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This is a voiceover demo by Sean Strauss. The script is from the article “Genetical Implications of the Structure of Deoxyribonucleic Acid” by authors Francis Crick and James D. Watson. It was published in the scientific journal Nature, on pages 964-967 of volume 171, dated May 30, 1953.
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This is a voiceover demo by Sean Strauss. The script is from the article “Genetical Implications of the Structure of Deoxyribonucleic Acid” by authors Francis Crick and James D. Watson. It was published in the scientific journal Nature, on pages 964-967 of volume 171, dated May 30, 1953.
Previous discussions on self-duplication involved templates or molds, but didn't explain how it would work on a molecular level. The new model for DNA suggests that the chains unwind and separate, acting as templates for the formation of new companion chains. This results in two pairs of chains with an exact duplication of the base sequence. Previous discussions of self-duplication have usually involved the concept of a template or mold. Either the template was supposed to copy itself directly, or it was to produce a negative, which in turn was to act as a template and produce the original positive once again. In no case has it been explained in detail how it would do this in terms of atoms and molecules. Now our model for deoxyribonucleic acid is, in effect, a pair of templates, each of which is complementary to the other. We imagine that prior to the duplication, the hydrogen bonds are broken, and the two chains unwind and separate. Each chain then acts as a template for the formation onto itself of a new companion chain, so that eventually we shall have two pairs of chains where we only had one before. Moreover, the sequence of the pairs of bases will have been duplicated exactly.
