Work

In the 1950s, it was established that genetic information is transferred from DNA to RNA, to protein. A sequence of three nucleotides in DNA–known as a codon–corresponds to a particular amino acid in a protein. The proteins are formed in what are known as ribosomes, which lie outside the cell nucleus. The transportation of amino acids to these ribosomes takes place with the help of a particular kind of RNA called transfer RNA or tRNA. There exists a special tRNA molecule for each codon. Robert Holley was the first person to successfully isolate tRNA and, in 1964, was also able to map its structure.