Very Original Central Dogma Post

The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology a very original topic I know but, I think it is good to start anything at the beginning so this is where I decided to start this blog.

 The principle was proposed by Francis Crick in 1958 but, the paper I will be discussing will be his defense of the term in 1970 called; Central Dogma of Molecular Biology.   As a bit of background, although it has probably been drilled into most biology majors, the Central Dogma shows the flow of  genetic information between DNA, RNA and proteins. An important feature of the principle is that is does not mean linear transfer of information but the three families of polymers could interact in a more triangular configuration.  The concept about the Central Dogma that is most intriguing to modern scientists however is that there were some interactions that were theorized to never occur and some could only occur under " special circumstances".  This term proposed by Crick sets the groundwork for molecular biology not only because it establishes basic concepts in the field but because it in some ways shaped the methods by which molecular biology is practiced.

The versatility and open ended nature of the Central Dogma seems to have been off putting to many scientists at the time with many claiming it was not specific enough.   Crick even opens this paper with a quote from Dr. Howard Temin stating that it " is likely to prove a considerable over- simplification".   The open nature is actually what I believe, Crick seems to have been shooting for and in my opinion shows incredible foresight and optimism for the field of molecular biology. 

Crick wanted to lay a general groundwork to springboard molecular biology forward and allow room to grow while having some sort of foundation to stand on.  During the budding of molecular biology as a science Crick seemed to believe it was important to have a point at which to guide discovery, " In such a situation well constructed theories can play a really useful part in stating problems clearly and thus guiding experiment." The Central Dogma was meant to be a guide for molecular biologists of the future as well as being a frame for the molecular biology at the time.  

Francis Crick really seemed to appreciate the malleable and exciting nature of molecular biology and he seemed to want people to challenge his idea.  Molecular biology like many sciences is about change, and the Central Dogma welcomes that change with open and excited arms, " the discovery of just one type of present day cell which could carry out any of the three unknown transfers would shake the whole intellectual basis of molecular biology, and it is for this reason that the central dogma is as important today as when it was first proposed."  The way I interpret this is that Crick wanted his ideas challenged, and wanted others to prove or disprove this principle and further the field as a whole.    In the paper Strong Inference by John R. Platt, Platt discusses the way that molecular biology is one of the sciences that uses a critical thinking method called 'strong inference'.  The idea behind this method is that the scientists think as they go and are constantly challenging their own ideas and methods.  I actually think that due to the nature of the Central Dogma and how it is structured, it is meant to be challenged which has shaped molecular biology into one of the fields that Platt describes in his paper.   

Since its proposal molecular biology has grown at an incredible rate, and now almost every interaction in the triangle can be preformed in some form if not by nature than by man.  Without the Central Dogma to connect these three families and propose possible links some of this research may not have been considered.  The nature of molecular biology was built upon a concept that itself was meant to be challenged and changed and for that I think the Central Dogma will always be important to the field.  

1. Crick, F. Nature. 1970, 227, 561-563