Category Archives: DNA

Less than a year before Watson and Cricks paper, A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid, was published in Nature, 60 years ago today, Rosalind Franklin sent around a hand-lettered obituary:

Obituary for the helix. Wellcome Library.

Led astray by her own evidence, she had missed, just barely, making the greatest discovery in the history of biology: the coiled, interlaced structure that explained with such clarity the working of the gene. The secret of life, Crick called it.

Gosling, the other signatory, was Franklins assistant at Kings College in London, and Wilkins was her boss and bte noire. Besselised refers to Bessel functions, a mathematical tool used to analyze the photographic images she so expertly produced of DNA. But the most significant word in her mocking postcard was the one in parentheses: crystalline.

Several months earlier, having mastered better than anyone a technique called x-ray crystallography, she had taken the clearest pictures yet of the molecule. It came in two forms, depending on whether it was crystallized (shape A) or dissolved in water (shape B). It was the longer, stretched-out wet form, her Photo 51, that went on to become legendary. Horace Freeland Judson describes it in The Eighth Day of Creation:

The overall pattern was a huge blurry diamond. The top and bottom points of the diamond were capped by heavily exposed, dark arcs. From the bulls-eye, a striking arrangement of short, horizontal smears stepped out along the diagonals in the shape of an X or a maltese cross. The pattern shouted helix.

The question that has dogged historians ever since is why Franklin didnt shout out the same. Instead she put image B aside, concentrating instead on the far less certain pattern in image A. No matter how hard she looked, she couldnt see a helix there.

Franklins Photo 51. Wellcome Library.

She bristled when Crick, working with Watson at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, told her she was allowing herself to be misled by ambiguous markings and that both forms must be helical. But she couldnt be persuaded. Cautious by nature, she believed in holding back on interpretation and grand theories until all the data were gathered and understood, the seeming contradictions resolved. Her style was to work from the bottom up, meticulously trying to piece together the big picture.

She thought it was rash and premature that Crick and Watson, with their top-down approach, were enthusiastically building models castles in the air before they had laid the foundation. As they put together their sheet-metal and wire sculpture, the details, they believed, could be filled in along the way.

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On DNA's Anniversary: How Rosalind Franklin Missed the Helix

Heritage Auctions

Doctor Francis Crick's endorsement of the Nobel Prize check.

By Stephanie Pappas LiveScience

A new cache of letters released 50 years after Maurice Wilkins, Francis Crick and James Watson won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of DNA's structure reveals that not everyone agreed on which prize the trio should receive.

Wilkins, Crick and Watson ended up winning the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material," according to the official citation. But at least one scientist nominated them for the chemistry prize instead, researchers will report Wednesdayin the journal Nature.

Nature first published a series of three papers describing the structure of DNA by the team on April 25, 1953, making this year the 60th anniversary of the discovery. Watson, Crick, Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin (who died before the 1962 Nobel Prize was awarded) and their colleagues were the first to understand DNA's unique double-helix structure. [Photos: Crick DNA Nobel On the Auction Block]

Nobel Prize puzzlerJan Witkowski and Alexander Gann of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York wrote to the Nobel committee to request the release of the nomination letters for the 1962 prize, as nomination letters are unsealed after 50 years. To their surprise, one letter seemed to be missing: That of Jacque Monod, a French biologist who would later win the Nobel Prize himself for research into the genetics of enzymes.

"We were surprised because both Jim Watson and Francis Crick said that Monod was one of the people who nominated them," Witkowski told LiveScience. In fact, in 1961, Crick sent Monod a nine-page letter telling the story of the DNA structure discovery, at Monod's request.

Monod worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, so Witkowski and Gann turned to the Institute's archives to solve the puzzle of the missing nomination. There, they found Monod's nomination letter only sent to an unexpected address.

"It turns out that he nominated them for the chemistry prize, and not the medicine prize," Witkowski said. That's why the medicine or physiology committee had no record of the nomination, though the committees must have shared the nomination letters to decide which of the two prizes the DNA structure scientists should win.

