Biochemical Aspects of Genetics

Abstract

IT was often emphasized by the late Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins that a study of the individual cell and of ihe organisation of chemical reactions within the cell was the true objective of biochemistry. The relationship of genetic constitution to chemical activity is, in such a connexion, a matter of first importance ; but it was not until some ten years ago that investigations of this nature could be applied experimentally to unicellular organisms. Following a proper advance in technique, derived largely from the work of Beadle and Tatum, corresponding advances have taken place in the elucidation of genetico-biochemical problems.