Title:

Letter from H. Gobind Khorana to Francis Crick

Creator:

Khorana, Har Gobind, 1922-2011

Recipient:

Crick, Francis, 1916-2004

Date:

22 May 1974

Description:

In his letter Khorana reported progress in his ongoing effort to synthesize in the laboratory a gene that codes for the transfer RNA of the amino acid tyrosine. In particular, he described work on the synthesis of the promoter sequence, a segment of DNA, usually located before a gene coding region in the base sequence, which acts as a controlling element in the expression of that gene, for example by regulating the beginning and the speed of transcription from DNA to RNA. Khorana also discussed the terminator sequence, which signals the end of the polypeptide chain in protein synthesis. He detailed the structure of the promoter and terminator sequences in schematic drawings attached to his letter.

Original Repository:

The Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine. Francis Harry Compton Crick Papers

Location:

Box: 12. Folder: PP/CRI/D/1/2/6

Rights:

Reproduced with permission of H. Gobind Khorana.

Genre:

Letters (correspondence)
Diagrams

Subject:

Genetic Code and RNA

Format:

Text

Extent:

6 pages

Relation:

Letter from Francis Crick to H. Gobind Khorana, 1974

Language:

English

Legacy Source Citation:

Original Repository. Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine. Francis Harry Compton Crick Papers. 11646. URL. http://archives.wellcome.ac.uk/

Legacy ID:

SCBBMR

NLM ID:

101584582X179

Profiles Collection:

The Francis Crick Papers

Shareable Link:

https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/101584582X179

Story Section:

Embryology and the Organization of DNA in Higher Organisms, 1966-1976