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2011: 50th Anniversary of the Discovery of the Genetic Code
Author(s) -
Erdmann Volker A.,
Barciszewski Jan
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201103895
Subject(s) - genetic code , nirenberg and matthaei experiment , ribosome , code (set theory) , identification (biology) , computational biology , biology , translation (biology) , genetics , rna , computer science , gene , programming language , ecology , messenger rna , set (abstract data type)
On May 27, 1961 Nirenberg and Matthaei performed an in vitro translation experiment in which bacterial ribosomes were supplemented with a fraction of low‐molecular‐weight RNAs; they demonstrated that polyuridilic acid codes for polyphenylalanine—the first information on the genetic code. This Essay recalls the major achievements prior to the discovery of the genetic code, the experiments leading to its identification, and the developments in the field of molecular biology thereafter.