DNA History

Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)

Chemical name for the molecule that carries genetic instructions in all living things.

Double helix

Consists of two strands that wind around one another to form a shape

Deoxyribose

Each strand of DNA has a backbone made of alternating sugar called-

adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T)

Four bases?

The Origin of Species

The book suggested that people were animals and might have evolved from apes.

Charles Darwin

Who published "The Origin of Species"?

1859

What year did Charles Darwin publish "The Origin of Species"?

Gregor Mendel

He is the father of Genetics who discovered how characteristics are passed down to generations.

1866

When did Gregor Mendel discover how characteristics are passed down to generations?

"recessive" and "dominant"

What terms did Gregor Mendel coin?

Friedrich Miescher

 A Swiss physiological chemist who first identified what he called "nuclein" in the nuclei of human white blood cells.

1869

When did Friedrich Miescher identify nuclein?

Nuclein

Friedrich Miescher first identified this in the nuclei of human white blood cells, which we know today as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).

Eugenics

What is the "science" of heredity and good breeding.

1883

When was the term 'eugenics' first used?

Eugenics movement

This is a notably dark chapter which highlights the lack of understanding regarding the new discovery at the time.

1900 (16 years after his death)

When did Gregor Mendel's pea plant research make its way into the wider scientific community.

Sir Archibald Edward Garrod

Who was the first person to associate Mendel's theories with a human disease?

1902

When did Sir Archibald Edward Garrod associate Mendel's theories with a human disease?

Alkaptonuria

Sir Archibald Edward Garrod studied this human disorder and collected family history information from his patients.

1940s

When did the scientists understanding of the principles of inheritance move on considerably?

Genes :)

What generated the enzymes which controlled metabolic functions?

1944

When was deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) identified as the "transforming principle" by Oswald Avery.

Oswald Avery

Who identified that DNA was the "transforming principle"?

deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)

What is the "transforming principle"?

1950

When did Erwin Chargaff discover that DNA composition is species specific

Erwin Chargaff

He discovered that DNA composition is species specific

Chargaff's Rules

This states that the number of guanine units is equal to the number of cytosine units and the number of adenine units is equal to the number of thymine units.

Rosalind Franklin

Who photographed crystallized DNA fibers?

1952

When did Rosalind Franklin photograph crystallized DNA fibers?

James Watson and Francis Crick

Who discovered the double helix structure of DNA?

1953

When did James Watson and Francis Crick discover the double helix structure of DNA?

Marshall Nirenberg

Who was the first person to sequence the bases in each codon in 1965?

1965

When did Marshall Nirenberg sequence the bases in each codon?

early 1970s

When could molecular biologists decipher the genetic code and spell out the sequence of amino acids in proteins?

Frederick Sanger

Who developed rapid DNA sequencing techniques?

1977

When did Frederick Sanger develop rapid DNA sequencing techniques?

1995

When did J. Craig Venter and colleagues publish the first completely sequenced genome of an organism?

J. Craig Venter and colleagues

Who published the first completely sequenced genome of a self-replicating, free-living organism Haemophilus Influenzae.

Haemophilus Influenzae

What is a self-replicating, free-living organism with the first completely sequenced genome?

"shotgun" sequencing

What strategy did J. Craig Venter and colleagues use to sequence genomes?

1999

When did an international team of researchers unravel for the first time the full genetic code of a human chromosome?