Translation of Synthetic Messenger RNA
This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
Excerpt
The discovery by Nirenberg and Matthaei in 1961 that synthetic polyribonucleotides could function as messengers in a cell-free system has provided researchers with a very powerful new approach in the study of protein synthesis. Our own work in this field has been directed into two major channels: the first of these has been the development of new methods for the synthesis of oligonucleotides of defined sequence; the second has been the study of the coding properties of these oligonucleotides.
Synthesis of Oligonucleotides of Defined Sequence
Our current synthetic capability is based on the use of very short oligonucleotides, often dimers, as primers to which other nucleotides are added through the polymerization catalyzed by polynucleotide phosphorylase from Micrococcus lysodeikticus. The control of the average number and distribution of nucleotides added has become possible through the proper choice of salt concentration (Thach and Doty, 1965a), time of reaction (Thach and Doty, 1965b),...
