THE HISTORY OF MOLECULAR GENETICS IN RUSSIA: HISTORY OF SCIENCE - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

THE HISTORY OF MOLECULAR GENETICS IN RUSSIA: HISTORY OF SCIENCE ANALYSIS

Roman Fando and Maria Klavdieva

S.I. Vavilov Institute for the history of science and technology, the Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow, Russian Federation

fando@mail.ru

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In the 1920s, a Russian geneticist N.K.Koltsov had prophetically predicted that hereditary information could be stored in giant molecules.

• Fig. 1. Nikolai Konstantinovich Koltsov.

Source: Archive of the Russian Academy of

• Sciences. Fonds 450. Series 2. File 27. Item

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• Fig. 2. Erwin Chargaff, 1930.

Source: Library of the American philosophical society.

Through careful experimentation, Chargaff discovered two rules that helped lead to the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. The first rule was that in DNA the number of guanine units is equal to the number of cytosine units, and the number of adenine units is equal to the number of thymine units. This hinted at the base pair makeup of DNA. The second rule was that the relative amounts of guanine, cytosine, adenine and thymine bases vary from one species to another. This hinted that DNA rather than protein could be the genetic material.

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• Fig. 3. The nucleoside composition of fractions of DNA from calf thymus. Drawing

from the article ‒ Chargaff E., Crampton C.F., Lipshitz R. Separation of calf thymus deoxyribonucleic acid into fractions of different composition // Nature.

• 1953. № 4372. P. 289-292.

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• Fig. 4. A. N. Belozersky

at the beginning of his career. Photo from the article ‒ Skulachev V.P. Scientist, strategist and conspirator. Academician Andrey

• Belozersky. Unknown

touches to the portrait

• f a genius //

"Schrodinger's cat" , no 4 (18). April 2016.

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• Fig. 5. A. N. Belozersky in his office looks at the model of the DNA helix. 1963.

Photo By Vladimir Akimov

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• Fig. 6. Sergey Mikhailovich Gershenzon.

Source: Institute of archeology of the V. I. Vernadsky Ukraine National Library. Fonds 287. Series 1. File 20. Item 4

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• Fig. 7. S. M. Gershenzon, T. V. Shandala and S. V. Subbotina. Institute of

molecular biology and genetics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1985. Source: Institute of archeology of the V. I. Vernadsky Ukraine National Library. Fonds 287. Series 1. File 20. Item 5

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Thanks for your attention!

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