Molecular Basis of

Inheritance

DNA & Its Structure

-By Juber Ansari

 Inheritance

• Meaning: Transmission of genes from

parent to offspring.

• Pattern: Pedigree Analysis

 Nucleic Acids

• DNA : Deoxyribonucleic acid

Genetic Material

• RNA : Ribonucleic acid

Genetic material in some/ roles=
Adapter, structural, catalytic
 Structure of DNA

• Long polymer of deoxyribonucleotides

• Length: No. of nucleotides (bp):
For e.g.
- Bacteriophage Lambda = 48,502
- E.coli = 4.6×106
- Haploid human = 3.3×109
Structure of a Nucleotide
Ribose vs Deoxyribose Sugar
Structure of a Polyucleotide chain
Structure of a Nucleotide
 Structure of DNA

0.34 nm
Structure of DNA
Structure of DNA
1nm = 10-9 m
= 10-7 cm
= 10-6 mm
= 10-3 µm

1µm = 1000 nm

3.4 nm
 Structure of DNA
• Harshy & Chase Dna as Genetic Material
• Friedrich Meischer 1869 Dna- Acidic – ‘Nuclein’
• James Watson & Francis Crick Double Helix strucutre
• Moris Wilkins & Rosalind Franklin X-Ray Diffraction
• Erwin Chargaff Ratio b/w T & A & C & G is ONE
• Francis Crick Central Dogma
 Salient features of DNA

1. Made of two polynucleotide chains

2. Antiparallel polarity
3. Hydrogen bonds for Uniform distance
4. 10 bp in each turn
5. Bps stacks over the other provides more
stability to double helix structure
 OU
K Y
A N
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