The structure of DNA 9--H-N TN- A GN- C A H-N T N-HO (a) FIGURE 1-8 (a) The double-helical structure of DNA, showing the sugar-phosphate backbone in blue and paired bases in brown. (b) A flattened representation of DNA showing how A always pairs with Tand G with C. Each row of dots between the bases represents a hydrogen bond. How is the information stored in DNA decoded to synthesize proteins? While the discovery of the double-helical structure of DNA was a watershed for biology, many details were still unknown. Precisely how information was encoded into DNA and how it was decoded to form the enzymes that Tatum and Beadle had shown to be the workhorses of gene action remained unknown. Over the years 1961 through 1967, teams of molecular geneticists and chemists working in several countries answered these questions when they "cracked the genetic code." What this means is that they deduced how a string of DNA nucleotides, each with one of four different bases (A, T, C, or G), encodes the set of 20 different amino acids that are the building blocks of proteins. They aso discovered that there is a mes- senger molecule made of ribonucleic acid (RNA) that carries information in the DNA in the nucleus to the cytoplasm where proteins are synthesized. By 1967, the basic flowchart for information transmission in cells was known. This flowchart is called the central dogma of molecular biology. KEY CONCEPT The rediscovery of Mendel's laws launched a new era in which geneticists resolved many fundamental questions about the nature of the gene and the flow of genetic information within cels. During this era, geneticists leamed that genes reside on chromosomes and are made of DNA. Genes encode proteins that conduct the basic erzymatic work within cells.
Proteins
We generally tend to think of proteins only from a dietary lens, as a component of what we eat. However, they are among the most important and abundant organic macromolecules in the human body, with diverse structures and functions. Every cell contains thousands and thousands of proteins, each with specific functions. Some help in the formation of cellular membrane or walls, some help the cell to move, others act as messages or signals and flow seamlessly from one cell to another, carrying information.
Protein Expression
The method by which living organisms synthesize proteins and further modify and regulate them is called protein expression. Protein expression plays a significant role in several types of research and is highly utilized in molecular biology, biochemistry, and protein research laboratories.
In Figure 1-8b, can you tell if the number of hydrogen
bonds between adenine and thymine is the same as that
between cytosine and guanine? Do you think that a
DNA molecule with a high content of A + T would be
more stable than one with high content of G + C?
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