Read Online CANCER'S CAUSE, CANCER'S CURE by DPM Morton Walker - Free Book Online

Crick, Ph.D., and Maurice Wilkins, Ph.D., building on the X-ray images created by radiation expert Rosalind Franklin, Ph.D., unveiled the power and beauty of DNA. In 1962 Watson, Crick, and Wilkins, with their specialties in the physical sciences (biology, chemistry, and physics), were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their 1953 discovery. Unfortunately, Dr. Franklin was not included in this group because the Nobel is only awarded to a maximum of three scientists, and they have to be living. Dr. Franklin, who had discovered the X-ray images of DNA first, had died of radiation poisoning previous to the 1962 award. There is some evidence that her work is not fully recognized or acknowledged, but whatever the case, these four scientists gave the world one of the most important scientific discoveries in the history of humankind.
    The actual identification of DNA is attributed to a scientist named Avery in 1944, but even earlier investigations going back to the turn of the twentieth century were concerned with DNA as genetic material (Boveri from 1902 to 1914 and Sutton in 1903). The major breakthrough Drs. Watson, Crick, and Wilkins found was that the long strands of DNA sitting in the center of the cell, its nucleus, are structured in a formation that looks like a spiraling ladder. That is, of course, the double helix, and it’s called that because a helix could be considered as a spiral or anything twisted. A double helix is simply two such spirals twisted together. Here you can see the shape of the spiraling ladder.

    The DNA contains all the information needed to make and control every cell within a living organism. In a way it is wonderfully simple. The structure of the double helix includes both the sides and the rungs of the ladder. The sides of the ladder are made up of a combination of the most fundamental elements in nature: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus. These elements combine to form sugar phosphates, but they are not the important part of the ladder for our purposes.
    The rungs of the DNA ladder are made up of four specific nitrogen- containing molecules that are also known as the nitrogenous base, or “bases” of DNA. These four molecules are thymine (T), adenine (A), cytosine (C), and guanine (G). These bases always come in pairs. Thymine (T) will only pair with adenine (A) (also called the “pyrimidine” base pair). Cytosine (C) will only pair with guanine (G) (also called the “purine” base pair). Each pair together is called a base pair, and it doesn’t matter in what order the molecules in the base pair are placed. Sometimes it’s TA; sometimes, AT. Sometimes it’s CG; sometimes, GC.

     
    The Two Functions of DNA
    DNA is probably the most vital or consequential molecule for life, since it carries instructions for the maintenance of our bodies. DNA has two main functions:
    1. Genetic—DNA carries instructions for the maintenance of a given species through the nature and the positioning of its genes. It does this by permitting specific RNA molecules to “read” the message contained in the genes and then, through a series of steps, produce specific proteins to help manage the organism (this is the protein synthesis I briefly outlined in chapter 1. Tens of thousands of different human gene-types exist, with most geneticists putting the total number of genes carried by our chromosomes at approximately one hundred thousand.
    2. Self-Replicating—DNA assures self-replication and duplication, which is the first step in cell multiplication. The DNA replicates itself, causing the cell to grow twice its size. Once the cell has replicated itself in its entirety, the cell then divides into two. This process happens trillions of times a day in our bodies. (Figure 8 for a full explanation of DNA replication).
    In terms of genetics, the pairing of the bases together are called genes, and they are the basis of all the information that is carried in your body. Knowing