James Watson years of life. Who discovered the double helix of DNA

The discovery of the DNA double helix was one of the key milestones in the history of world biology; We owe this discovery to the duo of James Watson and Francis Crick. Despite the fact that Watson has gained notoriety for certain statements, it is simply impossible to overestimate the importance of his discovery.

James Dewey Watson - American molecular biologist, geneticist and zoologist; He is best known for his participation in the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

After successfully graduating from the University of Chicago and Indiana University, Watson spent some time doing chemistry research with biochemist Herman Kalckar in Copenhagen. He later moved to the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, where he first met his future colleague and comrade Francis Crick.

Watson and Crick came up with the idea of a DNA double helix in mid-March 1953, while studying experimental data collected by Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins. The discovery was announced by Sir Lawrence Bragg, director of the Cavendish Laboratory; This happened at a Belgian scientific conference on April 8, 1953. The important statement, however, was not actually noticed by the press. On April 25, 1953, an article about the discovery was published in the scientific journal Nature. Other biological scientists and a number of Nobel laureates quickly appreciated the monumentality of the discovery; some even called it the greatest scientific discovery of the 20th century.

In 1962, Watson, Crick and Wilkins received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery. The fourth participant in the project, Rosalind Franklin, died in 1958 and, as a result, could no longer qualify for the prize. Watson was also awarded a monument at the American Museum of Natural History in New York for his discovery; since such monuments are erected only in honor of American scientists, Crick and Wilkins were left without monuments.

Watson is still considered one of the greatest scientists in history; however, many people openly disliked him as a person. James Watson has been involved in quite high-profile scandals several times; one of them was directly related to his work - the fact is that while working on the DNA model, Watson and Crick used data obtained by Rosalind Franklin without her permission. The scientists worked quite actively with Franklin's partner, Wilkins; Rosalind herself, quite possibly, might not have known until the end of her life how important the role her experiments played in understanding the structure of DNA.

From 1956 to 1976, Watson worked at Harvard's biology department; During this period he was interested mainly in molecular biology.

In 1968, Watson received a position as director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Long Island, New York; Through his efforts, the quality of research work in the laboratory has significantly increased, and funding has noticeably improved. Watson himself was primarily involved in cancer research during this period; Along the way, he made the laboratory under his control one of the best centers of molecular biology in the world.

In 1994, Watson became president of the research center, and in 2004 - rector; in 2007, he left his position after making rather unpopular statements about the existence of a connection between intelligence level and origin.

From 1988 to 1992, Watson actively collaborated with the National Institutes of Health, helping develop the Human Genome Project.

Watson was also notorious for making overtly provocative and often offensive comments about his colleagues; among others, he talked about Franklin in his speeches (after her death). A number of his statements could be perceived as attacks towards homosexuals and fat people.

Biology work

Romanova Anastasia

Francis Crick

James Watson

"Discovery of the secondary structure of DNA"

The beginning of this story can be taken as a joke. "And we just discovered the secret of life!" - said one of the two men who entered the Cambridge Eagle Pub exactly 57 years ago - February 28, 1953. And these people who worked in a laboratory nearby were not exaggerating at all. One of them was named Francis Crick, and the other was James Watson.

Biography:

Francis Creek

During the war years, Crick worked on the creation of mines in the research laboratory of the British Navy Ministry. For two years after the end of the war, he continued to work in this ministry and it was then that he read Erwin Schrödinger’s famous book “What is Life? Physical aspects of the living cell", published in 1944. In the book, Schrödinger asks the question: “How can spatiotemporal events occurring in a living organism be explained from the perspective of physics and chemistry?”
The ideas presented in the book influenced Crick so much that he, intending to study particle physics, switched to biology. With the support of Archibald W. Will, Crick received a Medical Research Council Fellowship and began working at the Strangeway Laboratory in Cambridge in 1947. Here he studied biology, organic chemistry, and X-ray diffraction techniques used to determine the spatial structure of molecules.

James Deway Watson

Born April 6, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois, to James D. Watson, a businessman, and Jean (Mitchell) Watson, his only child.

