The Genetic Code PDF
Preview The Genetic Code
StGNET) SIGNET SCIENCE LIBRARY P2250/60C THE GENETIC CODE ASIMOV ISAAC Digitized by the Internet Archive 2010 in http://www.archive.org/details/geneticcodeOOasim DMA— The Chain of Life DNA In 1944, a chemical compound, (deoxyribonucleic acid), was found to be capable of changing one strain of bac- teria into another. Further discoveries DNA about have since led to incalculable scientific advances, one of which is the partial ^^breaking'' of the genetic code. A famous scientist-writer brilliantly ex- plores the complex function of cell^ chro- mosome^ molecule^ and protein as he explains this astonishing breakthrough in molecular biology. He shows how the 'blueprint' contained within the chro- mosome di—ctates the characteristics of an individual how ensures a hereditary it plan appearance^ intelligence and bod- of ily structure. Isaac Asimov points out the exciting pos- sibilities now open to science through the discovery of DNA: Man is coming closer and closer to the secret of life; perhaps someday he himself may be able to create life in new and unforeseen forms. Other SIGNET SCIENCE LIBRARY Books by ISAAC ASIMOV The Wellsprings of Life The chemistry of the living cell and its relation to evolution, heredity, growth and development. (#P2066— 6O0) The Chemicals of Life An investigation of the role of hormones, enzymes, protein and vitamins in the life cycle of the human (#P2144— body. 600) The Human Body An up-to-date, informative study of the body's struc- ture and functions, including aids to pronunciation, derivations of specialized terms, and drawings by Anthony Ravielli. (#T2430—750) To Our Readers If your dealer does not have the Signet and Mentor books you want, you may order them by mail enclos- ing the list price plus 50 a copy to cover mailing. If you would like our free catalog, please request it by postcard. The New American Library of Worid Literature, Inc. P. O. Box 2310, Grand Central Sta- tion, New York 17, N. Y. me Coa Genetic Isaac Asimov by (SIGNET) A SIGNET SCIENCE LIBRARY BOOK Published by The New American Library © Copyright 1962 by Isaac Asimov All rights reserved Fourth Printing This book is also available in a hardcover edition published by Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., New York. BIONET TRADKMARK REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. AND FOREIGN OOUNTRIBS RKGISTERED TRADEMARK MABOA BBQISTBADA HKCHO EN OHIOAQO, U.S.A. SIGNET SCIENCE LIBRARY BOOKS are published by The New American Library of World Literature, Inc. 501 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10022 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CONTENTS Introduction: The Breakthrough vii 1 Inheritance and Qiromosomes 15 2 Of First Importance 23 3 The Chemical Language 33 4 The Building Blocks of Proteins 53 5 The Pattern of Protein 77 6 Locating the Code 95 7 The Cinderella Compound 105 8 From Chain to Helix 125 9 The Cooperating Strands 133 10 The Messenger from the Nucleus 149 11 Breaking the Code 161 12 The Future 175 Index 183 INTRODUCTION The Breakthrough All of us, whether or not we realize it, are living through the early stages of one of the most important scientific breakthroughs in history. From the birth of modem chemistry shortly before 1800 until just a few years ago, biologists have puzzled over the nature of life, seeming to make progress only at the far borders of the subject. Some were ready, in dis- couragement, to mark down the question of life and its mechanisms as insoluble, as something the human mind could never penetrate and understand. And then came the remarkable decade of the 1940's. With the world convulsed by war, a kind of creative frenzy seized the scientists of the world. (This connection between war and human creativity has been noted before, but it has rarely been advanced as a good excuse for war.) Biochemists had already learned how to use radio- active atoms in their researches on living organisms. They incorporated these atoms into compounds, which they were then able to follow through the body. But then, in Vll ^"' Introduction the 1940's, such atoms became freely avaUable, thanks to the nuclear reactor, and through thek use biochemists have skillfully unraveled some of the compUcated strands 01 body chemistry. Biochemists also learned, in that decade, to separate complex mixtures by using just a sheet of absorbent paper some common solvents, and a closed box. On the other hand, they also bent fearfuUy complex instruments to their purposes: electron microscopes that enlarged objects hundreds of times more than ordmary microscopes could- mass spectrographs that sorted out atoms one by one: and so on. In that same decade, they took the first steps toward the actual delineation of the fine structure of the giant molecules that make up Uving tissue. But the breakthrou^ came m 1944, when a scientist named O. T. Avery, with two of his coUeagues, studied a substance that was capable of changing one strain of bacteria into another. This was deoxyribonucleic acid commonly known DNA. ' as To the layman, this discovery may not sound important. Nevertheless, it completely reversed several concepts that biologists and chemists had been taking for granted for a century. It launched in a new direction the investigation into the nature of Ufe and brought about new research methods. The branch of science now called "molecular biology" came into its own. In a matter of less than twenty years smce, problems that once seemed insoluble have been solved, views that once seemed fantasy have been shown to be fact. Sci- entists have been competmg in a race for achievement, and most of them have emerged winners. The consequences are almost beyond calculation, for the cold, clear vision of modem science has been able to reach a deeper level of understanding of man than at any tune in its three and a half centuries. Science as we now know it began about 1600, when the great Itahan mvestigator Galileo popularized the pro- cedure of applymg quantitative methods to observation, of making accurate measurements, and of abstracting gen-
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