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New Nobel letters reveal secrets of DNA prize

DNA Services of America announces continued growth during the first quarter of 2013 adding new US jobs to a slow economy. DNA Services of America specializes in DNA profiling to establish paternity, determine family ancestry, immigration, and legal needs.

(PRWEB) April 24, 2013

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DNA Services of America Expands Business Adding New US Jobs

The molecular double-helix structure of DNA

On this day 60 years ago a scientific-research paper was published that would change the world. James Watson and Francis Crick revealed the chemical structure of DNA, the molecule that contains the genetic blueprint and drives inheritance.

For many years it was the stuff of scientists studying genetics and disease, but words and ideas such as genes and inheritance of traits have become part of common parlance.

The rapid growth in our understanding over the past 60 years, including the delivery of genomes for a range of species including humans, has affected all of us at some level. This knowledge has brought improved medical treatments, new drugs and better disease diagnosis. It has increased crop yields, is helping to raise the nutritional value of foods, and is helping to develop replacement tissues for worn-out joints. Here, three people working in different areas share their impressions of the discovery six decades on.

Rosita Boland Irish Times feature writer

My first encounter with DNA occurred long before I understood what it was. I am the only red-haired person in my family, and became aware as a small child that this was somehow odd. Neither the generation preceding me, my own, or the one now following me has a rib of red hair between them. But red hair, that recessive gene, is in there somewhere in my combined DNA of Bolands and Comers: some long-dead relative has passed it on to me.

I find it almost impossible to comprehend the fact that physical likenesses can turn up generations later in families. I sometimes look at my nieces and nephews and wonder am I looking at clues to our long-dead, and mostly unphotographed relatives: jigsaws of genetics. It makes me feel dizzy, as does wondering if abstract characteristics of a person, such as courage, aspiration, kindness, grace and curiosity, can ever repeat themselves in similar ways. Is that an unscientific thought? Who knows?

But mostly, when I think about DNA, I marvel at how it has transformed forensic science. It enables the possibility of a second chance for justice being sought, often long after the crime has been committed. Retrospective justice no longer depends on Victorian ad-hoc deathbed-type confessions. Even the infinitesimally tiniest pieces of us of our bones, blood, hair, skin or body fluids can now constitute vital crime-scene clues to those who know how to read them.

DNA makes time fluid. Three generations later, a nose can be repeated like a motif down a genetic line. And it has the power to reel a person back in, through decades, even through death, to face truth about previously unsolved crime. I can still hardly believe these facts. Its more like science fiction than the stuff of science.

Aoife McLysaght Professor in genetics at Trinity College Dublin The structure of DNA was once a mystery to be solved, but nowadays, kids might even have seen it in cartoons before they start school. Humans were once considered exempt from the rigours of natural selection, somehow separate and above mere animals, but today it is common knowledge that our DNA is almost identical to that of a chimp.

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DNA: the double helix that changed the world

A new cache of letters released 50 years after Maurice Wilkins, Francis Crick and James Watson won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of DNA's structure reveals that not everyone agreed on which prize the trio should receive.

Wilkins, Crick and Watson ended up winning the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material," according to the official citation. But at least one scientist nominated them for the chemistry prize instead, researchers write this week (April 25) in the journal Nature.

Nature first published a series of three papers describing the structure of DNA by the team on April 25, 1953, making this year the 60th anniversary of the discovery. Watson, Crick, Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin (who died before the 1962 Nobel Prize was awarded) and their colleagues were the first to understand DNA's unique double-helix structure. [Photos: Crick DNA Nobel On the Auction Block]

Nobel Prize puzzler

Jan Witkowski and Alexander Gann of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York wrote to the Nobel committee to request the release of the nomination letters for the 1962 prize, as nomination letters are unsealed after 50 years. To their surprise, one letter seemed to be missing: That of Jacque Monod, a French biologist who would later win the Nobel Prize himself for research into the genetics of enzymes.

"We were surprised because both Jim Watson and Francis Crick said that Monod was one of the people who nominated them," Witkowski told LiveScience. In fact, in 1961, Crick sent Monod a nine-page letter telling the story of the DNA structure discovery, at Monod's request.

