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1952: an X-ray diffraction image of DNA was taken by Raymond Gosling in May 1952, a student supervised by Rosalind Franklin. [30] 1953: DNA structure is resolved to be a double helix by James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins. [31] 1955: Alexander R. Todd determined the chemical makeup of nitrogenous bases.
A focus on new model organisms such as viruses and bacteria, along with the discovery of the double helical structure of DNA in 1953, marked the transition to the era of molecular genetics. In the following years, chemists developed techniques for sequencing both nucleic acids and proteins, while many others worked out the relationship between ...
In the eocyte hypothesis, the organism at the root of all eocytes may have been a ribocyte of the RNA-world. For cellular DNA and DNA handling, an "out of virus" scenario has been proposed: storing genetic information in DNA may have been an innovation performed by viruses and later handed over to ribocytes twice, once transforming them into bacteria and once transforming them into archaea.
The tRNA PHE structure is notable in the field of nucleic acid structure in general, as it represented the first solution of a long-chain nucleic acid structure of any kind—RNA or DNA—preceding Richard E. Dickerson's solution of a B-form dodecamer by nearly a decade. [31]
Its genetic material was most likely DNA, [15] so that it lived after the RNA world. [a] [18] The DNA was kept double-stranded by an enzyme, DNA polymerase, which recognises the structure and directionality of DNA. [19] The integrity of the DNA was maintained by a group of repair enzymes including DNA topoisomerase. [20]
Retroviruses were shown to have a single-stranded RNA genome and to replicate via a DNA intermediate, the reverse of the usual DNA-to-RNA transcription pathway. They encode a RNA-dependent DNA polymerase (reverse transcriptase) that is essential for this process. Some retroviruses can cause diseases, including several that are associated with ...
De novo gene birth can give rise to protein-coding genes and non-coding genes from previously non-functional DNA. [33] For instance, Levine and colleagues reported the origin of five new genes in the D. melanogaster genome. [34] [35] Similar de novo origin of genes has been also shown in other organisms such as yeast, [36] rice [37] and humans ...
DNA contains the genetic information that allows all forms of life to function, grow and reproduce. However, it is unclear how long in the 4-billion-year history of life DNA has performed this function, as it has been proposed that the earliest forms of life may have used RNA as their genetic material.