Tsuneko okazaki biography samples

But the other side has to do some molecular gymnastics, twisting around in a loop so it can be fed into the polymerase machinery from the right direction, then popping out, twisting again and feeding in a new stretch, a bit further along. This creates short stretches of newly-copied DNA – Okazaki fragments - with gaps in between, that have to be patched up in order to create a perfect new helix.

(Oh, and if all of this sounds completely baffling, then check out this handy animation)

So, who was Okazaki?

Tsuneko Okazaki Biography - Pantheon

I always assumed that he was another of those guys from the classic era of molecular biology in the s. Well, I was not only wrong, but I was also suffering from internalised patriarchy. It turns out there isn’t just one Okazaki – there’s two: Tsuneko and her husband Reiji.

Born Tsuneko Hara in , in Nagoya, Japan, she was one of the first generation of Japanese women to take advantage of the country’s new post-war constitution, which allowed women to attend university alongside me Tsuneko Okazaki Biography - Pantheon NOJYV