"The molecular structure of the gene"

Date:
[1953]
Reference:
PP/CRI/H/1/12/3
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: "The molecular structure of the gene". Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    it was to produce a negative, which in its turn was to act as a template and produce the original positive once again» Now our model for DNA consists, in effect, of a pair of &m\. f templates, either- of which o&a~be--gegfigafeä ññ-4;4w--^ua ga.t.-í nf f.h,p othor*—; We i p-F©f^«.±aD„^jcprea&--thia...relati©«sMp---b3r-say'ing-tfeat.- each is complementary to the other. As we have explained above, in chemical termé this means when we have an adenine on one chain, then the corresponding base or the other chain must be thymine, ...S ±ifil larly for guanine and cytosine. We imagine that during duplication the two chains unwind and separate, onto itself Each^chain then acts -- i' :r T of a new^,^.ompie»ient?rry chain^ template for the formation +WST Ghaina-ixas-sucGeeded-- in forming -its compierselitory chain we shall . have yeu* two pairs of chains, where we only had one before. Moreover, the sequence of the pairs of bases will have been duplicated exactly» That colling, or uncoiling, occurs during mitosis is widely believed by those who have studied the process under the microscope. Although we do not understand the process of uncoiling in detail we „do not feel that tuere is any objection in principle to the fact that our two co mplem entary templates, twine. round one another» The-tdea-that- a s ingle cliain/aa .tf a template-fair the * ■> twAy íTwr -seeffis TöTus ~a~rea sona Die'