The Primary Structure of DNA

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the DNA structure in which the deoxynucleoside units are linked by 3’,5’-phosphodiester bonds. Progress in the determination of nucleotide sequence in DNA, has for several very good reasons appeared insignificant beside the spectacular achievements in analysis of the primary structure of RNA molecules, although recent developments have been interesting in their diversity and promise much for the near future. The chapter states that comparative and diagnostic analyses of DNA structure are possible through careful use of molecular hybridization methods and the elegant techniques of heteroduplex electron microscopy and denaturation mapping, but these are essentially low resolution approaches to structural analysis of DNA. Analysis at the level of nucleotide sequence, that is of the primary structure of the molecule, has now been achieved in several instances, most of them involving regions of the DNA reacting with a specific protein. The chapter also describes that bacteriophage (λ) genetics is extensively developed and provides the necessary support for many biochemical studies of structure and interactions.