DNA

DNA, which stands for deoxyribonucleic acid, is defined as a nucleic acid that contains the genetic code.

Facts About DNA

• It is a long polymer that is composed of repeating nucleotides.
• The largest DNA polymer that is known is about two hundred and twenty million base pairs long.
• In 1869, the physician Friedrich Miescher first isolated DNA. While examining the substance of pus in surgical bandages, he observed a microscopic substance in the pus. He named it nuclein because he observed it in the nuclei of cells.
• In 1928, Frederick Griffith realized that DNA might actually hold genetic information. In 1952, Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase performed an experiment which confirmed that DNA had a role in heredity.
• In 1953, James D. Watson and Francis Crick proposed the idea that the DNA’s structure was a double-helix.
• It was not until scientists used x-ray technology that they were to finally able to see the structure of a DNA molecule. In 1953 Rosalind Franklin was the first to take the most accurate picture, which became known as photograph 51, that truly defined the structure of the double helix shape of DNA.
• In 1962, the Nobel Peace Prize was given to James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins (an associate of Franklin who had died by 1962.).