Abstract
THE premise that linear and continuous sequences of nucleotides in the genetic material (deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in most organisms, ribonucleic acid (RNA) in some viruses) specify corresponding linear and continuous sequences of amino-acids in the proteins, that is, the gene products of these organisms, is so fundamental to present-day thinking in the field of molecular biology that it has rightfully been referred to as the ‘central dogma’1,2. Another premise, inherent in this dogma, is the principle of colinearity of the genetic map with the nucleotide sequence and the definition of a mutation as an alteration in this sequence giving rise in turn to an altered structure in the product proteins. The conclusion has therefore been implicit that every mutation must necessarily result in some alteration in a gene product.
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MAHLER, H., FRASER, D. Structural Mutations. Nature 189, 948 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/189948a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/189948a0
