Unit / Module

6
Information Transfer
(Study outline)

by
Sankalan Dey

Reference: Griffiths - Introduction to genetic analysis, Chapter 7, 9, 12

 Search for Genetic Material

Frederick Griffith: Bacterial transformation

In 1928, British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith conducted a series of experiments

using Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria and mice.
Frederick Griffith: Bacterial transformation

Griffith concluded that the R-

strain bacteria must have
taken up what he called a
"transforming principle" from
the heat-killed S bacteria,
which allowed them to
"transform" into smooth-
coated bacteria and become
virulent.
Avery, McCarty, and MacLeod: Identifying the transforming principle

• It was performed by Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty (1944).

• They worked to determine the biochemical nature of the ‘transforming

principle’ in Griffith’s experiment. they concluded that only DNase destroyed
the transforming substance and not protease for protein and RNAase for RNA.

• Hence, the transforming substance is DNA and it is the genetic material.

Hershey and Chase’s Experiment (1952)

• Hershey and Chase studied bacteriophage, or viruses that attack bacteria. The
phages they used were simple particles composed of protein and DNA, with the
outer structures made of protein and the inner core consisting of DNA.

• Hershey and Chase knew that the phages attached to the surface of a host bacterial
cell and injected some substance (either DNA or protein) into the host. This
substance gave "instructions" that caused the host bacterium to start making lots
and lots of phages—in other words, it was the phage's genetic material.
Hershey and Chase’s Experiment (1952)
 Packaging of the DNA helix

If you stretched the DNA in one cell all the way out,
it would be about 2 metre long and all the DNA in
all your cells put together would be about twice the
diameter of the Solar System.

• A large amount of DNA is tightly packed in the

small nucleus of every cell by DNA packaging.
Three levels of DNA packaging have been
recognized, primary, secondary, and tertiary.

• The primary organization of chromatin involves

the coiling of DNA at regular intervals around a
histone pool to form a series of particles called
nucleosomes. Thus, the primary organization
results in a beaded polynucleotide chain.
Nucleosome core particle consists of eight histone
molecules, known as core histones, and a small
DNA segment called core DNA. The core histones
include two molecules each of H2A, H2B, H3, and
H4.
 Packaging of the DNA helix

• The secondary organization is represented

by the coiling of a polynucleotide chain in a
solenoid manner to form a hollow fiber.

• The tertiary organization is attained by the

radial looping of the solenoid fiber from an
axial scaffold. Each of them contains
20,000 to 10,000 base pairs.

• DNA packaging helps the DNA to fit well

within the small size of a cell. It also
facilitates the easy separation of the
correct chromosomes during cell division.
Due to highly packed DNA, it is easy to
turn genes on or off as per requirement.
Packaging of the DNA helix
Genetic code

• Once transcription and processing of rRNAs, tRNAs and mRNAs are

completed, the RNAs are ready to be used in the cell - assembled in
ribosomes for protein synthesis.

• But the mRNA is not yet functional to the cell. It must be translated into
the encoded protein. The rules for translating from the "language" of
nucleic acids to that of proteins is the genetic code.
Genetic code

Size of a codon: 3 nucleotides

Three is the minimum number of nucleotides per codon needed to encode 20

amino acids.

a. 20 amino acids are encoded by combinations of 4 nucleotides

b. If a codon were two nucleotides, the set of all combinations could encode
only 4x4 = 16 amino acids.

c. With three nucleotides, the set of all combinations can encode 4x4x4 = 64
amino acids (i.e. 64 different combinations of four nucleotides taken three at a
time).
Genetic code
Characteristics of the genetic code
1.Triplet nature:

•Singlet and doublet codes are not adequate to code for 20 amino acids; therefore, it
was pointed out that triplet code is the minimum required.

2.Degeneracy

•The code is degenerate which means that the same amino acid is coded by more
than one base triplet.
•Degeneracy does not imply lack of specificity in protein synthesis.
•It merely means that a particular amino acid can be directed to its place in the
peptide chain by more than one base triplets.
•For example, the three amino acids arginine, alanine and leucine each have six
synonymous codons.
•The code degeneracy is basically of 2 types: partial and complete.
•In partial degeneracy, the first two nucleotides are identical but the third (i.e., 3′ base)
nucleotide of the degenerate codon differs; for example, CUU and CUC code for
leucine.
•Complete degeneracy occurs when any of the 4 bases can take third position and
still code for the same amino acid; for example, UCU, UCC, UCA and UCG all code
for serine.
Characteristics of the genetic code

3.Non-overlapping

•The genetic code is nonoverlapping, i.e.,the adjacent codons do not overlap.

•A nonoverlapping code means that the same letter is not used for two different
codons. In other words, no single base can take part in the formation of more than
one codon.

4.Commaless

•The genetic code is commaless (or comma-free). There is no signal to indicate the
end of one codon and the beginning of the next.
•There are no intermediary nucleotides (or commas) between the codons.

5.Non-ambiguity

•Non-ambiguous code means that there is no ambiguity about a particular codon.

•A particular codon will always code for the same amino acid.
•While the same amino acid can be coded by more than one codon (the code is
degenerate), the same codon shall not code for two or more different amino acids
(non-ambiguous).
Characteristics of the genetic code

6.Universality

•Universality of the code means that the same sequences of 3 bases encode the
same amino acids in all life forms from simple microorganisms to complex,
multicelled organisms such as human beings.
•Although the code is based on work conducted on the bacterium Escherichia
coli but it is valid for other organisms.
•The genetic code applies to all modern organisms with only minor exceptions,
such as the yeast, mitochondria, and the Mycoplasma.

7.Polarity

•The genetic code has polarity, that is, the code is always read in a fixed direction,
i.e., in the 5′ → 3′ direction.
•It is apparent that if the code is read in opposite direction (i.e., 3′ → 5′), it would
specify 2 different proteins, since the codon would have reversed base sequence.
Wobble Hypothesis

According to The Wobble Hypothesis, only the first two bases of the codon have a precise
pairing with the bases of the anticodon of tRNA, while the pairing between the third
bases of codon and anticodon may Wobble (wobble means to sway or move unsteadily).