GENOME

STRUCTURE OF DNA
The three dimensional structure of DNA was deduced by James Watson and Francis
Crick in the year 1953 based on X-ray crystallographic studies by Rosalind Franklin.
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Components of DNA:
1. Nitrogenous bases.
2. Sugar.
3. Phosphate.
DNA consists of four nitrogenous bases: Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine and Thymine.
Adenine and guanine are purines.
Cytosine and thymine are pyrimidines.
Sugar in DNA is deoxyribose.
CHARGAFF'S RULE:

The number of purine bases equals the number of pyrimidine bases

The number of adenine bases equals the number of thymine bases
The number of guanine bases equals the number of cytosine bases
Adenine pairs with Thymine.
Guanine pairs with Cytosine.

DNA is a polymer made up of nucleotides.

Sugar + phosphate form the backbone of DNA helix.
NUCLEOTIDE: Sugar + Phosphate + Nitrogenous bases.
NUCLEOSIDE: Sugar + Nitrogenous base.
DNA is a double helix, in which two individual DNA strands are paired; this pairing is
mediated by hydrogen bonds between the constituent bases.
The two strands that make up a double helix are complementary and have an
antiparallel orientation.
There are two of these grooves twisting around the surface of the double helix:
Major groove - They are sites for the attachment of transcription factors.
Minor groove - The narrowness of the minor groove make proteins more accessible to
the major groove.
TYPES OF DNA:
A DNA - Right handed, with 11 base pairs per helical turn.
B DNA - Right handed, with 10 base pairs per helical turn.
Z DNA - Left handed, with 12 base pairs per helical turn.

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A. DOUBLE HELICAL STRUCTURE OF DNA.

B. COMPUTER MODEL OF B-DNA.

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STRUCTURE OF GENE
Gene is a segment of DNA that codes for a particular protein.
There are two types of gene in the human genome:
1. Non-coding genes - will be transcribed but not translated (RNA genes).
2. Coding genes - will be transcribed and translated (Protein coding).
The coding region begins with the initiation codon, which is normally ATG.
It ends with one of three termination codons: TAA, TAG or TGA.
A gene will have two types of elements:
Upstream elements:
Will not be transcribed.
Possess regulatory elements like promoter and operator along with the distal
elements like enhancers and silencers.
Downstream elements:
Will be transcribed.
Possess both introns (intervening sequencing) and exons (coding sequence).
Introns:
The introns are the sections that are found in the mature transcript (messenger
RNA), while they are removed from the primary transcript by a process called
splicing.
START CODON: ATG - Codes for Methionine
STOP CODON: UAA, UAG, UGA

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GENETIC CODE
The genetic code is the set of rules by which information encoded in genetic
material is translated into proteins.
Codon - a trinucleotide sequence.
Salient features:
Genetic code is universal.
It has non-overlapping sequences.
Genetic code is degenerate.

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