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Hershey–Chase experiment proves that phage genetic material is DNA. 1952: The Hershey–Chase experiment proves the genetic information of phages (and, by implication, all other organisms) to be DNA. [29] 1952: an X-ray diffraction image of DNA was taken by Raymond Gosling in May 1952, a student supervised by Rosalind Franklin. [30]
Using these x-rays and information already known about the chemistry of DNA, James D. Watson and Francis Crick demonstrated the molecular structure of DNA in 1953. [25] [26] Together, these discoveries established the central dogma of molecular biology, which states that proteins are translated from RNA which is transcribed by
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 ...
The chief discoveries of molecular biology took place in a period of only about twenty-five years. Another fifteen years were required before new and more sophisticated technologies, united today under the name of genetic engineering, would permit the isolation and characterization of genes, in particular those of highly complex organisms.
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 wrapped around these histones are called chromosomes. [57] Viruses sometimes use the similar molecule RNA instead of DNA as their genetic material. [58] DNA normally exists as a double-stranded molecule, coiled into the shape of a double helix. Each nucleotide in DNA preferentially pairs with its partner nucleotide on the opposite strand: A ...
RNA also contains the base uracil in place of thymine. RNA molecules are less stable than DNA and are typically single-stranded. Genes that encode proteins are composed of a series of three-nucleotide sequences called codons, which serve as the "words" in the genetic "language".
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.