H. Gobind Khorana was able to synthesize small repeating nucleotides for use in these experiments. Polynucleotide Phosphorylase
would also link di-, tri-, and tetra-nucleotides together to form repeating
copolymers
Repeatin g Sequenc e |
Polynucleotides |
Repeating Triplets |
UG |
UGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUGUG |
UGU
GUG |
UUG |
UUGUUGUUGUUGUUGUUGUUG |
UUG
UGU
GUU |
UACG |
UACGUACGUACGUACGUACGUACG |
UAC
GUA
CGU
ACG |
Repeating Copolymer |
Codons Produced |
Amino Acids in Polypeptide |
UG |
UGU
GUG |
Cysteine
Valine |
AC |
ACA
CAC |
Threonine
Histidine |
UUC |
UUC
UCU
CUU |
Phenylalanine
Serine
Leucine |
AUC |
AUC
UCA
CAU |
Isoleucine
Serine
Histidine |
UAC |
UAU
CAU
UCU
AUC |
Tyrosine
Leucine
Serine
Isoleucine |
GAUA |
GAU
AGA
UAG
AUA |
None |
Note: that this is one of the independent proofs of the triplet code. The other proof was from Francis Crick.
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