He received his elementary and secondary education in Chicago. It soon became apparent that James was an unusually gifted child, and he was invited to appear on the radio program “Quizzes for Children.” After only two years of high school, Watson received a scholarship in 1943 to attend an experimental four-year college at the University of Chicago, where he developed an interest in studying ornithology. After receiving a Bachelor of Science from the University of Chicago in 1947, he continued his education at Indiana University Bloomington.
By this time, Watson had become interested in genetics and began studying in Indiana under the guidance of specialist in this field Herman J. Meller and bacteriologist Salvador Luria. Watson wrote a dissertation on the effect of X-rays on the reproduction of bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) and received a Ph.D. in 1950. A grant from the National Research Society allowed him to continue his research on bacteriophages at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. There he studied the biochemical properties of bacteriophage DNA. However, as he later recalled, experiments with the phage began to weigh on him; he wanted to learn more about the true structure of DNA molecules, which geneticists were so enthusiastically talking about.

In October 1951 year, the scientist went to the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge to study the spatial structure of proteins together with John C. Kendrew. There he met Francis Crick, (a physicist interested in biology), who was writing his doctoral dissertation at that time.
Subsequently, they established close creative contacts. “It was intellectual love at first sight,” says one historian of science. Despite their common interests, outlook on life and style of thinking, Watson and Crick mercilessly, although politely, criticized each other. Their roles in this intellectual duet were different. “Francis was the brain and I was the feeling,” says Watson

Beginning in 1952, building on the early work of Chargaff, Wilkins, and Franklin, Crick and Watson decided to try to determine the chemical structure of DNA.

By the fifties, it was known that DNA is a large molecule consisting of nucleotides connected to each other in a line. Scientists also knew that DNA is responsible for storing and inheriting genetic information. The spatial structure of this molecule and the mechanisms by which DNA is inherited from cell to cell and from organism to organism remained unknown.

IN 1948 In the same year, Linus Pauling discovered the spatial structure of other macromolecules - proteins. Bedridden by jade, Pauling spent several hours folding paper with which he tried to model the configuration of a protein molecule, and created a model of a structure called the “alpha helix.”

According to Watson, after this discovery, the hypothesis about the helical structure of DNA became popular in their laboratory. Watson and Crick collaborated with leading experts in X-ray diffraction analysis, and Crick was able to almost accurately detect signs of a spiral in images obtained in this way.

Pauling also believed that DNA is a helix, moreover, consisting of three strands. However, he could not explain either the nature of such a structure or the mechanisms of DNA self-duplication for transmission to daughter cells.

The discovery of the double-stranded structure occurred after Maurice Wilkins secretly showed Watson and Crick an X-ray of a DNA molecule taken by his collaborator Rosalind Franklin. In this image, they clearly recognized the signs of a spiral and headed to the laboratory to check everything on a three-dimensional model.

In the laboratory, it turned out that the workshop had not supplied the metal plates necessary for the stereo model, and Watson cut out four types of nucleotide models from cardboard - guanine (G), cytosine (C), thymine (T) and adenine (A) - and began to lay them out on the table . And then he discovered that adenine combines with thymine, and guanine with cytosine according to the “key-lock” principle. This is exactly how the two strands of the DNA helix are connected to each other, that is, opposite the thymine from one strand there will always be adenine from the other, and nothing else.

Over the next eight months, Watson and Crick combined their findings with those already available, reporting the structure of DNA in February 1953 of the year.

A month later, they created a three-dimensional model of the DNA molecule, made from beads, pieces of cardboard and wire.
According to the Crick-Watson model, DNA is a double helix consisting of two chains of deoxyribose phosphate connected by base pairs, similar to the rungs of a ladder. Through hydrogen bonds, adenine combines with thymine, and guanine with cytosine.

You can swap:

a) the participants of this pair;

b) any pair onto another pair, and this will not lead to disruption of the structure, although it will have a decisive impact on its biological activity.

The DNA structure proposed by Watson and Crick perfectly satisfied the main criterion, the fulfillment of which was necessary for a molecule claiming to be a repository of hereditary information. “The backbone of our model is highly ordered, and base pair sequence is the only property that can mediate the transmission of genetic information,” they wrote.
“Our structure,” wrote Watson and Crick, “thus consists of two chains, each complementary to the other.”

Watson wrote about the discovery to his boss Delbrück, who wrote to Niels Bohr: “Amazing things are happening in biology. I think Jim Watson has made a discovery comparable to what Rutherford made in 1911." It is worth recalling that in 1911 Rutherford discovered the atomic nucleus.

