1 Chemistry and synthesis 1.1 Production and control of materials These days there can be few people who do not know that proteins are defined by DNA. DNA is made of two strands, each of which has along it, like a st...1 Chemistry and synthesis 1.1 Production and control of materials These days there can be few people who do not know that proteins are defined by DNA. DNA is made of two strands, each of which has along it, like a string of fairy lights, side branches that meet between the strands and hold them together. It is the sequence of these paired side branches （bases） that stores the information needed to define a protein. Three of the bases in sequence provide the information which, translated by the cell＇ s machinery, codes for a particular amino acid. Amino acids polymerise to make up specific proteins and, eventually, us. In defining an organism, that can weigh several tons, in its sequence of bases, the minute amount of DNA necessary for this task is an amazing example of data compression. When I was at school in Cambridge, shortly after Crick and Watson had worked out the basic structure of DNA for their Nobel prize, an enterprising breakfast cereal company had a cardboard cut-out DNA double spiral on the back of their packets. No doubt if you ate enough breakfasts you could save up for a whole gene. I don＇ t know what bit of protein the DNA coded for - I suspect no one did at the time. I remember another of the big names in genetics, Sydney Brenner （whose son went to our school and who later also got a Nobel prize）,展开更多
文摘1 Chemistry and synthesis 1.1 Production and control of materials These days there can be few people who do not know that proteins are defined by DNA. DNA is made of two strands, each of which has along it, like a string of fairy lights, side branches that meet between the strands and hold them together. It is the sequence of these paired side branches （bases） that stores the information needed to define a protein. Three of the bases in sequence provide the information which, translated by the cell＇ s machinery, codes for a particular amino acid. Amino acids polymerise to make up specific proteins and, eventually, us. In defining an organism, that can weigh several tons, in its sequence of bases, the minute amount of DNA necessary for this task is an amazing example of data compression. When I was at school in Cambridge, shortly after Crick and Watson had worked out the basic structure of DNA for their Nobel prize, an enterprising breakfast cereal company had a cardboard cut-out DNA double spiral on the back of their packets. No doubt if you ate enough breakfasts you could save up for a whole gene. I don＇ t know what bit of protein the DNA coded for - I suspect no one did at the time. I remember another of the big names in genetics, Sydney Brenner （whose son went to our school and who later also got a Nobel prize）,
