In article <3cb62771.53188210 at netnews.worldnet.att.net>,
nicholas_theodorakis at urmc.rochester.edu (Nick Theodorakis) wrote:
: On 11 Apr 2002 18:39:52 +0100, melanie_hardman at hotmail.com ("Melanie
: Hardman") wrote:
:: >
: >Does anyone know the actual source organism for the DNA that Rosalind
: >Franklin used to create her X-ray photographs that inspired Watson and
: >Crick.
: >
: >I have tried searching google, contacting Kings and searching PubMed with
: >little luck.
: >
:: I don't know about those particular photos, but in _The Eighth Day of
: Creation_ (Expanded Edition, reprinted by Cold Spring Harbor Press,
: 1996) by Horace F. Judson, on p. 78 it describes Franklin's colleague
: Wilkins learning to extract DNA from calf thymus.
:: It's definitely worth a read if you like history of biology.
:: NIck
:: --
: Nick Theodorakis
:nicholas_theodorakis at urmc.rochester.edu
Calf thymus would've been my guess. It was a popular and easy source for
DNA for many studies. However, instead of trying the web or a newsgroup,
why not march down to your local scientific library and take a look at her
paper: Franklin, R.E., and Gosling, R.G., "Evidence for a 2-chain helix
in crystalline structure of sodium desoyribonucleate," Nature 172 (1953)?
If you do, please let us know. I'm curious, and it would make a good
trivia question!
Mark Solomon
Mark.Solomon at Yale.edu
