DNA REPAIR

DNA Repair provides a forum for the comprehensive coverage of cellular responses to DNA destroy in living cells. The journal publishes original observations on genetic, cellular, biochemical & molecular aspects of DNA repair, mutagenesis, cell cycle regulation, apoptosis & other biological responses to cells exposed to genomic insult, as well as their relationship to human diseases.

1. DNA Repair publishes Full-length research papers, Brief Document of Research, Invited minireviews, Letters to the Editor, Hot topics in DNA repair, Classics in DNA repair, Historical reflections, Book reviews & Meeting Reports. DNA Repair also welcomes Correspondence from the scientific community, as they relate to papers historicallyin the past published in the journal. These are handled directly by the Editor-in-Chief & may be accompanied by responses solicited papers are published every month. In addition, the journal will publish a smaller number of peer-reviewed Brief Reports on original research findings of special interest, as well as invited Mini-reviews on chosen topics that provide 'state-of-the-art' synopses of cellular responses to DNA destroy. Book reviews & meeting reports will be regularly featured & the Journal welcomes Correspondence from the scientific community, as they relate to papers historicallyin the past published in the journal. These are handled directly by the Editor-in-Chief & may be accompanied by responses solicited from relevant individuals.

BASIC RESEARCH ON DNA

Gregor Mendel
      Gregor Mendel the "Father of Genetics" performed an experiement in 1857 that led to increased interest in the study of genetics. Mendel who became a monk of the Roman Catholic church in 1843, studied at the University of Vienna where he mastered arithmetic, & then later performed lots of scientific experiments. The greatest experiment that Mendel performed involved growing thousands of pea plants for 8 years. He was made to give up his experiment when he became abbot of the monastery because of the political issues of the time. He died in 1884, but has been recalled for the great contribution to science that he made. To learn about his experiment & what it led to read: Genetics.

Frederick Griffith
      In 1928 a scientist named Frederick Griffith was working on a project that enabled others to point out that DNA was the molecule of inheritance. Griffith's experiment involved mice & types of pneumonia, a virulent as well as a non-virulent kind. He injected the virulent pneumonia in to a mouse & the mouse died. Next he injected the non-virulent pneumonia in to a mouse & the mouse continued to live. After this, he heated up the virulent disease to kill it & then injected it in to a mouse. The mouse lived on. Last he injected non-virulent pneumonia & virulent pneumonia, that had been heated & killed, in to a mouse. This mouse died.
     Why? Griffith thought that the killed virulent bacteria had passed on a characteristic to the non-virulent to make it virulent. He thought that this characteristic was in the inheritance molecule. This passing on of the inheritance molecule was what he called transformation.

Frederick Griffith

Frederick Griffith

• In 1928 an army medical officer named Frederick Griffith was trying to discover a vaccine against streptococcus pneumoniae , but in lieu made a breakthrough in world of heredity. They did experiments in which they injected strands of bacteria in to mice, strand that was harmless (R) and that was harmful (S).
• Frederick Griffith
• In his third experiment, they killed the harmful S cells with extreme heat, and then injected the dead S cells in to the mice and the mice lived.
• In his first experiment, they injected the live R bacteria cells in to the mice and the mice lived.
• In his second experiment, they injected the live S bacteria cells in to the mice and mice died.
• In his last experiment, they added live R cell (which are harmless) to the already dead heat-killed S cells, and then injected it in to the mice, but the mice died!
• Griffith found from this experiment that although they had killed the S cells, they hadnâ��t destroyed their hereditary material, which was the part that caused the illness! When some more experiments had been completed, it had been discovered that the harmless R cells, had used the information from the hereditary material of the dead S cells and became harmful; this they called, hereditary transformation.
• (Oh and by the wayâ�¦ they never did find the vaccine.)

History of DNA by Rosalind Franklin & Maurice Wilkins

Rosalind Franklin & Maurice Wilkins

          Scientists named, Rosalind Franklin & Maurice Wilkins, decided to try to make a crystal of the DNA molecule. In the event that they could get DNA to crystallize, then they could make an x-ray pattern, thus leading to understanding how DNA works. These scientists were successful & obtained an x-ray pattern. The pattern appeared to contain rungs, like those on a ladder between to strands that are side by side. It also showed by an shape that DNA had a helix shape.

Oswald avery

         Oswald Avery was interested by what Frederick Griffith had discovered so they and his colleagues found a way to extract the heat-killed disease carrying cells.

         In 1944, they had reported that DNA, not proteins (which was believed at the time), was the hereditary substance in these extracts. They backed there document up by the results of an experiment in which they added protein-digesting enzymes to a quantity of the extracts, and the cells were still transformed, but when the added an enzyme that broke the DNA but not the protein, the hereditary transformation was blocked.

James Watson and Francis Crick

James Watson and Francis Crick
        In 1953 scientists, James Watson and Francis Crick , were trying to put together a model of DNA. When they saw Franklin and Wilkin's picture of the X-ray they had information to make an correct model.  
        They created a model that has not been changed much since then. Their model showed a double helix with tiny rungs connecting the strands. These rungs were the bases of a nucleotide (see nucleic acids). At first Watson and Crick were set back with a controversy, how to bond the bases together, and how to solve the issue of the sizes of the bases. Adenine and Guanine were purines having carbon-nitrogen rings in their structures.
         Thymine and Cytosine were pyrimidines having carbon-nitrogen ring in its structure. If DNA were to have its bases pair up so that the purines and the pyrimidines were together, then it would look wobly and crooked. Watson and Crick then found that in the event that they paired Thymine with Adenine and Guanine with Cytosine DNA would look uniform. This pairing was also in accordance with Cargaff's rule. They also found that a hydrogen bond could be formed between the pairs of bases. In all DNA strands if side has a Thymine base then the other has the opposite: Adenine and so on with Guanine and Cytosine. Each side is a complete compliment of the other.

Rosalind Franklin & Maurice Wilkins

Rosalind Franklin & Maurice Wilkins

            Scientists named,  Rosalind Franklin & Maurice Wilkins , decided to try to make a crystal of the DNA molecule. In the event that they could get DNA to crystallize, then they could make an x-ray pattern, thus leading to understanding how DNA works.
            These scientists were successful & obtained an x-ray pattern. The pattern appeared to contain rungs, like those on a ladder between to strands that are side by side. It also showed by an shape that DNA had a helix shape.