Contents 



PAGE 



Preface 



Introduction 1 



Chapter I. The Genetic Control of Protein S^tstthesis 



A. The one gene — one enzyme hypothesis 



1. Basic observations 5 



2. Fine structure of the gene 12 



(a) Evolution of the notion of gene 12 



(b) Difficulties in the use of the cistron concept 19 



3. On a few complications of the one gene-one protein relation 20 



(a) Pleiotropy 20 



(b) Suppression 21 



(c) Controlling genetic units 22 



B. Chemical nature of the genetic determinants of protein structure 



1. Genetic material of bacteria and bacteriophages 23 



2. Genetic material of ribonucleoprotein viruses 25 



3. Genetic material of higher organisms 27 



4. Structure of DNA 28 



5. Structure of virus RNA 32 



C. The colinearity hypothesis 35 



1. Principle 35 



2. Coding problems 36 



Chapter II. The Sites of Protein Formation within the Living Cell 



A. Early cytochemical data 40 



B. Fractionation of cell organelles 41 



1. Basic observations 41 



2. General occurrence of ribosomes 46 



C. Protein synthesis in cell fragments and organelles 48 



1. Protein synthesis in enucleate cytoplasm 48 



2. Protein synthesis in isolated mitochondria 53 



3. Protein synthesis in chloroplasts 54 



4. Protein synthesis in the cell nucleus 55 



D. Summing up 56 



Chapter III. Nucleic Acids and Protein Synthesis 



A. The position of DNA in protein synthesis 57 



1. Higher organisms 57 



2. Bacteria 58 



3. Conclusion 62 



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