1 Introduction. - 1. 1 History. - 1. 2 Cellular localization of nucleic acids. - 2 Methods and Techniques. - 2. 1 Absorption and optical activity (ORD and CD). - 2. 2 Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). - 2. 3 Ultracentrifugation. - 2. 4 X-ray fiber diffraction. - 3 Chemistry and Enzymology of Nucleic Acids. - 3. 1 Chemistry of nucleic acids and their constituents. - 3. 2 Chemical reactions of nucleic acids and their constituents. - 3. 3 Isolation of nucleic acids. - 3. 4 Degradation and determination of nucleic acids. - 4 Structure and Function of DNA. - 4. 1 The double helix of Watson and Crick. - 4. 2 Experimental tests of the Watson-Crick hypothesis. - 4. 3 The role of DNA in the cellular machinerythe central dogma. - 5 Physical Chemistry of DNAThe Problems of DNA Research. - 5. 1 Established facts. - 5. 2 Facts that may require amendments of details of the WatsonCrick theory. - 5. 3 What do we require from biologically operative DNA?. - 5. 4 What do we still not know?. - 6 Model Systems for Nucleic Acids. - 6. 1 Polynucleotides. - 6. 2 Oligonucleotides. - 6. 3 Association of monomers in solutions and crystals. - 7 Errors and Mutations. - 7. 1 Chemical mutagenesis. - 7. 2 Base analogues. - 7. 3 Antibiotics pigments dyes. - 7. 4 Mutagenesis by radiation (UV X-rays). - 8 The Structure of Ribonucleic Acids. - 8. 1 Protein biosynthesis. - 8. 2 Transfer RNA. - 8. 3 Ribosome structure and rRNA. - 8. 4 Viral RNA and virus structure. - 9 Nucleic AcidProtein Interactions. - 9. 1 Polyamines. - 9. 2 Polypeptides and protamines. - 9. 3 Histones and chromatin. - In the Guise of an Epilogue. - Appendix: Abbreviations and Symbols for Nucleic Acids Polynucleotides and Their Constituents. - Suggested Bibliography for Advanced Reading. Language: English