Unzipping the Secret of Life
How Watson and Crick’s Discovery of the Structure of DNA Influenced American Industries and Scientific Development in the United States
Pooja Belur, May 4, 2014, B Period
Introduction
In 1953, Francis Crick bragged to his fellow colleagues from the Cavendish Laboratory (Cambridge), claiming that he and his American partner, James Watson, had “discovered the secret of life.” The claim, made in a bar over a glass of alcohol, was not unusual from the pair. In fact, workers in the Cavendish often found Crick to be tactless, arrogant and noisy; one even went so far as to comment that he had “never seen Francis Crick in a modest mood.” Yet, a little over a century later, it is undeniable that Crick’s statement is true. Using information derived from a number of other scientists, primarily Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins of King’s College, the duo solved a puzzle that had plagued biologists for decades; they created a three-dimensional model of the DNA helix.
The molecule consisted of a double helix with phosphates, deoxyribose sugar molecules, and nitrogenous bases. If the spirals were split, the DNA could replicate, which explained why genes were transferred from parents to their children. Additionally, the order of compounds on the DNA indicated that there was a unique ‘code’ on each strand. Watson and Crick believed that this ‘code’ was translated into specific proteins. , ,
These discoveries about the structure of DNA allowed scientists to explore the genome and develop a stronger understanding of genes. Within a decade of its discovery, other scientists had identified the genes responsible for specific diseases and traits. The discovery of the structure of DNA created a basis for ...
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... to investigate commonly performed functions and human ingested medications.
Conclusion
DNA is the blueprint of life from its creation to its development and until its death. The discovery of the structure of DNA not only revolutionized science and medicine, but it also affected many other facets of existence: evolutionary, industrial, legal, and criminal justice. Its incarnation has benefitted American families and industries and spurred scientific innovation throughout the country. Aptly stated by Francis Crick, “your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of identity and freewill, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules. As Lewis Carroll’s Alice might have phrased it: ‘you’re nothing but a pack of neurons.’ [Watson and my] discovery illustrates how that is possible.”
In 1953, after carefully studying this molecule and scientific reports generated from several predecessors, scientists Jason Watson and Frances Crick divulged their determination that the structure
With a competitive spirit, people are driven to act in ways that they would not otherwise and the results can be drastic. In the case of James D. Watson and Francis Crick, in Watson’s novel the Double Helix, this sensation of competition leads to one of the greatest discoveries in biology. But the actions of Watson, Crick, and their competitors may or may not be justified for the results that they yield; the powerful conflict of rivalry has beneficial, detrimental, and questionably moral consequences that shaped the pathway to DNA’s structure.
The essential component of life can be acknowledged and is made up of a nucleic acid known as DNA. DNA is the abbreviated form for the word deoxyribonucleic acid and it is the “carrier of genetic information” (McMurry, Ballantine, Hoeger, & Peterson, 1992, pg. 775). DNA contains the genetic instructions that are needed for an organism to develop, survive, and replicate, as it plays a crucial role in living systems that makes each species unique and distinctive. The multifaceted material is stored in every cell of every living organisms and it contains information about our nature, appearance, performance, etc. With the instructions that it contains, DNA is passed from the adult organism to their offspring during reproduction. (McMurry, Ballantine, Hoeger, & Peterson, 1992, pg.777).
"The discovery of the structure by Crick and Watson, with all its biological implications, has been one of the major scientific events of this century." (Bragg, The Double Helix, p1) In the story of The Double Helix, James Watson tells of the road that led to the discovery of life's basic building block-DNA. This autobiography gives insight into science and the workings within a professional research laboratory that few members of society will ever be able to experience. It also gives the reader an idea of the reality of life for one scientist and how he struggled with the problem of DNA. However, the author's style is marked by his lack of objectivity and inclusion of many biased opinions and personal prejudices.
The groundwork was laid in 1943 for Watson and Crick by scientist Oswald Avery, the man that discovered that DNA does indeed carry genetic material (PBS). The only problem at this point in time was that “no one knew how it worked.” Now how did that lead to Watson and Crick discovering how DNA was structured and could replicate itself? According to PBS, Rosalind Franklin was studying at Cambridge with Watson and Crick. “Franklin, a shy and inward young woman, suffered from patronizing attitudes and sexism that forced her to do much of her work alone.” Franklin and
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a self-replicating molecule or material present in nearly all living organisms as the main constituent in chromosomes. It encodes the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and many viruses. Simply put, DNA contains the instructions needed for an organism to develop, survive and reproduce. The discovery and use of DNA has seen many changes and made great progress over many years. James Watson was a pioneer molecular biologist who is credited, along with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, with discovering the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. The three won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1962 for their work (Bagley, 2013). Scientist use the term “double helix” to describe DNA’s winding, two-stranded chemical structure. This shape looks much like a twisted ladder and gives the DNA the power to pass along biological instructions with great precision.
