Crick here commented on Champe's attempt to find the protein for which the rII mutant of the bacterial virus T2 coded. Crick himself discussed results of research with acridine mutants of bacteriophage T4, a different family of mutants in whose study Crick's laboratory specialized and which he used to provide evidence for the three-letter composition of the genetic code.. Crick named the various strains of acridine mutants, which he had initially produced in 1961, by assigning to each one a number, preceded by his initials, such as FC58. He explained that he had done so not for self-aggrandizement but to aid him in organizing and remembering the many different strains.. A cistron denotes the smallest unit of genetic material that must be intact to serve as a transmitter of genetic information, i.e. which determines the sequence of amino acids in one polypeptide chain. Gene and cistron are sometimes used interchangeably.
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