This arrangement made it possible to explain the mechanisms of DNA copying: two strands of the helix diverge, and to each of them an exact copy of its former “partner” in the helix is added from nucleotides. Using the same principle as printing a positive from a negative in a photograph.

Although Rosalind Franklin did not support the hypothesis of the helical structure of DNA, it was her photographs that played a decisive role in the discovery of Watson and Crick.

Later, the model of DNA structure proposed by Watson and Crick was proven. And in 1962 their work was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries in the field of the molecular structure of nucleic acids and for determining their role in the transmission of information in living matter.” Among the laureates was not Rosalind Franklin, who had died by that time (from cancer in 1958), since the prize is not awarded posthumously.

yom from the Karolinska Institute said at the prize ceremony: “The discovery of the spatial molecular structure of DNA is extremely important because it outlines the possibility of understanding in great detail the general and individual characteristics of all living things.” Engström noted that “unraveling the double helical structure of deoxyribonucleic acid with its specific pairing of nitrogenous bases opens up fantastic possibilities for unraveling the details of the control and transmission of genetic information.”

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James Watson is a pioneer of molecular biology who, along with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, is considered the discoverer of the DNA double helix. In 1962, they received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work.

James Watson: biography

Born in Chicago, USA, April 6, 1928. He attended Horace Mann School and then South Shore High School. At the age of 15, he entered the University of Chicago under an experimental scholarship program for gifted children. An interest in bird life led James Watson to study biology, and in 1947 he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology. After reading Erwin Schrödinger's landmark book What is Life? he switched to genetics.

After being rejected by Caltech and Harvard, James Watson won a scholarship to graduate school at Indiana University. In 1950, for his work on the effects of X-ray radiation on the reproduction of bacteriophage viruses, he was awarded a doctorate in zoology. From Indiana, Watson moved to Copenhagen and continued studying viruses as a fellow at the National Research Council.

Unravel DNA!

After visiting the New York laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor, where he reviewed the results of Hershey and Chase's research, Watson became convinced that DNA was the molecule responsible for transmitting genetic information. He became fascinated by the idea that if he understood its structure, he could figure out how data was transferred between cells. Virus research no longer interested him as much as this new direction.

In the spring of 1951, at a conference in Naples, he met Maurice Wilkins. The latter demonstrated the results of the first attempts to use X-ray diffraction to image a DNA molecule. Watson, excited by Wilkins' data, arrived in Britain in the autumn. He got a job at the Cavendish Laboratory, where he began collaborating with Francis Crick.

First attempts

In an attempt to unravel the molecular structure of DNA, James Watson and Francis Crick decided to use a model-based approach. Both were convinced that the solution to its structure would play a key role in understanding the transfer of genetic information from parent to daughter cells. Biologists realized that the discovery of the structure of DNA would be a major scientific breakthrough. At the same time, they were aware of the existence of competitors among other scientists, such as Linus Pauling.

Crick and James Watson modeled DNA with great difficulty. None of them had a background in chemistry, so they used standard chemistry textbooks to cut out cardboard configurations of chemical bonds. A visiting graduate student noted that, according to new data not in the books, some of his cardboard chemical bonds were used in reverse. Around the same time, Watson attended a lecture by Rosalind Franklin at nearby King's College. Apparently he wasn't listening very carefully.

Unforgivable mistake

As a result of the error, scientists' first attempt to build a DNA model failed. James Watson and Francis Crick constructed a triple helix with the nitrogen bases on the outside of the structure. When they presented the model to their colleagues, Rosalind Franklin harshly criticized it. The results of her research clearly demonstrated the existence of two forms of DNA. The wetter one matched the one Watson and Crick were trying to build, but they created a DNA model without the water present. Franklin noted that if her work were interpreted correctly, the nitrogen bases would be located inside the molecule. Feeling embarrassed by such a public failure, the director of the Cavendish Laboratory recommended that the researchers abandon their approach. Scientists officially moved on to other areas, but privately continued to think about the DNA problem.

