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Quantitative
analysis of chromosomes shows a
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composition
of about forty percent DNA and sixty percent
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protein.
At first, it seemed that protein must be responsible
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for
carrying hereditary information, since not only is
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protein
present in larger quantities than DNA, but protein
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molecules
are composed of twenty different subunits while
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DNA
molecules are composed of only four.
It seemed
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clear
that a protein molecule could encode not only more
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information,
but a greater variety of information, because it
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possessed
a substantially larger collection of ingredients
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with which to
work.
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