"Central dogma of molecular biology"

Date:
1970
Reference:
PP/CRI/H/4/20
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: "Central dogma of molecular biology". Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The central dogma, enunciated by Crick in 1958 and the keystone of molecular biology ever since, is likely to prove a considerable over-simplification Nature: news and views The above quotation is taken from the beginning of an unsigned article, headed Central Dogma Reversed, recounting the very important work of 2 3 Dr. Howard Temin and others showing that an RNA tumour virus can use viral RNA as a template for DNA synthesis. This is not the first time that the idea of the central dogma has been misunderstood, in one way or another. In this paper I explain why the term was originally introduced, its true mean ing, and state why I think that, properly understood, it is still an idea of fundamental importance. 4 The central dogma was put forward at a period when much of what we now know in molecular genetics was not established. All we had to work on were certain fragmentary experimental results, themselves often rather uncertain and confused, and a boundless optimism that the basic concepts involved were rather simple and probably much the same in all living things. In such a situation well constructed theories can play a really useful part in stating problems clearly and thus guiding experiment.
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