Monod worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, so Witkowski and Gann turned to the Institute's archives to solve the puzzle of the missing nomination. There, they found Monod's nomination letter only sent to an unexpected address.

"It turns out that he nominated them for the chemistry prize, and not the medicine prize," Witkowski said. That's why the medicine or physiology committee had no record of the nomination, though the committees must have shared the nomination letters to decide which of the two prizes the DNA structure scientists should win.

Third nominee

The nomination letters also reveal that Franklin, who died in 1958, was never nominated for the Nobel Prize. There has been a lot of controversy over whether Franklin would have shared in the Nobel had she been alive in 1962, Witkowski said. (Nobels are not awarded posthumously.) Many have argued that Franklin's contributions were downplayed and overlooked by Watson and Crick.

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Newfound Nobel Letters Reveal Secrets of DNA Prize

The discovery of the DNA double helix 60 years ago proved to be a headache for the Nobel organisation as the feat became nominated for prizes in different categories at the same time, Nature reported on Wednesday.

Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins of Britain and James Watson of the United States shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1962, nine years after revealing that the code for life has a spiral-staircase structure joined by chemical rungs.

But two researchers who delved into the award process were stunned to find that the trio were simultaneously nominated for the Nobel Prize for Chemistry that same year.

"The fact that the double helix was the subject of nominations for both prizes must have presented a dilemma for the two [award] committees," Alexander Gann and Jan Witkowski of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York report in a letter to the journal.

The evidence comes from a letter that French geneticist Jacques Monod wrote to the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, nominating the trio for the chemistry award. Gann and Witkowski found the letter in the archives of the Pasteur Institute in Paris.

In the event, the 1962 chemistry Nobel went to Max Perutz and John Kendrew for work on haemoglobin and myoglobin.

The only person to have won the Nobel in different categories of science is Marie Curie, who in 1903 shared the physics award with her husband Pierre and Henri Becquerel, and in 1911 was the sole winner of the chemistry prize.

Separately, Gann and Witkowski say that Crick wrote a nine-page letter to Monod on December 31 1961 to describe his joint quest with Watson to identify DNA.

In his letter, Crick "acknowledges the importance" of X-ray imaging by Rosalind Franklin in determining "certain features" of DNA's structure, the pair say.

Franklin has become a cause celebre among some feminists, who say Crick, Watson and Wilkins snubbed her and never acknowledged her vital contribution.

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DNA breakthrough spelt double trouble for Nobels

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DENVER (AP) An expansion of DNA collection for some misdemeanor convictions cleared the Colorado House Tuesday with wide support, despite trepidations from some lawmakers who said the sampling also would occur for minor, nonviolent crimes.

Denver Democratic Rep. Dan Pabon, the bill sponsor, urged his colleagues to support the proposal by recounting cases where rapists and murderers were caught, others who could have been caught had their DNA been collected, and instances where innocent people were exonerated.

To say that this helps victims, it exonerates the innocent, solves cold cases, and prevents crimes is not hyperbole. This is serious, Pabon said.

The bill passed the House on a 43-21 vote with bipartisan support. The Senate will now consider the bill.

Most states, including Colorado, already collect DNA in felony cases.

Pabons bill would apply only to Class 1 criminal misdemeanors, which include some assaults and thefts. But opponents expressed concern that criminal misdemeanors also include lesser offences, such as recording a film in a movie theater.

The question for me, the reason Im opposed to this bill, is from whom do we take it, and when, and why? asked Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder. And how far are going to go as a people in collecting data from people and storing it for some undesignated use?

Opponents of the proposal said it went too far because DNA contains more identifying information about people than fingerprints.

I think that goes down a road way too far in taking away our freedom and our privacies, Levy said.

Colorado Springs Rep. Mark Waller, a prosecutor and the GOPs House leader, said the bill would help law enforcement solve crimes.

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More DNA Sampling Passes Colorado House, Heads To Senate

The role of tree DNA tracking is increasing in the fight against illegal logging as evidenced by prosecution cases in USA and Germany.

