What did scientists think DNA looked liked before?

Because of this, several famous scientists, including Linus Pauling, who had determined the structure of the alpha-helix in proteins, had attempted to work out the structure of DNA. read more

DNA was thought to be a protein, because it was known that they had a rich chemistry. In 1869 however, Swiss biologist and physician Friedrich Miescher isolated and chemically treated DNA, then now as ‘nuclein’. read more

That’s because everyone is trying to look for life in space that is like life on Earth. If life did emerge independently on some other planet or moon, it might be radically different, down to its very molecular basis. All living organisms on Earth use DNA, but there may be other molecules that can do the job as well. read more

Protein was far more interesting to geneticists than DNA because there was a lot more of it and also because each protein molecule is a long chain of chemicals, of which 20 kinds occur in living things. DNA, in contrast, contains only four kinds of the repeating units called nucleotides. read more