Discovering the Molecular Structure of Genetic Material

Introduction:

So far, we have seen how chromosomes behave in both body

and reproductive cells (inside the gonads) and we have also examined
how traits are passed on to offspring. We have seen that the number
of chromosomes is cut in half in the creation of gametes (haploid cells,
sperm and eggs) during meiosis. We also have explored the idea that
when haploid cells combine to form a diploid zygote, alleles for
different traits combine. These alleles are then expressed in different
ways, some of which you have heard of (complete dominance,
incomplete dominance, codominance) to create many different
phenotypes. However, we are struck with the question: WHAT exactly
are genes anyway?!?!
In this project, you will be given the opportunity to become even
more familiar with a number of important discoveries about the
chemical nature and composition of chromosomes, and you will
attempt to create and test a model of the molecule that carries genetic
information. The model should (eventually) tell you how information is
passed from parent to offspring. Remember James Watson and Francis
Crik? You will be undertaking the same process that resulted in their
winning of the Nobel Prize in 1962.
By the end, you will read three sets of “historical clues” – these
are basically timelines of important discoveries about chromosomes
from 1860 all the way to 1953. You will read each set one at a time,
and develop a model after reading each set. DO NOT TRY AND READ
THE CLUES ALL AT ONCE! It is far too overwhelming!

Don’t be discouraged if you had difficulty understanding these

readings, they are not leisure reading. Don’t get frustrated if you do
not understand it right away. Read through each set a few times
before you continue. It is perfectly normal to ask questions about
things you don’t understand, so a large part of this project is to
ASK/pose questions which you need to answer in order to proceed. Try
to write your questions as clearly as possible. They might invoke a
large class discussion, others may be answered on your own.
After we have completed the models, we will run through the
model together.
Procedure:

1. You are trying to answer two essential questions:

a.) What molecules make up the genetic material in
chromosomes?
b.) What is the nature of these molecules? (How do they
behave? How are they arranged?)
2. Read the six clues from clue set 1. Write five questions on the
sheet labeled “THIS IS A QUESTION SHEET” that you have about
the set of clues; we will be discussing these in the next class.
3. It is supposed that chromosomes carry genetic information,
the question arises:
What molecule in the chromosomes carries the
genetic information?
Write out two alternate hypotheses that you- as a scientist might
pose after reading the clues (especially after clue #1) TO
ANSWER the above question

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H2_______________________________________________________________
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4. Which of these hypotheses seems most likely to be able to be

supported, based on the work done from 1900 – 1952?
Give a few examples to support your idea!

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5. Try to make a model of DNA using the molecules given to
trace; or be bold and try for the chemical model shown. Sketch
your model below:

Analysis: Is your model complete? Why?

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What information do you think you need to make it complete?

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Clue Set 1
(1868- 1952)
1. In 1968, a young Swiss biochemist, Friedrich Miescher, found
that when pepsin (an enzyme known to break apart protein
molecules was added to chromosomes, atoms of oxygen, carbon,
hydrogen, and nigtrogen were detected. These were the atoms
known to be present in proteins. He also detected phosphorous
atoms. Because phosphorous atoms had never before been
found in protein molecules, he suspected that another typey of
molecule, in addition to protein, must be present in
chromosomes. He named the new molecule, nuclein.

2. During the 1880s, a German biologist named Walter Flemming

conducted the first detailed studies of the behavior of
chromosomes during cellular reproduction. His work made it
increasingly clear that chromosomes carry the genetic material-
as he showed that new individuals begin with the union of sperm
and egg cells, which always contain chromosomes and often little
else.

3. In the early 1900s, Robert Feulger, a German chemist,

discovered that all body cells of any particular organism contain
precisely the same amount of nuclein but that the amount of
protein varies from cell to cell. He also found that egg and
sperm cells contain exactly one-half the amount of nuclein
present in body cells. This was not necessarily the case for the
amount of protein.

4. Later biochemists determined that nuclein is composed of

combinations of just three different kinds of chemical
substances:
1.) a five-carbon sugar called deoxyribose
2.) an atom of phosphorous surrounded by four atoms of oxygen
and two of hydrogen, called a “phosphate group”
3.) ring like molecules that contain two nitrogen atoms in each
ring, called “nitrogenous bases”.
Four different kinds of bases were found, adenine, guanine,
cytosine, and thymine. Moreover, it was determine that each
base always occurs in combination with one phosphate group
and one deoxyribose sugar molecule. This combination was
given the name nucleotide. Thus, DNA consists of four different
kinds of nucleotides- one with each of the four nitrogenous
bases. Two representations of a nucleotide containing cytosine
are shown below:

5. During the late 1940s, English biophysicists discovered that

DNA crystallized when water is removed. This fact suggested
that the atoms of DNA must be arranged in a very orderly
fashion, perhaps with many repetitions of a fairly simple pattern.
6. In 1952, Americans Martha Chase and Alfred Hershey knew
that viruses can attack bacterial cells and inject them with virus
genetic information. They grew viruses with radioactive
phosphorus in the DNA molecules and radioactive sulphur in the
protein molecules. After these viruses attacked the bacteria and
injected their genetic information, only radioactive phosphorus
was found inside the bacteria.
CLUES #2
(1952)
1. X-ray diffraction photographs made by Rosalind Franklin and
Maurice Wilkens of Kings College, London, indicated that the DNA
molecule is shaped like a spiral helix.

An x-ray photograph of DNA in the B form, taken by Rosalind

Franklin late in 1952. (from J.D.Watson, the Double Helix,
Atheneum, New York 1968)
2. Evidence indicates that the helix contains strands of
phosphate groups and sugar molecules linked by relatively
strong chemical bonds.
3. Watson and Crick calculated that a single chain of nucleotides
would have a density only half as great as the known density of
DNA.
Study Questions

1. What type of nucleotides must be attached to each other to

make your model stable? Can you be sure your model is correct?
Why or why not?

2. What percentage of your model nucleotides is adenine,

cytosine, guanine, and thymine? Show your work! How do your
percentages compare with those presented in the table of
percentages obtained biochemically?

3. The information in question 2 was very important in the

creation of the Watson-Crick model of DNA. What does it tell you
about your modoel? Does the information from questions 1 and
2 further strengthen your hypothesized model?

4. X-rays are known to break apart the bonds that hold the DNA
molecule together. Doctors seldom X-ray patients who are in
early pregnancy. Why?

5. Genetic Engineering involves changing DNA molecules. How

might genetic engineering be used in the battle against “germs”
and disease?
Chemical structures of DNA components
(dots show where Hydrogen bonding occurs!)