All About DNA: An Immersive Journey

Rest cozy in your bed, and travel with me in this immersive journey through labs, and history while we learn about DNA in depth. Before each part, we will have a little word toolkit, to help carry us through the stories. No pressure, no test, no cramming. Just muscle relaxation and dreams of the world!

This is Episode 1, of a series bedtime course on molecular biology. You are free to listen to any episode at any instance, and it doesn't have to be in order.

1. Settle In
2. What is Molecular Biology
3. What Makes a Hereditary Molecule?
4. Mendel's Garden
5. The Nucleus Idea
6. The Transforming Principle
7. Hershey-Chase: The Blender Decision
8. Becoming the Double Helix
9. Hybridization: Design it Yourself!
10. Why DNA Works
11. Wind-Down

References:

1. Griffith, F. (1928). The significance of pneumococcaltypes. Journal of Hygiene, 27(2), 113–159.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022172400031879
2. Avery, O. T., MacLeod, C. M., & McCarty, M. (1944).Studies on the chemical nature of the substance inducing transformation ofpneumococcal types. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 79(2),137–158. https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.79.2.137
3. Hershey, A. D., & Chase, M. (1952). Independentfunctions of viral protein and nucleic acid in growth of bacteriophage. Journalof General Physiology, 36(1), 39–56.https://doi.org/10.1085/jgp.36.1.39
4. Chargaff, E., Vischer, E., Doniger, R., Green, C., &Misani, F. (1949). The composition of the desoxypentose nucleic acids of thymusand spleen. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 177(1), 405–416.
5. Watson, J. D., & Crick, F. H. C. (1953). Molecularstructure of nucleic acids: A structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid. Nature,171(4356), 737–738. https://doi.org/10.1038/171737a0
6. Franklin, R. E., & Gosling, R. G. (1953). Molecularconfiguration in sodium thymonucleate. Nature, 171(4356),740–741. https://doi.org/10.1038/171740a0
7. Wilkins, M. H. F., Stokes, A. R., & Wilson, H. R.(1953). Molecular structure of deoxypentose nucleic acids. Nature, 171(4356),738–740. https://doi.org/10.1038/171738a0
8. Wang, J. C. (1979). Helical repeat of DNA in solution. Proceedingsof the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 76(1),200–203. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.76.1.200
9. Wang, A. H.-J., Quigley, G. J., Kolpak, F. J., Crawford,J. L., van Boom, J. H., van der Marel, G., & Rich, A. (1979). Molecularstructure of a left-handed double helical DNA fragment at atomic resolution. Nature,282, 680–686. https://doi.org/10.1038/282680a0
10. Marmur, J., & Doty, P. (1962). Determination of thebase composition of deoxyribonucleic acid from its thermal denaturationtemperature. Journal of Molecular Biology, 5, 109–118.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-2836(62)80066-7
11. Rohs, R., West, S. M., Sosinsky, A., Liu, P., Mann, R.S., & Honig, B. (2010). Origins of specificity in protein–DNA recognition. AnnualReview of Biochemistry, 79, 233–269.https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-biochem-060408-091030
12. Hall, K. (2021). DNA translated: Friedrich Miescher’sdiscovery of nuclein in its original context. The British Journal for theHistory of Science, 54(3), 299–324.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007087420000680