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A tale of two twists

α-helix, β-sheet and DNA

Nature volume 511, pages 12–13 (2014)Cite this article

In the middle of the twentieth century, there was general consensus that a protein consisted of a single polypeptide chain that formed a unique structure that could be reversibly denatured. In 1936, Alfred Mirsky and Linus Pauling had also put forward their concept that “the importance of the hydrogen bond in [this] protein structure can hardly be overemphasized,” yet the structures themselves remained unknown.

The structure of DNA and its biological importance were also unresolved in the first half of the 1900s. Although DNA had been identified as the basis for bacterial transformation, leading some to argue that it was the hereditary material, others were convinced other molecules were responsible. At one point, DNA's structure was believed to be a 'tetranucleotide' (in which each 'molecule' of DNA contained one of each of the four nucleotide bases), and only in the 1930s was it established that DNA was a macromolecule. Scientists also had different predictions of its structure, including Pauling's suggestion of a triple helix.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPERS

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FURTHER READING

  1. Astbury, W. T. & Woods, H. J. X-ray studies of the structure of hair, wool, and related fibres. II. The molecular structure and elastic properties of hair keratin. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 232, 333–394 (1934)

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  3. Chargaff, E. Chemical specificity of nucleic acids and mechanism of their enzymatic degradation. Experientia 6, 201–209 (1950)

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  4. Watson, J. D. & Crick, F. H. C. Genetical implications of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid. Nature 171, 964–967 (1953)

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  1. Senior Editor, Nature Chemical Biology,

    Catherine Goodman

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  1. Catherine Goodman
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Goodman, C. A tale of two twists. Nature 511 (Suppl 7509), 12–13 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13359

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