History of genetics code for specific proteins, leading to the "one gene, one enzyme" hypothesis. Oswald Avery, Colin Munro MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty showed in 1944 that DNA holds the gene's information. In 1952, Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling produced a strikingly clear x-ray diffraction pattern indicating a helical form, and in 1953, James D. Watson and Francis Crick demonstrated the molecular structure of DNA. Together, these discoveries established the central dogma of molecular biology, which states that proteins are translated from RNA which is transcribed by DNA. This dogma has since been shown to have exceptions, such as reverse transcription in retroviruses.
Molecular models of DNA omit both water and ions dynamically bound to B-DNA, and are thus less useful for understanding the dynamic behaviors of B-DNA "in vivo". The physical and mathematical analysis of X-ray and spectroscopic data for paracrystalline B-DNA is thus far more complex than that of crystalline, A-DNA X-ray diffraction patterns. The paracrystal model is also important for DNA technological applications such as DNA nanotechnology. Novel methods that combine X-ray diffraction of DNA with X-ray microscopy in hydrated living cells are now also being developed. There are various uses of DNA molecular modeling in Genomics and Biotechnology research applications, from DNA repair