Rationale
Information in the form of a sequence of nucleotides in DNA somehow gets translated into information
in the form of a sequence of amino acids in proteins. The need for this translation was seen shortly
after the structure of DNA was elucidated, and for the next ten years many engaged in a largely
intellectual search for the overall method behind the translation. In the end, predictably,
experimentalists won the day, and the result is the familiar
genetic code.
Readings and Investigations
Article: Crick FHC (1958). On protein synthesis. Symp Soc Exp Biol 12:138-163.
Companion to Crick (1958)
Related article: Gamow G (1954). Possible relation between deoxyribonucleic acid
and protein structures. Nature 173:318
Related article: Brenner S (1957). On the impossibility of all overlapping triplet
codes in information transfer from nucleic acid to proteins.
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 43:687-694.
Related article: Crick FHC, Griffith JS, Orgel LE (1957). Codes without commas.
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 43:416-421.
One influential view of nature of proteins.
Article: Crick FHC, Barnett L, Brenner S, Watts-Tobin RJ (1961)
General nature of the genetic code for proteins
Nature 192:1227-1232
Companion to Crick et al (1961)
Graphical companion to Crick et al (1961)
Investigation: Simulation of Crick et al (1961)
Related articles:
Crick FHC (1962). The genetic code.
Sci Amer 207:66-77 (October, 1962)
Barnett L, Brenner S, Crick FHC, Shulman RG, Watts-Tobin RJ (1967).
Phase shift and other mutants in the first part of the rII B cistron of bacteriophage T4.
Phil Trans Royal Soc B 252:487-560.
(The methods section -- and much more -- of Crick et al, 1961)
Article: Jones OW, Nirenberg MW (1962). Qualitative survey of RNA codewords.
General nature of the genetic code for proteins
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 48:2115-2123.
Companion to Jones & Nirenberg (1962)
Investigation: Alien Genetic Code
Related article: Nirenberg MW (1963). The genetic code: II.
Sci Amer 208:80-95 (March, 1963)
Related article: Crick FHC (1966). The genetic code: III.
Sci Amer 215:55-62 (October, 1966)
Things to do and hand in
23 Mar: Problem Set 5 - Coding
30 Mar: Problem Set 6 - Genetic Code