词条 | Khorana, Har Gobind |
释义 | Khorana, Har Gobind American biochemist born Jan. 9, 1922, Raipur, India Indian-born American biochemist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1968 with Marshall W. Nirenberg (Nirenberg, Marshall Warren) and Robert W. Holley (Holley, Robert William) for research that helped to show how the nucleotides (nucleotide) in nucleic acids (nucleic acid), which carry the genetic code of the cell, control the cell's synthesis of proteins. ![]() In the 1960s Khorana confirmed Nirenberg's findings that the way the four different types of nucleotides are arranged on the spiral “staircase” of the DNA molecule determines the chemical composition and function of a new cell. The 64 possible combinations of the nucleotides are read off along a strand of DNA as required to produce the desired amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. Khorana added details about which serial combinations of nucleotides form which specific amino acids. He also proved that the nucleotide code is always transmitted to the cell in groups of three, called codons. Khorana also determined that some of the codons prompt the cell to start or stop the manufacture of proteins. Khorana made another contribution to genetics in 1970, when he and his research team were able to synthesize the first artificial copy of a yeast gene. His later research explored the molecular mechanisms underlying the cell signaling pathways of vision in vertebrates. His studies were concerned primarily with the structure and function of rhodopsin, a light-sensitive protein found in the retina of the vertebrate eye. Khorana also investigated mutations in rhodopsin that are associated with retinitis pigmentosa, which causes night blindness. |
随便看 |
|
百科全书收录100133条中英文百科知识,基本涵盖了大多数领域的百科知识,是一部内容开放、自由的电子版百科全书。