Spy discovery

Wilkins, who worked at King's College with Franklin, was in personal conflict with her. Rosalind was so unhappy that she decided to move her research elsewhere. It is not clear how, but Wilkins obtained one of her best X-ray images of a DNA molecule. She might even have given it to him herself when she was cleaning out her office. But it is certain that he took the image out of the laboratory without Franklin's permission and showed it to his friend Watson in Cavendish. Subsequently, in his book “The Double Helix,” he wrote that the moment he saw the photograph, his jaw dropped and his pulse quickened. Everything was incredibly simpler than the A-form obtained earlier. Moreover, the black cross of reflections that dominated the photo could only have arisen from a spiral structure.

Nobel Prize Laureate

Biologists used the new data to create a double-stranded helix model with nitrogenous bases in A-T and C-G pairs at the center. This pairing immediately suggested to Crick that one side of the molecule could serve as a template for precisely repeating DNA sequences to carry genetic information during cell division. This second, successful model was presented in February 1951. In April 1953, they published their findings in the journal Nature. The article caused a sensation. Watson and Crick discovered that DNA has the shape of a double helix, or “spiral staircase.” Two chains in it were disconnected, like a “lightning”, and reproduced the missing parts. Thus, each deoxyribonucleic acid molecule is capable of creating two identical copies.

The abbreviation DNA and the elegant double helix model became known throughout the world. Watson and Crick also became famous. Their discovery revolutionized the study of biology and genetics, making possible the genetic engineering techniques used in modern biotechnology.

The Nature paper led to the Nobel Prize being awarded to them and Wilkins in 1962. Swedish Academy rules allow no more than three scientists to be awarded. Rosalind Franklin died of ovarian cancer in 1958. Wilkins mentioned her in passing.

The year he received the Nobel Prize, Watson married Elizabeth Lewis. They had two sons: Rufus and Duncan.

Continued work

James Watson continued to work with many other scientists throughout the 1950s. His genius lay in his ability to coordinate the work of different people and combine their results to new conclusions. In 1952, he used a rotating X-ray anode to demonstrate the helical structure of the tobacco mosaic virus. From 1953 to 1955 Watson collaborated with scientists at the California Institute of Technology to model the structure of RNA. From 1955 to 1956 he again worked with Crick to uncover the principles of the structure of viruses. In 1956 he moved to Harvard, where he researched RNA and protein synthesis.

Scandalous chronicle

In 1968, a controversial book about DNA was published, authored by James Watson. "The Double Helix" was full of derogatory comments and vindictive descriptions of many of the people involved in the discovery, especially Rosalind Franklin. Because of this, Harvard Press refused to publish the book. Nevertheless, the work was published and was a great success. In a later edition, Watson apologized for his treatment of Franklin, saying that he was unaware of the pressures she faced as a female researcher in the 1950s. He received the greatest profit from the publication of two textbooks - “Molecular Biology of the Gene” (1965) and “Molecular Biology of the Cell and Recombinant DNA” (updated edition 2002), which are still out of print. In 2007, he published his autobiography, Avoid Boring People. Life lessons in science."

James Watson: contributions to science

In 1968, he became director of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. At the time, the institute was experiencing financial difficulties, but Watson was very successful in finding donors. The institution he headed has become a world leader in the level of work in the field of molecular biology. Its employees uncovered the nature of cancer and discovered its genes for the first time. More than 4,000 scientists from around the world come to Cold Spring Harbor each year, such is the profound influence of the Institute for International Genetic Research.

In 1990, Watson was appointed director of the National Institutes of Health's Human Genome Project. He used his fundraising abilities to carry on the project until 1992. He left due to a conflict over patenting genetic information. James Watson believed that this would only hinder the research of scientists working on the project.

Controversial statements

His stay at Cold Harbor ended abruptly. On October 14, 2007, on the way to a conference in London, he was asked about world events. James Watson, a world-renowned scientist, responded that he was gloomy about Africa's prospects. According to him, all modern social policy is based on the fact that the intelligence of its inhabitants is the same as that of others, but test results indicate that this is not so. He continued his thought with the idea that progress in Africa was hampered by poor genetic material. Public outcry against this remark forced Cold Spring Harbor to ask for his resignation. The scientist later apologized and retracted his remarks, saying that “there is no scientific basis for this.” In his farewell speech, he expressed his vision that "ultimate victory (over cancer and mental illness) is within our reach."

