7/30/64w

     By FAYF MARL'FX
Science Service Medical Writer

      NEW Y OFX ,      --i Creation of life and modification of
                                                                           ,            ,
heredity in a test tube will not be possible for many years, if ever,

a Russian scientist told Science Service here0

Dr, Lsv Kisselev of I~OSCOW, who at the 1961 International

Congress of Biochemistry translated the code-cracking speech of Ameri-
                                        ,

ca$ S\l,Jai*Shd.l W, Nirenberg,\said that he had been working with
             I        -.-v-d

other Russian scientists in Leningr8.d and MOSCOW on problems of
correlating function and structure of ZNR, or ribonucleic acid,
                                                                           ,              ,
     Wany results lie ahead when this work is done," he.said,

but he only laughed at the idea of higher life in a test tube,

Dr, Edgar Lederer, director of the ne-d French institute of
                                          I

natural substcnces915 miles south of Paris, said he hoped human life

would not be created in a test tube,

The creation of tobacco mosaic virus from inert chemicals

led to an.a,nnouncement two years ago that life had been created in a

test tube,

Rut creating life in a tiny infective virus 9s a far cry

from creating human life as xe know it,

Progress is being made in deciphering the genetic code, how-

eve_",  and the  results Dr, Fisselev foresees when all. the tedious work

of correlation in function and structure is finished could well in-

clude correction of hereditary diseases -i- even a cure for some forms

of cancer,

. .

      Dr, Nirenberg, with Dr, tf. Heinrich Vatthei at the!?<Tational
                                                                           L--u... .-.O  . , ._
institutes of Health, Bethesda, Mde,
---.        . ,f >I" - I I-7..   -* - partially unraveled the mystery ,

of the genetic code,  They are, however, the first to agree that years
cf work remain to be done before all the necessary sequences can be

deterainede

,

      Dr, Virenberg's work has shown that in all species, a given

nucleotide triplet always specifies the same amino acid.   Thus it

a;Tpears that all nature has evolved from one ancestor -- DNA, or
                                         ,                            I
deoxyribonucleic.acid, with PXA, or ribonucleic acid, carrying out its
~od4ilre bidding.

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        E() $11 :LIy7 Yirenberg arid Dr, Sever0 (3i3ho~+, preeiderLt of the

~n%ernefional Union of Biochemistry, spoke (Friday) at a.sympQsiqm .

cf the Sixth InternaXiona? Congress cf Biochemistry here,  Xl, J, Do
Gatson of Harv~d University, Cambridge, l,Iass.r Itho shared the 1962

Nobel F-rize 5-n Xediclne bind Physiology with Dr, Francis 3, C1 Crick .

of Cambridge Univerq2ty, England, was another speaker at this meeting.


Dro Ozhoa shared the 1959 Nobel Prize in I.lediclne and Physiology for

his studies in the biosynthesis of P3-4,
     Dr, Nlrenbergls ear.ly experiments were made possible by the
use of mixed polymers of FWA that could be synthesized by t$e bacterjal
                                 I
RNA pQZy&merase, or enzyme, previously isolated by Dr, Ochoao
                                        ,

       After intensive wo3, es-necially in the laboratories of


DTS" Ochoa and fiTirenl-,erg? it ic, now possible to assign triplet ROTA

base codes to .a11 the amino acads.

     'The correspond?ng DNA triplet code should then be The

scaplement of the RNA code,  Tests of this code in bacterial, -plant


and animal systems have indicated that the Escherichia ~014.. code is

universal, a fact of considerable evolutionary significance,

       The actual definixion of.rshich triplet sZ?ecifies which amino

acid. is pursued at present  by Drs, Ochoa, Nirenber.5; and others,
principally by 6onstructing messenger RNA molecules of known sequence

to see which amino acid they specify,                                       ,
     i3y making and testing a large variety of messeqger RNAs,

a genetic code is being rnap13ed out,  In another a:oproa~h.~ certain

nucieotides in the master molecule, be it DNA or virus RNA, are

exchanged, and the effect of this exchanee &s reflected in an
                                                     -.

altered pattern of amino acid incorporation.

      The Indian-born Dr, H. Gobind Khorana, researching at the

University of ',disconsi.n, Madison, has synthesized small,DNA.models

after ten years of work,  From 10 to 20 years lie.ahead, Dr. Khorana

feels before the full sequence can be established,  Improvement of

human heredity may be at tke tip of the scientist's fingers, but the

fingers must reach far into the future.

      .Another Russian scienkist in%eyviewed by Science Service

Was Dr,  G, F, Gause of the Ac?.demy of Medical Sciences in 14osco~,

who reported his work with La';oratcr-y animals using some antibiotics

'<ha-; fight cancer-                                         I./i G :k; 2


      Vorking ~5th Dr. A* V', La.%o  ~."c the Institute of Xey:

,4ztibi.otics, Dr. Cause found that they inhibit the synthesis of

nuclefc acids ,,  Mitomycin C!, porfircmycin and d.egranol,.a representa-

tive of the chlcrethylamines, were the antibiotics used,  These anti-

biotics inhibited the synthesis of DNA in the cells of normal andy;nu-

tant staphyl,:.e.jJs;.us organisms,,  Staph

pus-forming infections,

       Progress in basic knowledge

is a cause of boils and other

reported at this congress gives

hope for mankindls.fight against disease as well as for understanding

the puzzle of lii"e,

In the words of Dr, Ochoa, the human intellect will

eventua.lly solve the puzzle of the nature of life,                        ,
      "But will it ever solve the riddle of the meaning of life,
                                                                           1           ,
of the existence of the universe, or even of its prerequisite, matter,

and of the essence of the intellect itself?!' the 1robelist questioned.

      Dr, Ochoa said the exploration of.space might provide clues

for further inquiry into the origin of life,


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FUTURE RELE,GE:  Saturday morning, Aug" 1

7/30/64

                  By SCIENCE SE31172

      CHICAGO,     -- A second fluoride-containing toothpaste

has American Dental Associ%ation (ADA) approval.  Cue, ma~de by the

Colgate-Pa&olive Company, joins Srest, Frocter and Gamble Company

product, as Ann "effective decay-preventive dentifrice."

     Both Cue and Crest contain stannous fluoride, but the,ADA
says from the standpoint of cost3 effectiveness and,convenience, water

fluoridation is the best wa.y to prevent tooth decay,  Another method

is by topical application of fluoride on the teeth by a dentist,