History
Zinc fingers were first identified in a study of transcription in the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis. A study of the transcription of a particular RNA sequence revealed that the binding strength of a small transcription factor (transcription factor IIIA) was due to the presence of zinc-coordinating finger-like structures. The name "zinc finger" was proposed in the subsequent paper, in which a detailed study of this structure alone was conducted. More recent work in the characterization of proteins in various organisms has revealed the ubiquity of zinc ions in polypeptide stabilization.
Read more about this topic: Zinc Finger
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth. It is astonishing how few facts of importance are added in a century to the natural history of any animal. The natural history of man himself is still being gradually written.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“You that would judge me do not judge alone
This book or that, come to this hallowed place
Where my friends’ portraits hang and look thereon;
Ireland’s history in their lineaments trace;
Think where man’s glory most begins and ends
And say my glory was I had such friends.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Social history might be defined negatively as the history of a people with the politics left out.”
—G.M. (George Macaulay)