Personal View of Scientific Discovery, (New York:Basic Books, Inc., 1988).  I used a quote from this book  in the introduction to my thesis:
 "Really the ideas needed to grasp the structure [of the double helix] are, if properly present, ridiculously easy, since they do not violate common sense, as quantum mechanics and relativity do.  I believe that there is a good reason for the simplicity of the nucleic acids.  They probably go back to the origin of life, or very close to it.  At that time mechanisms had to be fairly simple or life could not have started."
 

1990抯

46. Micklos, D.A.,  and Freyer, G.A.,  DNA Science - A First Course in Recombinant DNA Technology (Cold Spring Harbor, New York: Cold Spring Harbor Press, 1990).  This a very good introduction to "molecular biology".  With lots of experimental protocols along with a clear description of the basic principles.  It is presently being used as a supplemental text to our  "Advanced Molecular Genetics" course.

47. Mark Ptashne,  A Genetic Switch - Phage l and Higher Organisms (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1992: 2nd edition).  This is an EXCELLENT text, in terms of "structure function" relationships.  By understanding gene expression and regulation in a very simple "organism" (a small bacteriophage), much insight is given into how DNA functions in animals and plants.
 
48.  Watson,J.D., Gilman,M., Witkowski,J., Zoller,M., Recombinant DNA - A Short Course, (2nd Edition, Published by W H Freeman & Co., 1992; ISBN: 0716722828) This ia very good overview of recombinant DNA technology - written by Jim Watson.  It has managed to withstand the test of time, and is recommended as a good starting point for the "non-specialist".

49.  Lewontin,R.C., Biology As Ideology : The Doctrine of DNA, (Reprint Edition, Published by Harperperennial Library, 1993; ISBN: 0060975199) Lewontin is easily considered one of the world's leading scientists; in this book he examines how "pure science" is in fact shaped and guided by social and political needs and assumptions.   Very interesting reading, although I think he sometimes perhaps goes a bit overboard.

50. Herrmann,B., and Herrmann,S.H., Ancient DNA : Recovery and Analysis of Genetic Material from Paleontological, Archaeological, Museum, Medical, and Forensic Specimens (Heidelberg: Springer Verlag, 1994; ISBN: 0387943080).  Although this does NOT tell you how to reconstruct a dinosaur, it IS a good source of information for many diverse and powerful  applications of recombinant DNA technology.

51.  Primrose,S.B., Old,R.W., Principles of Gene Manipulation : An Introduction to Genetic Engineering (Studies in Microbiology), (Published by Blackwell Science Inc., 1994; ISBN: 0632037121).  This is the 5th Edition of a classic text. As in previous editions, the basic philosophy of this extremely popular text
remains to present the principles and techniques of gene manipulation in sufficient detail for the non-specialist reader to understand them.  This edition has been thoroughly revised, and although it's already a bit outdated, it is still an excellent reference.

52. Dawkins, R., RIVER OUT OF EDEN - A Darwinian View of Life (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1995).  This book is essentially an updated version of "The Selfish Gene", modified a bit.  Basically the idea is that we (humans) are nothing more than vehicles for replicating our genes, and that "DNA" is our sole reason for existence.  As much as I like DNA, I find this idea philosophically depressing.

53. Eldredge, N., Reinventing Darwin - The Great Evolutionary Debate (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1995).  This book describes the differences between two different ideas about evolution: the "ultra-Darwinians", including Richard Dawkins (see above) and the "organismal" biologists, who look at the evolution of whole creatures, rather than "just genes".

54.  Mones,P., Stalking Justice; The Dramatic True Story of the Detective Who First Used DNA Testing (Published by Pocket Books, 1995; ISBN: 067170348X).  This is about a serial killer near Richmond, Virginia, who eventually was caught, and the DNA evidence was used to send him to the electric chair in 1994.

55.  Pollack,R., Signs of Life : The Language and Meanings of DNA, (Reprint Edition, Published by Houghton Mifflin Co, 1995; ISBN: 0395735300).  Pollack makes the analogy of DNA sequence being like a "language".  This is a very nice text for an introduction to the conecpt of genetic information being stored in DNA.

Gene Wars book cover56.  Cook-Deegan,R., The Gene Wars: Science, Politics, and the Human Genome (W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1996).  I reviewed this book for Bios magazine, and also used this review as a topic for a Religion & Philosophy Colloquium Disscussion in December of 1997.  Click on the picture of the book for a link to the web page for the review.

57.  Nelkin,D., Lindee,M.S.,  The DNA Mystique : The Gene As a Cultural Icon (W H Freeman &Co., 1996; ISBN: 0716730499)  This book was written by two sociologists.  I thought some of their points were interesting, but I was a bit dissapointed with their lack of understanding of the science.  Perhaps it really is a better discussion of what SOCIETY at large thinks of DNA, rather than what is the mindset within the scientific community.

58.  Soyfer,V.N., Potaman,V.N., Triple Helical Nucleic Acids, (Published by Springer Verlag, 1996; ISBN: 0387944958) This is an exhaustive reference about triple-stranded DNA.  It is quite technical, but very useful for people in the field!

59.  Levy, H., And the Blood Cried Out : A Prosecutor's Spellbinding Account of DNA's Power to Free or Convict, (Reprint Edition, Mass Market Paperback, Published by Avon press, 1997; ISBN: 0380730618)
 

60.  Teichler-Zallen, D.,  Does It Run in the Family? : A Consumer's Guide to DNA Testing for Genetic Disorders, (Published by Rutgers Univ. Press, 1997; ISBN: 0813524466).  Genetic testing is becoming ever more common, with many more difficult choices as more tests tell us more about ourselves.

