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Research by molecular biologist Sidney Altman (born 1939) has helped unravel many of the mysteries surrounding deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the chemical at the heart of the cells of all living things that controls their structure and purpose. For their discovery--in independently conducted studies--that ribonucleic acid (RNA) serves not only as a transmitter of genetic information but also acts as an agent of change in living cells, Altman and Thomas R. Cech in 1989 were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Altman's discovery of catalytic RNA has shaken the very foundations of the biosciences, altering their central principle. Even more significantly, it has had a profound impact on our understanding of how life on earth began and developed. Scientists have known that the flow of genetic information from DNA to protein requires enzymes and other proteins. Altman's discovery has gone a long way toward answering one of the most puzzling questions confronting bioscientists who have long sought to determine which was the first biomolecule-DNA or protein? In light of Altman's research, it now appears that RNA molecules were the first biomolecules to contain both the genetic information and play a role as biocatalysts.
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