Now, scientists are working to determine how the book's characters interact to form various outcomes. While sequencing the genome has provided some scientific answers, it's akin to reading only the first chapter of a book. Genetics work has allowed physicians to diagnose diseases more accurately, to identify new diseases and to offer patients the best treatments available. Recently, scientists announced that they had deciphered the entire human genome, decoding more than 3 billion letters that represent the biological workings of humans. Their discovery of the structure of DNA has spurred a half-century of research that initiated a scientific revolution. Subsequent research showed that Watson and Crick's model was correct. James Watson and Francis Crick wrote the article. Today, scientists worldwide are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the article, published in Nature, that described the now famous 'double helix' model that describes how DNA is structured. National DNA Day is being celebrated today (April 25). This month marks the completion of the sequencing of the human genome and the 50th anniversary of the description of the DNA double helix. 'The research that we're doing today would be impossible without knowing the structure.' Smith, director of the UNMC Center for Molecular Genetics, housed at the Munroe-Meyer Institute. 'It was such an entire transformation of how we study disease,' said Dr. Some of these structures are discussed here as also the lacunae in our current understanding of the dynamics of DNA structure.It's hard to imagine science without the three-dimensional structure of DNA, Shelley Smith, Ph.D., says. It is also clear that the ideal and canonical WatsonвЂ“Crick DNA structure is indeed just that вЂ“ an ideal and aesthetic representation of the DNA molecule, which actually possesses a chameleon-like property of adapting itself to its environment and function by twisting, turning and stretching. It is reasonable to expect that the 3 billion base pairs in the human genome (leading to a 2 m long molecule which is packaged in a microscopic size nucleus) will exhibit a variety of polymorphic forms, which could be important for the biological packaging as well as function of DNA. Only the letters F, Q, U, V and Y are left to choose from, to describe any new forms of DNA structure that may appear in future! Apart from these structures, with a one-letter 'name', there are several other generic descriptions of DNA structure and many such structures have been characterized in recent years. and there is a DNA structure associated with 18 other letters of the English alphabet. The various DNA structures have been characterized as A, B, C, etc. Some of the structures show only minor differences, from the canonical structure, while a few are completely different, even in their essential features, such as handedness, base-pairing scheme or number of strands. Subsequent studies on synthetic poly-nucleotides as well as naturally occurring DNA sequences with certain repeat patterns, have established that the DNA molecule could have intrinsic, as well as environment-induced, structural polymorphism. It was for a long time regarded as being the only biologically relevant structure, even though Watson and Crick had themselves pointed out that the structure could readily undergo changes, depending on the environment. The fact that it immediately suggested a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material aroused the maximum interest, but the structure itself (often referred to as the B-DNA structure, by association with the corresponding X-ray fibre pattern) has also attained an almost iconic status. Watson and Crick's postulation in 1953, exactly 50 years ago, of a double helical structure for DNA, heralded a revolution in our understanding of biology at the molecular level.

Half of a double helix