MOLECULAR STRUCTURE OF NUCLEIC ACID
A structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid
We wish to suggest a structure for the salt of deoxyribose nucleic
acid (D.N.A.).
This structure has novel features which are of considerable
biological interest.(..)
We wish to put forward a radically different
structure for the salt
of deoxyribose nucleic acid.
This structure has two helical
chains each
coiled round the same axis.
The novel feature of the structure
is the manner in which the two chains are held together by the
purine and
pyrimidne bases.
They
are joined togethe in pairs, these pairs are: adenine (purine)
wit thymine (pyrimidine), and guanine (purine) with cytosine
(pyrimidine).
In other
words, if an adenine forms one member of a pair, on
either chain, then on these
assumptions the other member must be thymine; similarly
for guanine
and cytosine.
It has not escaped our notice that the
specific pairing we have
postulated immediately suggests a possible copying
mechanism for the genetic material.
We have also been stimulated by
a
knowledge of the
general nature
of the published experimental results and ideas
of Dr. M. H. F. Wilkins,
Dr. R. E. Franklin and their co-workers at King's
College, London.
One of us (J.D.W.) has been aided by a fellowship
from
the National
Foundation
for Infantile Paralysis.
J.D. Watson
F.H.C. Crick
Medical Research Council Unit for the
Study of the Molecular Structure of
Biological Systems,
Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge,
April 2 1953.
This text is an our summary from the original text.
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