Asked by kelvin calin

What was Marshall Nirenberg and Heinrich Matthaei’s contribution to our current understanding of the genetic code?
discovery of codons
discovery and extraction of DNA
creation of a model of DNA
creation of Photo 51

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Discovery of codons.

In 1961 Nirenberg and Matthaei used a cell‑free translation system and synthetic RNA (notably poly-U) to show that the triplet UUU directs incorporation of phenylalanine—the first proof that three‑base codons in RNA specify amino acids and thus decode the genetic code.