268 Action of the Genetic Material 



think of replicas of the individual gene molecule. Within the recent 

 theory as developed above, the duplicates may be those of any chro- 

 mosomal segment, anything from a part of an individual chain mole- 

 cule up to a hypermolecular body of any size, pattern, and delineation. 

 If this is called autocatalysis it means only that the primary product of 

 the genie material is a more or less large duplicate or replica of it. 

 This view emphasizes that the genie material is primarily characterized 

 by its self-duplication, and that its action in producing the primary 

 genie products cannot be separated from the self-duplication, but is a 

 part of it. In this sense the genie material would be only autocatalytic, 

 with the heterocatalytic functions beginning only after the duplicate 

 parts have been liberated, and may now serve as enzymes as well as 

 substrates. It sounds reasonable (see discussion of the genie parts of 

 the chromosome) that these primary duplicates are only the replicas 

 of the proteinic part of the genie material, or, preferably, that at this 

 moment DNA and protein are separated and severally duplicated with 

 different subsequent fate of these substances. Autocatalysis of the 

 genie material in this sense would then mean: (1) the duplication of 

 the genie material within the chromosome as a structural unit; ( 2 ) its 

 duplication in parts, including separation of DNA and protein; and 

 thus (3) providing the first active genie products. 



The other possibility, that the genie material, while in its normal 

 location in the chromosome, itself directly catalyzes reactions with the 

 surrounding substrate, has very little a priori probability, in view of 

 the fact that chromosome dupHcation cannot be of the nature of 

 genuine autocatalysis in the chemical sense (though we used the term 

 for the sake of opposing it to heterocatalysis ) ; that is, one of the 

 products of the catalyzed reactions is the duplicate (this was origi- 

 nally assumed by Hagedoorn, 1911; Troland, 1917; Goldschmidt, 1916a, 

 1920fl). If this were so, we could assume that, during the process of 

 autocatalysis, heterocatalytic actions also would take place, producing 

 the primary genie products. But it is generally accepted today that the 

 duplication of the organized genie material cannot be of the type of 

 genuine autocatalysis. This makes it almost mandatory that the 

 primary genie product is formed by the same process as the duplicated 

 genie material, namely, by a process of the template type. Only with 

 this understanding and by enlarging the meaning of the term auto- 

 catalysis to include duplication by some template mechanism can we 

 say that the genie material is both autocatalytic and heterocatalytic. 

 Thus it is both right and wrong to say that the genie material acts like 

 a catalyst: it is wrong when the genie material, as organized in the 



