Who first identified the process of oligonucleotide synthesis?
Oligonucleotide synthesis
In the early 1950s, Alexander Todd’s group pioneered H-phosphonate and phosphate triester methods of oligonucleotide synthesis.[5][6] The reaction of compounds 1 and 2 to form H-phosphonate diester 3 is an H-phosphonate coupling in solution while that of compounds 4 and 5 to give 6 is a phosphotriester coupling (see phosphotriester synthesis below).
Cyclic nucleotide
The understanding of the concept of second messengers, and in particular the role of cyclic nucleotides and their ability to relay physiological signals to a cell, has its origins in the research of glycogen metabolism by Carl and Gerty Cori, for which they were awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1947. A number of incremental but important discoveries through the 1950s added to their research, primarily focusing on the activity of glycogen phosphorylase in dog liver. Glycogen phosphorylase catalyzes the first step in glycogenolysis, the process of breaking glycogen into its substituent glucose parts. Earl Sutherland investigated the effect of the hormones adrenaline and glucagon on glycogen phosphorylase, earning him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1971.