Further Resources on DNA

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BioMolecular Explorer 3D
includes this entire DNA website, plus other popular molecules with resources for High School Teachers. Available online, or on a CD. The CD saves time by including the installers for the Chime plugin and the Netscape 4.8 browser, and is ideal for teachers with limited access to high speed Internet connections.

Exploring DNA Structure
An introduction to DNA Structure for high school students, by Andrew Carter, for the 50th Anniversary of the double helix. Introduces coloring schemes and representations, building blocks (nucleotides, bases, deoxyribose, phosphate). Animation of building a strand from individual nucleotides. Cartoon of the central dogma (DNA -> mRNA -> protein). Animation of strand separation and replication. Bending of DNA by proteins and the nucleosome. Requires the free MDL Chime browser plugin. Works in Internet Explorer!

Putting DNA To Work
At the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences: includes basic DNA science, diseases, forensics, crops, with flash animations. Resources for teachers and students.

Explore IT Gene Hunter
An introduction to DNA for high school students, by Todd Nickle at Mount Royal College, Alberta, Canada. Includes Flash animations, an introduction to BLAST sequence searching, and a DNA-o-gram message encoder and decoder.

DNA Interactive (www.dnai.org)
Resources for teachers and students (high school and up), including a DNA timeline, discovery of the code, interactive introductions to techniques, genomics, applications, and video clips.

MyDNA
The MyDNA Project provides information on DNA for lay-persons, including human interest stories, interactive Discovery Modules, (simulations of agarose gel electrophoresis and restriction-- requires Shockwave player), and links to other resources. In addition, the website links to a college freshman-level course at the University of Massachusetts designed by Molly Fitzgerald-Hayes and Frieda Reichsman, the developers of the MyDNA Project.

DNA Construction and Discovery Model Kit
available from 3D Molecular Designs, pioneers in macromolecular models for education and research.

DNA Sculpture
Sculptor Bathsheba Grossman makes "laser crystals" in which the macromolecule (DNA double helix shown at right) is represented by tiny laser-induced fractures within a glass block. Other macromolecular sculptures and physical models.

DNA History: Deciphering the Genetic Code - Marshall Nirenberg
from the DeWitt Stetten, Jr., Museum of Medical Research at the National Institutes of Health.

DNA History: 50th Anniversary of the Discovery of DNA Structure.
DNA Day: A list of links to 50th anniversary sites. provided by the RCSB Protein Data Bank.

The World Index of Molecular Visualization Resources
lists many tutorials on DNA, RNA, and protein-nucleic acid complexes, as well as sources of atomic coordinate files (PDB files) for them. Notable among these are:
  • Exploring DNA Structure (available in English and Italian) by Frieda Reichsman. Here you will also find tutorials on Restriction Enzymes: Eco RV, Hammerhead Ribozyme, and DNA-Binding Motifs among others.
  • DNA polymerases, recombinases, integrases, repressors and repair proteins at David Marcey's Online Macromolecular Museum.
  • Generate DNA double helices of any length (B form or A form) from any sequence you specify.

The Atlas of Macromolecules
enables you to explore the structures of various forms of DNA, RNA, and protein-nucleic acid complexes in Protein Explorer.

An Introduction to Nucleic Acids
by Helen Berman at the Nucleic Acids Database (NDB), Rutgers U.

Atlas of Nucleic Acid-Containing Structures
of the NDB contains images and atomic coordinate files for various states of A-, B-, and Z-DNA, also RNA, nucleic-acid:protein complexes, etc.
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