SEPTEMBER 1957

DNA— “It is difficult to resist the conclusion that DNA is genetic material. If that is the case, our problem is to learn how DNA reproduces itself. The double-helical structure of DNA suggests a possible answer, which I have discussed in a previous article. The basic idea is that the two chains of the DNA, which fit together as a hand fits into a glove, are separated in some way and the hand then acts as a mold for formation of a new glove while the glove acts as a mold for a new hand. Thus we finish up with two gloved hands where we had only one before. In chemical terms we imagine that monomers supplied by the cell align themselves along the mold chain with complementary bases pairing up. —F.H.C. Crick”

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