Despite these failures, geneticist James Watson continues to make controversial claims today. In September 2013, at a meeting on brain science at the Allen Institute in Seattle, he again made a controversial statement about his belief that an increase in the diagnosis of hereditary diseases may be associated with later childbearing. “The older you get, the more likely you are to have defective genes,” Watson said, also suggesting that genetic material should be collected from people under 15 years of age for future conception through in vitro fertilization. In his opinion, this would reduce the chances that parents' lives would be ruined by the birth of a child with physical or mental disabilities.

James Dewey Watson - American biochemist. Born April 6, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the only child of businessman James D. Watson and Jean (Mitchell) Watson. In his hometown, the boy received primary and secondary education. It soon became apparent that James was an unusually gifted child, and he was invited to appear on the radio program “Quizzes for Children.” After only two years of high school, Watson received a scholarship in 1943 to attend an experimental four-year college at the University of Chicago, where he developed an interest in studying ornithology. After graduating from the university in 1947 with a bachelor's degree in science, he then continued his education at Indiana University Bloomington.

Born in Chicago, Illinois. At the age of 15 he entered the University of Chicago, graduating four years later. In 1950, they received their doctorate from Indiana University for their study of viruses. By this time, Watson had become interested in genetics and began studying in Indiana under the guidance of a specialist in this field, G.D. Meller and bacteriologist S. Luria. In 1950, the young scientist received his Doctor of Philosophy degree for his dissertation on the effect of X-rays on the reproduction of bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria). A grant from the National Research Society allowed him to continue his research on bacteriophages at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. There he studied the biochemical properties of bacteriophage DNA. However, as he later recalled, experiments with the bacteriophage began to weigh on him; he wanted to learn more about the true structure of DNA molecules, which geneticists were so enthusiastically talking about. His visit to the Cavendish Laboratory in 1951 led to a collaboration with Francis Crick that culminated in the discovery of the structure of DNA.

In October 1951, the scientist went to the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge to study the spatial structure of proteins together with D.K. Kendrew. There he met Crick, a physicist who was interested in biology and was writing his doctoral dissertation at that time.

“It was intellectual love at first sight,” says one historian of science. “Their scientific views and interests are the most important issue to solve if you are a biologist.” Despite their common interests, outlook on life and style of thinking, Watson and Crick mercilessly, although politely, criticized each other. Their roles in this intellectual duet were different. “Francis was the brain and I was the feeling,” says Watson.

Beginning in 1952, building on the early work of Chargaff, Wilkins, and Franklin, Crick and Watson decided to try to determine the chemical structure of DNA.

Recalling the attitude of the vast majority of biologists of those days to DNA, Watson wrote: “After Avery’s experiments, it seemed that DNA was the main genetic material. Thus, understanding the chemical structure of DNA could be an important step toward understanding how genes are reproduced. But unlike proteins, there was very little chemical information that was precisely established about DNA. Few chemists had worked on it, and except for the fact that nucleic acids are very large molecules built from smaller building blocks called nucleotides, there was nothing known about their chemistry that a geneticist could grasp. Moreover, organic chemists who worked with DNA were almost never interested in genetics.”

American scientists have tried to bring together all the previously available information about DNA, both physicochemical and biological. As V.N. writes Soifer: “Watson and Crick analyzed the data from X-ray diffraction analysis of DNA, compared them with the results of chemical studies of the ratio of nucleotides in DNA (Chargaff’s rules) and applied L. Pauling’s idea about the possibility of the existence of helical polymers, which he expressed in relation to proteins, to DNA. As a result, they were able to propose a hypothesis about the structure of DNA, according to which DNA was composed of two polynucleotide strands connected by hydrogen bonds and mutually twisted relative to each other. The Watson and Crick hypothesis so simply explained most of the mysteries about the functioning of DNA as a genetic matrix that it was literally immediately accepted by geneticists and was experimentally proven in a short time.”

Based on this, Watson and Crick proposed the following DNA model:

1. Two strands in the DNA structure are twisted around one another and form a right-handed helix.

2. Each chain is composed of regularly repeating phosphoric acid and deoxyribose sugar residues. Nitrogenous bases are attached to sugar residues (one for each sugar residue).

3. The chains are fixed relative to each other by hydrogen bonds connecting pairs of nitrogenous bases. As a result, it turns out that phosphorus and carbohydrate residues are located on the outside of the helix, and the bases are contained inside it. The bases are perpendicular to the axis of the chains.

