Molecular Biology and Human Nature: Joshua Lederberg On the Complexity of DNA
“Molecular biology” is viewed by some as the most arcane of scientific specialties spawned in recent history. At the same time its practical importance for human affairs is recognized today even on Wall Street, and it has made possible an extraordinary coordination and simplification of our views of biology. To appreciate this requires some patience and self-confidence on the part of the, reader. Perhaps even more demanding is the writer’s obligation to strip away nonessential technicalities and jargon to the minimum needed to convey the core advances of recent research. In fact this is possible, as never before, precisely because of the scope of new scientific understanding. Molecular biology is just biochemistry in modern dress, doing homage to broader aspects of biology that connect closely with chemistry, as well as comprising studies that use the most rigorous of chemical procedures. Thus the molecular biologist is likely to be familiar with the electron microscope, to delve into the intimate structures of cells, to be acquainted with a variety of living organisms in natural history, and to view them in terms of their evolutionary relationships. The traditional specializations of zoology, botany and microbiology are viewed as impediments by molecular biologists, since most of the fundamental principles are common to all life on earth. The chemical substances that are most important in cells are DNA, RNA, and proteins-rather complex aggregates or polymers of simpler units. “DNA” is so central to our discussion that we can hardly avoid defining it, and explain the acronym “DeoxyriboNucleic Acid”, as also “RNA”, or “RiboNucleic Acid”. These nucleic acids were discovered almost 120 years ago by Friedrich Miescher, as gummy constituents of pus cells. Evidence accumulated that DNA was mainly found in the nuclei of cells (hence the name). RNA was mainly found outside the nucleus, but was chemically related to DNA, containing a certain sugar (ribose) in place of the deoxyribose found in DNA. So a rather intricate history of the unfolding of knowledge is buried in these acronyms. If you are so persuaded, it is