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In
the above chart, the amount of Adesine=Thymine and Cytosine=Guanine
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Erwin Chargaff’s Rules
In 1950, Erwin Chargaff analysed the base composition
of DNA composition in a number of organisms. He reported that DNA
composition varies from one species to another. Such evidence of
molecular diversity, which had been presumed absent from DNA, made
DNA a more credible candidate for the genetic material than
protein.
Chargaff's rules
Chargaff found that a peculiar regularity in the
ratios of nucleotide bases. In the DNA of each species he studies,
the number of adenines approximately equaled the number of
thymine, and the number of guanines approximately equaled the
number of cytosine. In human DNA, for example, the four bases are
present in these percentages: A=30.9% and T=29.4%; G=19.9% and
C=19.8%. The A=T and G=C equalities, later known as Chargaff's
rules, helped Watson and Crick to discover the structure of DNA.
Relating Topics
- James
Watson and Francis Crick
- Overview
of the Structure of DNA
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