Matthaei, Heinrich

The work of Marshal Nirenberg and Heinrich Matthaei between 1961 and 1966 resulted in the cracking of the genetic code [18]. They demonstrated that a codon consisting of three nucleotide bases determines each of the 20 amino acids. 

In 1961 Marshall Nirenberg and Heinrich Matthaei reported the first breakthrough. They incubated synthetic polyuridylate, poly(U), with anE. coli extract, GTP, ATP, and a mixture of the 20 amino acids in 20 different tubes, each tube containing a different radioactively labeled amino acid. Because poly(U) mRNA is made up of many successive UUU triplets, it should promote the synthesis of a polypeptide containing only the amino acid encoded... 

Advanced virology. RNA viruses and retrotransposons predated the formation of DNA vimses in the pre-cellular virus world of Koonin et al [18]. Precellular ribosome-like entities might have been operated by ribozymes and RNPs. Cellular ribosomes could remain operational extracellularly (Heinrich Matthaei and Marshall Nirenberg, vide infra). In the cellular world, there are two enzymes that transcribe RNA to DNA telomerase and reverse transcriptase (RT). The gene of the enzyme RT is a component of the retroviral genome [32]. Template-encoded proteins of this complexity are not expected to have been formed in the pre-cellular era, unless precellular RNP-armed entities resembling ribosomes existed. 

Heinrich Matthaei (74), Abteilung Molekulare Genetik, Max-Planck-In-stitut fiir Experimentelle Medizin, Gottingen, West Germany... 

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