"The Origins of Molecular Biology and Molecular Medicine." May 20, 1986. Recording of a Pauling lecture. Produced by Medical Television, University of Alabama,
Birmingham.
Working on Proteins with Alfred Mirsky. (1:22)
Transcript
Linus Pauling: So I became interested in proteins. In 1936 we published this material. That year
also I asked Alfred Mirsky to come from the Rockefeller Institute to Pasadena for
a couple of years, in fact. He taught me how to handle proteins, how to purify hemoglobin
and things of that sort. He and I published a paper in 1936 on a theory of native
and denatured proteins, which is, I think, pretty much the accepted theory - that
the native protein is folded in a well-defined way. This native protein molecule,
such as this one [slide], stabilized by various interactions including hydrogen bonds.
And that denaturing agents or conditions caused polypeptide chains to unfold and they
can get tangled up with one another and an insoluble coagulum can form. The denatured
protein, the specific properties, tend to be lost. So I thought an interesting problem
would be to find how the polypeptide chains are folded in proteins.
Clip
Creator: Linus Pauling Associated: Alfred E. Mirsky Clip ID: 1986v.9-proteins
Full Work
Creator: Linus Pauling Associated: University of Alabama at Birmingham
