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ID 15660
Arthur Kornberg
Description:
Not long after Arber's discoveries, Arthur Kornberg identified the pasting mechanism for DNA, an enzyme he called ligase.
Kornberg was trying to construct artificial viral DNA from viral fragments, but had been unable to make a biologically active molecule. Once he added ligase, however, he found that the enzyme made it possible to paste the ends of DNA molecules together.<br><br>
With ligase, the viral DNA he created formed a continuous loop, just as it did in the original virus. The artificial viral DNA was indeed biologically active, it could reproduce on its own, and Kornberg was hailed as having "made life in a test tube."
Keywords:
arthur kornberg,dna molecules,viral dna,continuous loop,arber,test tube,molecule,fragments,discoveries,1970s,virus
This work by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.Related content:
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