120 Information Storage and Neural Control 



78. Watson, J. D. and Littlefield, J. W.: Some properties of DNA from 



Shope papilloma virus. J. Molec. Biol., 2.- 161 -165, 1960. 



79. Weiss, S. B. and Nakamoto, T.: Net synthesis of ribonucleic acid 



with a microbial enzyme requiring deoxyribonucleic acid and four 

 ribonucleic triphosphates. J. Biol. Chem., 236:PCA9-20, 1961. 



80. Weiss, S. B. and Nakamoto, T.: On the participation of DNA in 



RNA synthesis. Proc. Mat. Acad. Sci. USA, 47.-694-697, 1961. 



81. Weiss, S. B. and Nakamoto, T.: The enzymatic synthesis of RNA: 



Nearest neighbor base frequencies. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 47: 

 1400-1405, 1961. 



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DISCUSSION OF CHAPTER V 



E. Roy John (Rochester, New York): The topic which you 

 have reviewed is of particular interest to neurophysiologists be- 

 cause of several recent findings which seem to implicate RNA 

 in the storage of information in the nervous system. I was par- 

 ticularly interested by the fact that, in the system as you describe 

 it, RNA seems to be relatively insulated from the cellular environ- 

 ment in which it is located. Since a cellular information storage 

 mechanism must somehow reflect events in the environment, it 

 would seem that RNA would have to be excluded from considera- 

 tion if these processes were as immutable as you describe them. 

 Therefore, I would like to ask explicitly what you might expect 

 if for example, radical changes in ionic concentration were to 

 occur in the environment where the processes which you have 

 described were taking place. Would the outcome still be quite 

 as determinate as the impression that you gave? In relation to 

 this question, I recall a paper by Rudenberg and Tobias, in which 

 they were suggesting that a certain amount of calcium is bound 

 to RNA in axoplasm. Is it possible that various ionic substances 

 can bind to RNA in certain stages of these processes, modifying 

 the processes, so that the macromolecule which will be syn- 

 thesized is not completely specified by the RNA? 



Saul Kit (Houston, Texas) : I think that your point is extremely 

 interesting. There are two aspects on which I might comment. 



