Structural Model of DNA

- Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin used a technique called X-ray crystallography to study molecular structure - Franklin produced a picture of the DNA molecule using this technique - Franklin’s X-ray crystallographic images of DNA allowed James Watson to deduce that DNA was helical and what the width of the helix and the spacing of the nitrogenous bases were - The pattern in the photo suggested that the DNA molecule was made up of two strands, forming a double helix​ - Watson built a model in which the sugar-phosphate backbones were antiparallel (their subunits run in opposite directions) ​