Subsequent Research
He extended the above to long DNA Polymers using non-aqueous chemistry and assembled these into the first synthetic gene, using polymerase and ligase enzymes that link pieces of DNA together. as well as methods that anticipated the invention of PCR. These custom-designed pieces of artificial genes are widely used in biology labs for sequencing, cloning and engineering new plants and animals. This invention of Khorana has become automated and commercialized so that anyone now can order a synthetic gene from any of a number of companies. One merely needs to send the genetic sequence to one of the companies to receive an oligonucleotide with the desired sequence.
His lab has since mid 1970s studied the biochemistry of the membrane protein bacteriorhodopsin responsible for converting photon energy into proton gradient energy and most recently studying the structural related visual pigment rhodopsin.
Read more about this topic: Har Gobind Khorana
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