 |
iv) One basis
for messenger RNA which transfers information from
genes to proteins was appearance in bacteria after
phage-infection of a new RNA whose base composition
corresponds to that of the virus DNA, by Elliot Volkin
et al.31 Elucidation of repression provided the second basis.
A requirement of RNA synthesis for protein production had
been shown; mutants of E. coli deprived of
purines or pyrimidines stopped making proteins as well
as nucleic acids, reported by Pardee in 1954 as
.
continuous formation of RNA is essential for protein
formation.32 An unstable intermediate between gene and enzyme
was proposed in 1958: DNA does make an intermediate carrier
of information, perhaps RNA,33 this is in accord with
an unstable intermediate.28 Pardee and Louise Prestidge in 1961 found that
on/off kinetics of b-galactosidase induction are very
rapid, with a 3 min half-life.34 mRNA was identified in 1961 by two
laboratories.28,35 |