4. There is a selection rule for pairing bases. A purine base can combine with a pyrimidine base, and, moreover, thymine can only combine with adenine, and guanine with cytosine...

5. You can swap: a) the participants of this pair; b) any pair onto another pair, and this will not lead to disruption of the structure, although it will have a decisive impact on its biological activity.

“Our structure,” wrote Watson and Crick, “thus consists of two chains, each complementary to the other.”

In February 1953, Crick and Watson reported the structure of DNA. A month later, they created a three-dimensional model of the DNA molecule, made from beads, pieces of cardboard and wire.

The model allowed other researchers to clearly visualize DNA replication. The two strands of the molecule are separated at hydrogen bonding sites, like the opening of a zipper, after which a new one is synthesized on each half of the old DNA molecule. The sequence of bases acts as a template, or pattern, for a new molecule.

Crick and Watson completed the DNA model in 1953, and nine years later, together with Wilkins, they received the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and their importance for the transmission of information in living systems." Maurice Wilkins - His experiments with X-ray diffraction helped establish the double-stranded structure of DNA. Rosalind Franklin (1920–58), whose contribution to the discovery of the structure of DNA was considered by many to be very significant, was not awarded the Nobel Prize because she did not live to see that time.

Having summarized data on the physical and chemical properties of DNA and analyzed the results of M. Wilkins and R. Franklin on the scattering of X-rays on DNA crystals, J. Watson and F. Crick in 1953 built a model of the three-dimensional structure of this molecule. The principle of complementarity of chains in a double-stranded molecule that they proposed was of utmost importance. J. Watson has a hypothesis about a semi-conservative mechanism of DNA replication. In 1958-1959 J. Watson and A. Tissier conducted studies of bacterial ribosomes that became classic. The scientist’s work on studying the structure of viruses is also known. In 1989-1992 J. Watson headed the international scientific program "Human Genome".

Watson and Crick discovered the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), a substance that contains all hereditary information.

By the fifties, it was known that DNA is a large molecule that consists of thousands of small molecules of four different types connected to each other in a line - nucleotides. Scientists also knew that it was DNA that was responsible for storing and inheriting genetic information, similar to text written in a four-letter alphabet. The spatial structure of this molecule and the mechanisms by which DNA is inherited from cell to cell and from organism to organism remained unknown.

In 1948, Linus Pauling discovered the spatial structure of other macromolecules—proteins—and created a model of the structure called the “alpha helix.”

Although Franklin did not support the hypothesis of the helical structure of DNA, it was her photographs that played a decisive role in the discovery of Watson and Crick. Rosalind did not live to see the prize that Wilkins, Watson and Crick received.

It is obvious that the discovery of the spatial structure of DNA made a revolution in the world of science and entailed a whole series of new discoveries, without which it is impossible to imagine not only modern science, but also modern life in general

In the sixties of the last century, Watson and Crick's assumption about the mechanism of DNA replication (doubling) was completely confirmed. In addition, it was shown that a special protein, DNA polymerase, takes part in this process.

Around the same time, another important discovery was made - the genetic code. As mentioned above, DNA contains information about everything that is inherited, including the linear structure of every protein in the body. Proteins, like DNA, are long molecular chains of amino acids. There are 20 of these amino acids. Accordingly, it was unclear how the “language” of DNA, consisting of a four-letter alphabet, is translated into the “language” of proteins, where 20 “letters” are used.

It turned out that the combination of three DNA nucleotides clearly corresponds to one of the 20 amino acids. And thus, what is “written” on DNA is unambiguously translated into protein.

In the seventies, two more important methods appeared, based on the discovery of Watson and Crick. This is sequencing and obtaining recombinant DNA. Sequencing allows you to “read” the sequence of nucleotides in DNA. It is on this method that the entire Human Genome program is based.

Obtaining recombinant DNA is otherwise called molecular cloning. The essence of this method is that a fragment containing a specific gene is inserted into a DNA molecule. In this way, for example, bacteria are obtained that contain the gene for human insulin. Insulin obtained in this way is called recombinant. All “genetically modified products” are created using the same method.

Paradoxically, reproductive cloning, which everyone is talking about now, appeared before the structure of DNA was discovered. It is clear that now scientists conducting such experiments are actively using the results of the discovery of Watson and Crick. But, initially, the method was not based on it.

