Breaking the code

Marshall Nirenberg and Heinrich Matthaei used poly-U mRNA in a cell-free system to make a polyphenylalanine protein chain. This showed that UUU must be the code that specifies the amino acid phenylalanine.

marshall nirenberg,dna rna,protein chain,matthaei,breaking the code,mrna,amino acid,e coli,heinrich

  • ID: 15882
  • Source: DNALC.DNAi

Related Content

16494. Animation 22: DNA words are three letters long.

Several researchers crack the genetic code.

  • ID: 16494
  • Source: DNALC.DNAFTB

15350. The RNA code for phenylalanine, Marshall Nirenberg

Marshall Nirenberg talks about the RNA code for phenylalanine.

  • ID: 15350
  • Source: DNAi

15885. Cell-free extracts

Paul Zamecnik first developed the cell-free extract system, which Marshall Nirenberg adapted to decipher the genetic code. Paul Zamecnik and Mahlon Hoagland also isolated activated tRNA, the "adaptor" that shuttled amino acids to ribsomes for incorporati

  • ID: 15885
  • Source: DNAi

15353. Figuring out the other codons, Marshall Nirenberg

After decoding the "easy" codons, Marshall Nirenberg talks about his strategy for decoding the rest.

  • ID: 15353
  • Source: DNAi

15349. RNA can stimulate protein synthesis, Marshall Nirenberg

Marshall Nirenberg talks about RNA can stimulate protein synthesis.

  • ID: 15349
  • Source: DNAi

15347. Cell-free protein synthesis, Marshall Nirenberg

Marshall Nirenberg talks about cell-free protein synthesis.

  • ID: 15347
  • Source: DNAi

16511. Biography 22: Marshall Warren Nirenberg (1927- )

Marshall Nirenberg, Har Gobind Khorana, and Robert Holley shared the 1968 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine. Nirenberg and Khorana cracked the genetic code. Holley sequenced and deduced the structure of the first tRNA molecule.

  • ID: 16511
  • Source: DNAFTB

16470. Concept 21: RNA is an intermediary between DNA and protein.

The Central Dogma is the flow of genetic information from DNA, to RNA, to protein.

  • ID: 16470
  • Source: DNAFTB

15348. Gamov's conclusion that three DNA bases link to one amino acid, Marshall Nirenberg

George Gamow was a physicist who became interested in biology after reading Watson and Crick's 1953 paper on DNA structure. Marshall Nirenberg talks about Gamow's theories on the code.

  • ID: 15348
  • Source: DNAi

16489. Biography 21: Paul Charles Zamecnik (1913-2009)

Paul Zamecnik developed a cell-free extract that he and Mahlon Hoagland used to study protein synthesis. They identified tRNA as the adaptor predicted by Francis Crick in his Central Dogma

  • ID: 16489
  • Source: DNALC.DNAFTB