Abstract
ALTHOUGH the Watson-Crick model1,2 provides a plausible explanation of the structure and replication of deoxyribonucleic acid, there remains one feature of it which, in our opionion, is unnecessarily complex. In the classical model two complementary chains of nucleic acid are intertwined. Each has a fixed order of base sequence such that base pairing between adenine-thymine and cytosine-guanine occurs along the double helix. During replication the two chains uncoil and each acts as a template for the synthesis of the other.
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References
Watson, J. D., and Crick, F. H. C., Nature, 171, 737, 964 (1953).
Perutz, M. F., Endeavour, 17, 190 (1958).
Donohue, J., and Stent, G. S., Proc. U.S. Nat. Acad. Sci., 42, 734 (1956).
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SILK, M., HAWTREY, A. Possible Simplified Structure of Deoxyribonucleic Acid. Nature 184, 1484–1485 (1959). https://doi.org/10.1038/1841484a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1841484a0
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