Published Papers

Molecular Architecture and the Processes of Life. May 28, 1948.

Page 12 [10]

< Previous Page     Page 11 [9]

Back to Document Index Molecular Architecture and the Processes of L...

Next Page > Page 13 [11]

Title:	Molecular Architecture and the Processes of Life [12 of 15]
Creator:	Pauling, Linus, 1901-
Publisher:	Nature.
Date:	1948-05-28
Subject:	Molecular structure
Description:	Nature, vol. 248. Original typescript.
Type:	Text
Format:	text/plain
Language:	en
Identifier:	jessebootlecture-pg12.jpg
Source:	Master scanned with Epson GT-10000+ flatbed scanner at 600 dpi.
Rights:	http://osulibrary.orst.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/dna/copyright.html
Full Text:	that configuration will be assumed by the molecule that is the most stable under the conditions of its coiling. If there is an antigen molecule present in the cell, the interaction of the atoms in the surface of the antigen molecule with the atoms of the chain of the gamma-globulin precursor will tend to cause this chain to coil into the configuration that is stabilized to the greatest amount by the forces of interaction with the antigen. This will be just the configuration that is complementary in structure to a portion of the surface of the antigen molecule ; that is, just the configuration that corresponds to the formation' of a bond with the antigen.12,13 This concept thus gives us an automatic method of producing a substance with a specific biological property, that of combining with the molecules of the. antigen. The mechanism of obtaining this property is one of moulding a plastic material, the coiling chain, into a die or mould, the surface of the antigen molecule. I believe that the same process of moulding of plastic materials into a configuration complementary to that of another molecule, which serves as a template, is responsible for all biological specificity. I believe that the genes serve as the templates on which are moulded the enzymes that are responsible for the chemical characters of the organisms, and that they also serve as templates for the production of replicas of themselves. The detailed mechanism by means of which a gene or a virus molecule produces replicas of itself is not yet known. In general the use of a gene or virus as a template would lead to the formation of a molecule not with identical structure but with complementary structure. It might happen, of course, that a molecule could be at the same time identical with and complementary to the template on which it is moulded. However, this case seems to me to be too unlikely to be valid in general, except in the following way. If the structure that serves as a template (the gene or virus molecule) consists of, say, two parts, which are themselves complementary in structure, then each of these parts can serve as the mould for the production of a replica of the other part, and the complex of two complementary parts thus can serve as the mould for the production of duplicates of itself. In some cases the two complementary parts might be very close together in space, and in other cases more distant from one another-they might constitute individual molecules, able to move about within the cell.