Sem 2 Week 3 Genome Chapter 3 Summary: History

In chapter 3 of Genome by Matt Ridley, Ridley introduces Dr. Archibald Garrod who published a hypothesis in 1902 called "the inborn errors of metabolism" through his research with the disease alkaptonuria.  During the experiments, he assumed that each gene produced one chemical catalyst.  The invorn errors of metabolism were caused by genetic mutations, which he described as "loss or malfunction of an enzyme" and that proteins manage virtually every function in the body.  Dr. Garrod's thesis was well received, but all the readers missed the point.   Both Mendel and Darwin was confused about genetics and mutations.  Later discoveries about mutations revealed that genes codes for proteins and mutations were altered proteins made by altered genes.  The structure of DNA was discovered by Watson and Crick in 1953.  Crick coined the term genome.  In 1995, scientists return to alkaptenuria and found it is caused by a single base substitution.