Discovery+of+DNA

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Please add your scientist below and one sentence describing how their work contributed to our modern understanding of DNA.


 * Watson and Crick** using Chargaff's formulas of A=T and G=C and Linus Pauling's alpha helix structure, as well as, Franklin's X-ray diffraction patterns, managed to propose the double helix structure of DNA where the diameter of the helix remains the same.


 * Friedrich Miescher** published a paper in 1871 on his experiments with pus from the bandages he collected at a hospital. These experiments with the collected pus, resulted in Miescher isolating the first crude preparation of DNA, which he named nuclein.


 * Oswald Avery** found that nucleic acid DNA is responsible for genetic transferring in contrast to what most scientists at the time thought, that protein is responsible for genetic transferring.


 * Alfred Day Hershey and Martha Chase** proved that only DNA could transmit genetic information. The Hershey-Chase "blender-experiment" used a kitchen blender to separate the protein coats of simple viruses (known as bacteriophages) from their DNA cores. This enabled them to demonstrate that only the DNA was infectious, and not the protein coats.


 * P. A Levene** was a biochemist who analyzed the components of the DNA molecule and found that it contained four nitrogen-containing bases. He also discovered that the neucleotide was composed of sugar, base and phosphate. This proposal helped scientists later to discover the structure of the DNA.


 * Marshall Nirenburg** cracked the genetic code and figured out how the nucelotide language of mRNA is "translated" into the amino acid language of proteins.


 * Linus Pauling** proposed a triple-stranded helix structure for DNA. He had the phosphate group of sach DNA strand facing in to the helical core, with the nitrogenous bases facing out. However, he had forgotten the negative charges of the oxygen atom in each phosphate group.


 * Rosalind Franklin** and **Maurice Wilkins** took X-rays of the structure of DNA. These X-rays provided the data that would prove that the DNA structure had a double helix pattern.