The background of the total synthesis of yeast alanine transfer RNA

Abstract

The research findings concerning the total synthesis of yeast alanine transfer RNA (yeast alanine tRNA) were successively published in Chinese Science Bulletin (1982) and Science in China (1983) [1]. The research work started in 1968 and was finished in November 1981. It was the first artificial synthesis of a nucleic acid molecule, which followed the first artificial synthesis of protein, crystalline bovine insulin, in China in 1965, both scientific milestones occurring in China. The composition, sequence and biological functions of the synthesized nucleic acid were identical to those of the natural yeast alanine tRNA. The research lasted for 13 years. From 1982 to 1984, one of the investigators in charge of the research Prof. WANG DeBao (T.P. WANG) presented reports titled “the total synthesis of yeast alanine tRNA” on international symposia concerning tRNA and in leading universities and institutes of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan and West Germany, which were highly acclaimed.