RNA Tie Club

The RNA Tie Club is a scientific "gentleman's club" of select individuals who contributed to the understanding of DNA and the manner in which it relates to proteins and/or the ability to "read" the "message" in DNA.[1]

Founding

Founded in 1954 by American biologist James D. Watson and Russian–American physicist George Gamow to "solve the riddle of the RNA structure and to understand how it built proteins" and with the motto "do or die; or don't try",[2] the club consisted of 20 members, each of whom corresponded to an amino acid, and an additional four honorary members (S. Brenner, VAL. F. Lipmann, A. Szent-Gyorgyi, and another individual), one for each nucleotide.[2]

Each member received a woolen necktie with an embroidered helix on them, hence the name "RNA Tie Club".[2]

Members

Member	Training	RNA Tie Club Designation	Officer designation
George Gamow	Physicist	ALA	Synthesizer
Alexander Rich	Biochemist	ARG	Lord Privy Seal of the British Cabinet
Paul Doty	Physical Chemist	ASP
Robert Ledley	Mathematical Biophysicist	ASN
Martynas Ycas	Biochemist	CYS	Archivist
Robley Williams	Electron Microscopist	GLU
Alexander Dounce	Biochemist	GLN
Richard Feynman	Theoretical Physicist	GLY
Melvin Calvin	Chemist	HIS
Norman Simmons	Biochemist	ISO
Edward Teller	Physicist	LEU
Erwin Chargaff	Biochemist	LYS
Nicholas Metropolis	Physicist, Mathematician	MET
Gunther Stent	Physical Chemist	PHE
James Watson	Biologist	PRO	Optimist
Harold Gordon	Biologist	SER
Leslie Orgel	Theoretical Chemist	THR
Max Delbrück	Theoretical Physicist	TRY
Francis Crick	Biologist	TYR	Pessimist
Sydney Brenner	Biologist	VAL

The Tie and tiepin

Members of the RNA Tie Club were to receive a black wool-knit tie with a green and yellow RNA helix emblazoned on it. The original design of the tie came from Orgel, with the final pattern being a re-imagining by Gamow.[3][4] Gamow's tie pattern was delivered to a Los Angeles haberdasher on Colorado Avenue by Watson, with the shop tailor promising to make the ties for $4 each.[4] Along with each tie, members of the club were to receive a golden tiepin with the three letter abbreviation of their club amino acid designation. Not all members may have received their pin. Gamow, however, wore his pin on several occasions, often causing some confusion and questioning of why he was wearing the "wrong initials".[4]

Successes

Meetings of the RNA Tie Club were friendly, cordial affairs involving cigars and alcohol. This time allowed for bonding and close friendships among this scientific elite, and it turned out to be a breeding ground for creative ideas. While meetings were held twice a year, between meetings the members mailed letters and preprints of articles suggesting new concepts and ideas.[5]

Number of nucleotides in a codon

Using mathematics, Gamow postulated that a nucleotide code consisting of three letters would be enough to define all 20 amino acids. This concept is the basis of "codons", and set an upper and lower limit on the size of a codon.

Codons

Sydney Brenner proposed the concept of a codon, the idea that three nucleotides could code for one amino acid.[6] His proof involved statistics and experimental evidence from amino acid protein sequences.

Adaptor hypothesis

Francis Crick proposed the "adaptor hypothesis" suggesting that some molecule ferried the amino acids around, and put them in the correct order corresponding to the nucleic acid sequence.[7] He also suggested that there were 20 separate adaptor molecules.[8][9] This was later to be found true by Robert Holley and the adaptor molecules were named transfer RNAs.

Personal successes

Many members of the RNA Tie Club achieved professional success, with six of them becoming Nobel laureates, namely Richard Feynman, Melvin Calvin, James Watson, Max Delbruck, Francis Crick and Sydney Brenner. However, the ultimate goal of understanding and deciphering the code link between nucleic acids and amino acids was achieved by Marshall Nirenberg, who was not a member of the RNA Tie Club.[10] Nirenberg also received a Nobel prize for this achievement.

References

1. Watson, James D: Avoid boring people: lessons from a life in science, pg 112.
2. Kay L. (2000.) Who Wrote the Book of Life?: A History of the Genetic Code, Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804734172.
3. Kay, Lily E: Who wrote the book of life?: a history of the genetic code
4. Watson, J. D. (2002). Genes, Girls, and Gamow: After the Double Helix. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-41283-2. OCLC 47716375.
5. Friedberg, Errol C: The Writing Life of James D. Watson, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, September 2004.
6. Brenner, Sydney: On the Impossibility of All Overlapping Triplet Codes, 1956,
   later published in PNAS: PNAS USA. 1957 August 15; 43(8): 687–694.
7. Crick, Francis, and Brenner, Sydney: Some Footnotes on Protein Synthesis: A Note for the RNA Tie Club. December 1959.
8. Crick, Francis: From DNA to protein On degenerate templates and the adapter hypothesis: a note for the RNA Tie Club, 1955.
9. Crick, Francis: What Mad Pursuit 1988, pg 95-96.
10. Everson, Ted: The gene: a historical perspective, pg 90-91.