The History of DNA Research

The history of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) research begins with Friedrich Miescher, a Swiss biologist who in 1868 carried out the first carefully thought out chemical studies on the nuclei of cells. Using the nuclei of pus cells obtained from discarded surgical bandages, Miescher detected a phosphorus-containing substance that he named nuclein. He showed that nuclein consists of an acidic portion, which we know today as DNA, and a basic protein portion now recognized as histones, a class of proteins responsible for the packaging of DNA. Later he found a similar substance in the heads of salmon sperm cells. Although he separated the nucleic acid fraction and studied its properties, the covalent structure of DNA did not become known with certainty until the late 194Os.