The DNA molecule is shaped like a twisted ladder. James Watson and Francis Crick solved the structure of DNA.Scientists, like Rosalind Franklin also helped to make this discovery.The model is called a double helix because two long strands twist around each other like a twisted ladder.
DNA has a specific structure composed of nucleotides. Nucleotides are composed of a sugar, a phosphate group, and a base. A DNA molecule is made up of two polynucleotide chains, forming a double helix. Adenine pairs up with thymine to make one nucleotide chain and guanine is always paired with cytosine to make another nucleotide chain. In viruses, DNA molecules can have anywhere from 5,000 to over 200,000 nucleotides. A human cell contains more than 3 billion pairs of linked nucleotides. The DNA molecule is very tightly packaged. The packed form of DNA is a chromosome. DNA unwinds so that it can be copied.
James Watson and Francis Crick were the two main scientists who discovered the double helix, the main structure of DNA. Two other scientists, named Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins, also helped and contributed along with James Watson and Francis Crick. However, they weren’t as famous because many people believed that they didn’t play as big of a role in the discovery. These scientists were trying to discover the structure of DNA. Their first discovery was the double helix, and Friedrich Miescher, a swiss chemist, discovered “nuclein” inside nuclei of white blood cells, which its name later changed to nucleic acid and then deoxyribonucleic acid, and abbreviated as DNA. Phoebus Levene, a Russian biochemist, discovered the makeup of nucleotides (phosphate and sugar bases) and all the different parts of both DNA (deoxyribose) and RNA (ribose). James Watson and Francis Crick used this information to determine how all of this DNA was made up and formed. They found that the basic molecule of DNA is called the double helix, and how each of the parts of the double helix were connected (the sugar-phosphate bases acted as the sides of the ladder or the stair rails and the nitrogen bases were the steps) and how they each were arranged. They also discovered about the four nitrogen bases, their shapes, and how you can re-organize them in different orders, but due to their shapes, A and T must be connected to each other and the same goes for G and C. DNA was discovered in the 1800s by various scientists, but James Watson and Francis Crick didn’t determine what the structure of DNA was until 1953. James Watson and Francis Crick met at Cambridge University and met Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins in London, England. The way that Watson and Crick discovered the structure is that they found that the shape of each nitrogen base and used reasoning to determine that G must fasten
DNA sequence was the core of genomic research until the emergence of epigenomics where it has been discovered that the surrounding chemical compounds can direct the way the genome functions as a whole.
McDonald & Lehman, (2012). Says in 1953, Rosalind Franklin, James Watson, Francis Crick discovered DNAs double helix structure consisting of two twisted strands of polymers held together by hydrogen bonds that form between the complementary base pairing of nucleotides: adenine, to thymine and cytosine to guanine. A discovery that led to questions about how DNA variability are differences in the arrangement of base pairs and is
Scientist set out to do research dealing with genomics. The group leader was James Watson, in the beginning they broke up the sequencing instead of doing it in wholesome when hunting for disease genes. Not only did the scientist study genes, they also studied yeast, bacteria, and so forth. They studied other organisms before human DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) because they thought it would be essential to the experiments to practice first. They practiced first with yeast and bacteria to get a hang of things and to figure out what to do before they move to human DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) which was more
As a young man I used to exploring science as more fun than regular study. Right from my school days, I always enjoy studying biology. Under the guidance of my respectable biology teacher at school, dissecting the frogs gave me hands on experience to see the amphibians different biological systems. I came to know about the genes and DNA in cells determines all the developmental, physiological and pathological characteristics. I used to question myself as to how could these molecules, though very small in size, could orchestrate living organism’s biological properties. When I was in 10th grade, I read an interesting article on human genome project published in Time magazine. That article influenced me to drive my education journey towards molecular biology and genetic engineering after my school.
The concept of microbiology emerged in the late 1600s when Antonie van Leeuwenhoek first observed bacteria and other microorganisms using a single lens microscope. The microscope manufactured and used by Leeuwenhoek served as a catalyst for the field of microbiology, exposing a whole world of microorganisms. With the utilization of tools like microscopes and methods like ink staining, scientist have been able to step into a seemingly invisible world and note the contribution of microorganisms to human life. These tools and methods have been essential to the discovery that DNA was the macromolecule charged with the transformational ability of genetic information in bacterial cells