Target Exam

CUET

Subject

Biology

Chapter

Molecular Basis of Inheritance

Question:

The Double-Helix model for the structure of DNA was proposed by:

Options:

Friedrich Meischer

James Watson and Francis Crick

Boveri and Sutton

Norman Borlaug and M.S. Swaminathan

Correct Answer:

James Watson and Francis Crick

Explanation:

The correct answer is Option (2) →James Watson and Francis Crick

DNA as an acidic substance present in nucleus was first identified by Friedrich Meischer in 1869. He named it as ‘Nuclein’. However, due to technical limitation in isolating such a long polymer intact, the elucidation of structure of DNA remained elusive for a very long period of time.

It was only in 1953 that James Watson and Francis Crick, based on the X-ray diffraction data produced by Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin, proposed a very simple but famous Double Helix model for the structure of DNA. One of the hallmarks of their proposition was base pairing between the two strands of polynucleotide chains. However, this proposition was also based on the observation of Erwin Chargaff that for a double stranded DNA, the ratios between Adenine and Thymine and Guanine and Cytosine are constant and equals one.