Key Concepts In Double Helix By James Watson

Introduction Double Helix by James Watson discusses many things from the science world, including concepts we have learned this semester. The concepts we have learned this semester that are in the book includes the following: DNA, protein synthesis, cells, viruses, and heredity. Because of the time period this book takes place in, however, Watson does not discuss the concepts in full detail like we can today; but there are connections made between what we discussed this semester and what James Watson discussed in the book.

Key Idea 1, DNA DNA is one of the concepts we have learned this semester and is discussed all throughout the book, mainly because the book is about discovering the structure of DNA. To start off, we have discussed James

James Watson was interested in protein synthesis because it involved DNA. In the book, he discusses reading biochemical papers in the interrelations of DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis, (Watson, Loc 1314). The evidence made Watson believe that DNA was the template upon which RNA chains were made and, in turn, RNA chains were the likely candidates for the templates for protein synthesis, (Watson, Loc 1329). He talked about how there was some fuzzy data using sea urchins interpreted as a transformation of DNA into RNA, but he preferred to trust other experiments showing that DNA molecules, once synthesized are very stable, (Watson, Loc 1328). After looking at the papers, he wrote down something that expressed the transfer of genetic information from the sequences of nucleotides in DNA molecules to the sequences of amino acids in proteins, (Watson, Loc 1328). Today, we know that protein synthesis includes two processes, transcription and translation. In transcription, DNA is copied, split, and converted to mRNA. In translation, the mRNA translates the tRNA. The tRNA then goes to get an amino acid. In the book, James Watson described what he thought protein synthesis was

Of course, the book discusses cells because DNA is in cells. Also in cells are chromosomes, which is something we talked about while discussing cells. In the book, Watson discusses how it was known at the time that DNA occurs in the chromosomes of all cells, (Watson, Loc 211). Watson then talked about the experiments of a colleague at the lab he was working at that strongly suggest that future experiments would show that all genes are composed of DNA, (Watson, Loc 221). Watson also discussed a classical genetic assumption at the time. The assumption was that male and female cells contribute equal amounts of genetic material, (Watson, Loc 1233). Today, we know much more about cells, chromosomes, and how DNA fits into all of