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Previous Volume 331:884 September 29, 1994 Number 13 Next

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To the Editor: The structure of DNA has always fascinated me. I remember when my high-school teacher tried to explain the polarity of the strands, using the analogy of a two-way street -- the sugar-phosphate backbones being the lanes, one going from 3' to 5' and the other going from 5' to 3', and the base pairs being the median.

Imagine my enthusiasm when I discovered my "highway" in the first figure of the first article of a series on molecular biology for clinicians by Rosenthal (July 7 issue)¹. The base pairs were even colored yellow. However, when I identified the carbon and oxygen atoms of the pentose ring and was "walking down the street," I realized that the signs were put up the wrong way -- that the 3' end was labeled 5', and vice versa.

Educating us practicing physicians in the rapidly developing field of molecular biology is the right way. I look forward to doing my homework in the forthcoming articles of the series.

Imre Bodo, M.D.
Carolinas Medical Center
Charlotte, NC 28203

References

1. Rosenthal N. DNA and the genetic code. N Engl J Med 1994;331:39-41. [Free Full Text]

To the Editor: Dr. Bodo is indeed on the right way. Our DNA traffic signals were inadvertently crossed. The 5' and 3' ends of the two DNA strands were mislabeled in Figure 1 (top panel). On the left-hand side of the panel, the top strand should be 5' and the bottom strand should be 3'.

Nadia Rosenthal, Ph.D.
Massachusetts General Hospital East
Charlestown, MA 02129

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