The Inside Story: DNA to RNA to Protein

by Witkowski, Jan A.

• ISBN13: 9780879697501
• ISBN10: 0879697504
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-05-19
• Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

Summary

A collection of reprinted articles from the review journal Trends in Biochemical Sciences (TiBS)focusing on the central dogma of molecular biology#x14;DNA makes RNA makes protein. The biographical and autobiographical articles graphically describe the great discoveries in the field from an insider's perspective.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Tim Hunt
Preface	xi
Jan A. Witkowski
Overview
The General Idea	xiii
Tim Hunt
Biochemical Era
Albrecht Kossel	1	(2)
S. Rapoport
Albrecht Kossel and the Discovery of Histones	3	(6)
Detlef Doenecke
Peter Karlson
Early Nucleic Acid Chemistry	9	(8)
Fritz Schlenk
P.A. Levene and 2-Deoxy-D-ribose	17	(4)
Joseph S. Fruton
Origins of Molecular Biology
Schrodinger's What is Life?: A 50-Year Reflection	21	(10)
G. Rickey Welch
Schrodinger's What is Life?: Entropy, Order and Hereditary Code-scripts	31	(8)
J.A. Witkowski
Finally, the Beginnings of Molecular Biology	39	(6)
Seymour S. Cohen
Biochemical Origins of Molecular Biology: A Discussion	45	(6)
Robert Olby
The Double Helix
The Biological Role of Nucleic Acids	51	(6)
Peter Karlson
Did a Tragic Accident Delay the Discovery of the Double Helical Structure of DNA?	57	(10)
Keith L. Manchester
The Double Helix and All That	67	(10)
H.R. Wilson
Light on a Dark Lady	77	(12)
Anne Piper
Replication
The DNA Replication Problem, 1953-1958	89	(12)
Frederic L. Holmes
Tritium-labeled Thymidine and Early Insights into DNA Replication and Chromosome Structure	101	(8)
J. Herbert Taylor
DNA Replication: The 30th Anniversary of the Bacterial Model and the ``Baby Machine''	109	(10)
Stephen Cooper
DNA Molecules
DNA Strand Separation, Renaturation and Hybridization	119	(10)
Julius Marmur
Blotting at 25	129	(10)
Ed M. Southern
One Chromosome: One DNA Molecule	139	(8)
Bruno H. Zimm
Through the Looking Glass: The Discovery of Supercoiled DNA	147	(14)
Jacob Lebowitz
DNA, RNA, and Protein Synthesis
Protein Synthesis
Ernest F. Gale and Protein Synthesis: The Difficulties of Analysing a Complex System	161	(10)
Hans-Jorg Rheinberger
Reminiscences about Nucleic Acid Cytochemistry and Biochemistry	171	(8)
Jean Brachet
Jean Brachet's Alternative Scheme for Protein Synthesis	179	(10)
Denis Thieffry
Richard M. Burian
Genetic Code
Deciphering the Genetic Code---A Personal Account	189	(20)
Marshall Nirenberg
The History of Deciphering the Genetic Code: Setting the Record Straight	209	(4)
Akira Kaji
Hideko Kaji
tRNA
Biochemistry or Molecular Biology? The Discovery of ``Soluble RNA''	213	(8)
Mahlon Hoagland
Back to Camelot: Defining the Specific Role of tRNA in Protein Synthesis	221	(10)
Bernard Weisblum
The Crystallization and Structural Determination of tRNA	231	(12)
Brian F.C. Clark
mRNA
What Was the Message?	243	(10)
Elliot Volkin
An RNA Heresy in the Fifties	253	(8)
Henry Harris
The Discovery of ``Giant'' RNA and RNA Processing: 40 Years of Enigma	261	(14)
Klaus Scherrer
The Discovery of ``Split'' Genes: A Scientific Revolution	275	(12)
J.A. Witkowski
Molecular Basis of Protein Synthesis
The In Vitro Biosynthesis of an Authentic Protein	287	(8)
Norton D. Zinder
Early Days of Ribosome Research	295	(10)
Masayasu Nomura
The Discovery of Polyribosomes	305	(12)
Jonathan R. Warner
Paul M. Knopf
Peptidyl Transfer, the Monro Era	317	(14)
B. Edward H. Maden
Central Dogma
Forty Years under the Central Dogma	331	(14)
Denis Thieffry
Sahotra Sarkar
Sequencing
Protein Sequencing and the Making of Molecular Genetics	345	(10)
Soraya de Chadarevian
pBR322 and the Advent of Rapid DNA Sequencing	355	(12)
J. Gregor Sutcliffe
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Biochemistry Strikes Back	367	(4)
Sydney Brenner
Further Reading	371	(4)
Index	375