The next important step in science was the development of the polymerase chain reaction in the eighties. This technology is used to quickly “reproduce” the desired DNA fragment and has already found many applications in science, medicine and technology. In medicine, PCR is used to quickly and accurately diagnose viral diseases. If the mass of DNA obtained from a patient’s analysis contains genes brought by the virus, even in minimal quantities, then using PCR it is possible to “multiply” them and then easily identify them.

A.V. Engström of the Karolinska Institutet said at the prize ceremony: “The discovery of the spatial molecular structure ... DNA is extremely important because it outlines the possibility of understanding in great detail the general and individual characteristics of all living things.” Engström noted that “unraveling the double helix structure of deoxyribonucleic acid with its specific pairing of nitrogenous bases opens up fantastic possibilities for unraveling the details of the control and transmission of genetic information.”

James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928, Chicago, Illinois) is an American biologist. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962 - together with Francis Crick and Maurice H. F. Wilkins for the discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule.

Since childhood, thanks to his father, James was fascinated by observations of the life of birds. At the age of 12, Watson participated in Quiz Kids, a popular radio quiz show for intelligent young people. Thanks to the liberal policies of University of Chicago President Robert Hutchins, he entered the university at the age of 15. After reading Erwin Schrödinger's book What Is Life According to Physics?, Watson changed his professional interests from studying ornithology to studying genetics. He received a bachelor's degree in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1947.

In 1951 he entered the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, where he studied the structure of proteins. There he met the physicist Francis Crick, who was interested in biology.

In 1952, Watson and Crick began working on modeling the structure of DNA. Using Chargaff's Rules and the x-ray photographs of Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins, a double-helical model was constructed.

For 25 years he directed the Cold Spring Harbor Scientific Institute, where he conducted research into cancer genetics.

From 1989 to 1992 - organizer and director of the Human Genome project to decipher the sequence of human DNA, at the same time heading the secret Faust project

In 2007, he spoke out in favor of the fact that representatives of different races have different intellectual abilities, which is determined genetically. Due to the violation of political correctness, a public apology was demanded from him, and in October 2007, Watson officially resigned as head of the laboratory where he worked. At the same time, he continues to lead research in the same laboratory.

According to the Independent, a DNA study of James Watson himself found a high concentration of African and, to a lesser extent, Asian genes. It was later suggested that the genome analysis contained significant errors.
Currently working on finding genes for mental illness.

Books (3)

Avoid being boring. Lessons from a life lived in science

The famous biologist James Watson became famous for his discovery (together with Francis Crick) of the structure of DNA in 1953, for which he received the Nobel Prize. Watson later became the first director of the National Center for Human Genome Research (USA) and headed the famous Human Genome Project.

In his autobiographical book Avoid Boring, Watson writes about his famous discovery, how American science works, and the lessons he was able to draw from his own life experiences and from observing other people. It is this last circumstance that makes Watson’s book not only fascinating, but also very useful:

“Avoid Boring” is both a detailed memoir of a great scientist and a kind of guide to achieving success in science. Talking about his life path, the author gives the reader practical and practical advice on how to make a successful career in science and, perhaps, one day make an outstanding discovery yourself.

Molecular biology of the gene

The book was written by Nobel Prize winner J. Watson and occupies a special place in the literature on molecular biology.

It is an excellent guide to this new, rapidly developing field of biology and summarizes the most up-to-date evidence. The principles of the chromosomal theory of heredity, the interaction of biologically active molecules, the structure and function of membranes, the role of various metabolic regulators, the viral theory of cancer, issues and tasks of genetic engineering are considered.

The book is written extremely clearly, logically and is read with great interest.

Double helix

The author of the book is the prominent American scientist James D. Watson. Anyone who has followed the latest achievements of world biology has probably heard his name next to the names of the Englishmen Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins. These three scientists, who received the Nobel Prize in 1962, made one of the most significant discoveries in biology of the 20th century: they established the structure of the DNA molecule - the genetic material of a cell that stores information about the hereditary characteristics of an organism.

“The Double Helix,” an autobiographical story in which Watson details how he and his co-authors came to this discovery, introduces the reader to the “kitchen” of big science. The relaxed manner of presentation, vivid characteristics of the characters - famous American and European scientists, figurative literary language will attract the attention of not only scientists, but also lovers of popular science literature to the book.