Name____Jawan Browder_________ Date____3/30/16___

Cracking the DNA Code

Use the following website, http://www.dnai.org , to complete this activity about the research that lead to the discovery of
DNAs structure.

Click on Code from the menu on the website first page; then, click on Finding the Structure.
Using the Problem Section, answer the following questions:
1. How did Mieschers discovery contribute to our knowledge of DNA?
He contributed because he had isolated the first crude extract of DNA.
2. Which tool of science assisted Miescher in his discovery? How was the tool useful?
Microscope, it helped him see cells
3. After Miescher, other scientists determined the nuclein contained lots of .
Proteins
4. Eventually DNA was determined to be a long chain that contained
Molecule, made up of four different nucleotides, ribose sugar, and phosphate.
5. Which molecule, DNA or protein, carries the information of hereditary? Who and how was this
determined?
DNA, this was determined by Oswald Averys group, also when it was isolated from one strain
of bacteria, DNA was able to transform another strain and confer characteristics onto that
second strain. DNA was carrying hereditary information.
Using the Players and Pieces of the Puzzle Sections, provide a short summary of the contribution
of each of the following scientists to the structure of DNA.
Erwin Chargaff he was an opinionated researcher, not known to be kind to upstarts, you had
better know your chemistry before talking to him. He found that in DNA, the ratios of adenine to
thymine and guanine to cytosine are equal, this parity is obvious in the final DNA structure.
Rosalind Franklin She was the x-ray crystallographic expert, hired for skills, known to be
methodical. One of her partners named Raymond Gosling helped her obtain an X-ray diffraction
pattern, which triggered the idea that DNA was a helix.
Linus Pauling Well-known chemist had a big reputation. Although the chemistry was wrong,
Linus Pauling's triple-stranded DNA model was a catalyst for James Watson and Francis Crick to
solve the structure of DNA.
James Watson and Francis Crick Watson was a young American in Cambridge, brash, nontraditional, and known to read newspapers during seminars, while Crick was an older British half
of the team; the man with the ideas who's not shy about sharing them. Watson used cardboard
cutouts representing the shapes of the DNA bases to figure out how bases pair.
Maurice Wilkins he was shy, retiring type, no sense of humor, when around the lab he was
known as the elder statesman. He also obtained some of the first X-ray diffraction patterns of
DNA from which dimensions could be calculated.

Modeling Instruction - AMTA

Unit 5 Cell Structure and Function