'Correspondence re “Selfish DNA”'

Date:: 1980

Reference:: PP/CRI/H/6/13/7

Credit: 'Correspondence re “Selfish DNA”'. Source: Wellcome Collection.

4/10

$May 7, 1980 Prof. Temple F. Smith Biophysics Laboratory Northern Michigan University Marquette, Michigan 49855 Dear Professor Smith, Thank you for your letter of May Jnd. Do you feel that the base sequences of introns so far obtained suggest that they are constrained by the genetic code? The low value of the CG doublet is probably explained by the methylation of any C in such positions. One would expect the methylation to increase the mutation rate from C to T. Incidentally what fraction of the total DNA do you expect to be in introns in the higher vertebrates? Yours sincerely, F. H. C. Crick Kieckhefear Research Professor$

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'Correspondence re “Selfish DNA”'

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