61.  Primrose, S.B., Principles of Genome Analysis : A Guide to Mapping and Sequencing DNA from Different Organisms, (2nd Edition, Published by Blackwell Science Inc., 1998; ISBN: 0632049839).  There are already several Universities that offer a course in "comparative genomics" - an area that was not even possible a mere two years ago!  This is a good source book for what will surely become an important field in the new future - the comparison of complete DNA genomes.
 

 

Nobel Prizes for work related to genetics/DNA

 
Table 1 - Nobel prizes related to genetics / DNA 
Person
Year
Category Description
Emil Fischer    
(Germany)
1902 
Chemistrychemistry of carbohydrates  - laid foundation for modern biochemistry 
Eduard Buchner    
 (Germany)
1907 
Chemistrydiscovery of enzymes 
K. Landsteiner 
(Germany)
1930
Physiol. or   
 Medicine
discovery of human blood groups
Thomas H. Morgan 
 (USA)
1933 
Physiol. or   
 Medicine
discoveries on hereditary   
functions of chromosomes 
Herman J. Muller   
 (USA)
1946 
Physiol. or   
 Medicine
hereditary effects of X-rays on genes 
Arne Tiselius   
 (Sweden)
1948 
Chemistrybiochemical discoveries &  isolation of mouse paralysis virus 
Linus C. Pauling   
 (USA)
1954 
Chemistrystudies of forces holding   
together proteins 
Sir Alexander Todd 
(England)
1957 
Chemistryshowing the role of nucleic   acids (DNA) in genetics 
Frederick Sanger  
(England)
1958 
Chemistrydetermining molecular  
structure (SEQUENCE)  
 of insulin 
JoshuaLederberg   
George Beadle   
Edward L.Tatum  
 (USA) 
1958
Physiol. or  
 Medicine 
discovering how genes transmit hereditary  
characteristics 
Severo Ochoa   
Arthur Kornberg  
 (USA)
1959
Physiol. or  
 Medicine 
discovery of DNA polymerase 
James D. Watson (US)   
Maurice H. Wilkins 
Francis H.C. Crick  
(England) 
1962
Physiol. or  
 Medicine 
determining the structure of DNA(!).
Max F. Perutz   
John C. Kendrew   
 (England) 
1962
Chemistry mapping protein crystals  
 with X-rays
François Jacob   
 André Lwolff   
 Jacques Monad  
 (France) 
1965
Physiol. or  
 Medicine 
discovery of the operon  
 and proposing a model of gene regulation 
P.F. Rous
1966
Physiol. or  
 Medicine
Viral induction of cancer in chickens
Robert W. Holley   
Har G. Khorana   
Marshall W. Nirenberg (USA) 
1968
Physiol. or  
 Medicine 
studies on the genetic code
 

 
Table 1 (continued) Nobel prizes related to genetics / DNA 
PersonYearCategory Description
Max Delbruck  
Alfred Hershey  
Salvador S. Luria  
 (USA) 
1969
Physiol. or  
 Medicine 
studies on virus infections  
 and DNA recombination 
N. Borlaug
1970
PeaceGenetic improvement of Mexican wheat
G.M. Edelman 
R.R. Porter
1972
Physiol. or  
 Medicine 
chemical structure of immunoglobulins
Christian B. Anfinsen 
Stanford Moore 
William H. Stein
1972
Chemistryrelationship between primary and tertiary structure of proteins
David Baltimore  
Howard M. Temin  
Renato Dulbecco (USA) 
1975
Physiol. or  
 Medicine 
for work on interaction  
between tumor viruses and genetic material in the cell 
Baruch S. Blumberg 
D.C. Gajdusek
1976
Physiol. or  
 Medicine 
elucidation of prion-based human diseases, kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob dementia
Werner Arber (Swiss) 
Daniel Nathans  
 Hamilton Smith  
 (USA) 
1978
Physiol. or  
 Medicine 
discovery of restriction  
 enzymes & their application to problems in molec. genetics 
Paul Berg (USA)  
Walter Gilbert (USA)  
 Frederick Saenger (UK) 
1980
Chemistryfor developing methods to map the structure and function of DNA... (sequencing) 
Aaron Klug  
(England)
1982 
Chemistrybiochemical discoveries &  
 isolation of mouse paralysis virus 
Barbara McClintock (USA)
1983 
Physiol. or  
 Medicine
discovery of mobile genes  in plants 
M.S. Brown 
J.L. Goldstein
1985
Physiol. or  
 Medicine
genetic regulation of cholesterol metabolism
S. Tonegawa
1987
Physiol. or  
 Medicine
genetic basis of antibody diversity
J. Michael Bishop  
 Harold E. Varmus  
 (USA) 
1989
Physiol. or  
 Medicine 
unifying theory of cancer development
Thomas R. Cech  
 Sidney Altman  
 (USA)
1989
Chemistrydiscovery of RNA - dependent enzymes & self-splicing RNA 
Kary B. Mullis (USA)  
 Michael Smith  
(Canada) 
1993
Chemistry discovery of Polymerase  
Chain Reaction (PCR) 
Phil Sharp (USA)  
Richard J. Roberts (UK) 
1993
Physiol. or  
 Medicine 
discovery of "split genes"
E.B. Lewis 
C. Nusslein-Volhard 
E. Wieschaus
1995 
Physiol. or  
 Medicine 
control of early development in Drosophila
Stanley B. Prusiner
1997
Physiol. or  
 Medicine
discovery of Prions - a new biological principle of infection