Biology & Genetics · 1953
Molecular Configuration in Sodium Thymonucleate
Rosalind E. Franklin, Raymond G. Gosling
Overview
Published in the same issue of Nature as Watson and Crick's model, this paper presented the X-ray diffraction evidence — including the famous 'Photo 51' helical pattern — that constrained the structure of DNA to a helix with the phosphates on the outside.
The experimental foundation of the DNA double helix.
Key findings
Methods
X-ray fibre diffraction of hydrated sodium thymonucleate (DNA) fibres, with careful control of humidity to capture the 'B form' and interpretation of the diffraction pattern in terms of helical geometry.
Keywords
Related papers
Biology & Genetics
Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid
The one-page paper that proposed the double-helix structure of DNA. Watson and Crick described two helical chains coiled around a common axis, with bases paired in the interior — a structure that immediately suggested how genetic information is copied.
Biology & Genetics
Studies on the Chemical Nature of the Substance Inducing Transformation of Pneumococcal Types
Avery, MacLeod and McCarty identified DNA — not protein — as the molecule that carries hereditary information. By purifying the 'transforming principle' that changes harmless pneumococci into virulent ones, they showed it was deoxyribonucleic acid.
Biology & Genetics
A Programmable Dual-RNA-Guided DNA Endonuclease in Adaptive Bacterial Immunity
This paper turned a bacterial immune system into a programmable gene-editing tool. Doudna, Charpentier and colleagues showed that the Cas9 enzyme, guided by a single engineered RNA, can be directed to cut any chosen DNA sequence.