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)
          Investigation: Simulation of Crick et al (1961)
          Related articles:
                    Crick FHC (1962). The genetic code. Sci Amer 207:66-77 (October, 1962)
                    Benzer S (1962). The fine structure of the gene. Sci Am 206:70-84 (January, 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
    18 Oct: Problem Set 5 - Coding Problem
    25 Oct: Problem Set 6 - Genetic Code