Modern DNA technology offers a unique opportunity: you could pinpoint the origin of your table at home and track down if the trees it was made from were illegally obtained. Each wooden piece of furniture comes with a hidden natural barcode that can tell its story from a sapling in a forest all the way to your living room.

"CSI rely on use of genetic info for catching criminals. Exactly the same type of analysis is used for illegal logging," explains Andrew Lowe, a professor in plant conservation biology in University of Adelaide, Australia and Chief Scientific Officer with Double Helix, a company leading in the development of the tree DNA tracking.

This technology is crucial in tracking down illegally-logged timber. More traditional source-of-origin paper certificates can be misplaced or falsified by corrupt officials and businessmen. "But you can't falsify DNA," Lowe says.

Professor Lowe's breakthrough in genetic analysis of tree tissue came when he managed to extract DNA from timber in a 500-year old shipwreck. Obtaining genetic code from processed wood is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together without having a picture to guide you. "It is a non-trivial exercise," he says.

Another challenge is building up a database of DNA fingerprints for each tree species from every region of the world. Without this baseline information, the DNA sample from commercially available timber may not be used to identify the tree species or where it was logged.

"It takes time, energy and money," Lowe says.

International research teams have already collected data for many high value timber species such as Spanish cedar, mahogany, teak, merbau and ebony. They have compiled DNA maps of Indonesia, Malaysia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala, French Guyana, Brazil, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Gabon and are currently focusing their efforts in 8 more African countries from the Congo basin.

Using DNA technology, commercially available timber can be definitively certified as 'sustainably sourced.' The cost is less than 1% of the value of the timbera relatively small premium for consumers who want to ensure that their new home furniture was not a reason for cutting down rainforest.

Some socially responsible companiesmostly outside the U.S.already sell wood with a DNA certification stamp. However, the American Hardwood Export Counsel is now considering offering DNA verification for their supply chains as well.

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A new tool against illegal logging: tree DNA technology goes mainstream

Apr. 23, 2013 Ancient DNA recovered from a series of skeletons in central Germany up to 7,500 years old has been used to reconstruct the first detailed genetic history of modern Europe.

The study, published today in Nature Communications, reveals a dramatic series of events including major migrations from both Western Europe and Eurasia, and signs of an unexplained genetic turnover about 4,000 to 5,000 years ago.

The research was performed at the University of Adelaide's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD). Researchers used DNA extracted from bone and teeth samples from prehistoric human skeletons to sequence a group of maternal genetic lineages that are now carried by up to 45% of Europeans.

The international team also included the University of Mainz in Germany and the National Geographic Society's Genographic Project.

"This is the first high-resolution genetic record of these lineages through time, and it is fascinating that we can directly observe both human DNA evolving in 'real-time', and the dramatic population changes that have taken place in Europe," says joint lead author Dr Wolfgang Haak of ACAD.

"We can follow over 4,000 years of prehistory, from the earliest farmers through the early Bronze Age to modern times."

"The record of this maternally inherited genetic group, called Haplogroup H, shows that the first farmers in Central Europe resulted from a wholesale cultural and genetic input via migration, beginning in Turkey and the Near East where farming originated and arriving in Germany around 7,500 years ago," says joint lead author Dr Paul Brotherton, formerly at ACAD and now at the University of Huddersfield, UK.

ACAD Director Professor Alan Cooper says: "What is intriguing is that the genetic markers of this first pan-European culture, which was clearly very successful, were then suddenly replaced around 4,500 years ago, and we don't know why. Something major happened, and the hunt is now on to find out what that was."

The team developed new advances in molecular biology to sequence entire mitochondrial genomes from the ancient skeletons. This is the first ancient population study using a large number of mitochondrial genomes.

"We have established that the genetic foundations for modern Europe were only established in the Mid-Neolithic, after this major genetic transition around 4,000 years ago," says Dr Haak. "This genetic diversity was then modified further by a series of incoming and expanding cultures from Iberia and Eastern Europe through the Late Neolithic."

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Ancient DNA reveals Europe's dynamic genetic history