NEW YORK: After 16 years of intensive work and an expenditure of two million dollars, scientists at the Roswell Park Memorial Institute have deciphered the extremely complex structure of an enzyme that plays a key role in all living cells.

The substance, known as “Ribonuclease”, contains more than 1,000 atoms. These atoms are arranged as a chain of 124 amino acid units twisted, coiled and cross-linked in intricate ways. The feat is the first of its kind in the US according to those who performed it at the Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo.

The molecular structure was explored with the techniques of the science known as X-ray crystallography. Two other proteins — myoglobin and lysozyme — have been similarly deciphered in Britain. Like all enzymes, Ribonuclease is a protein.

These British and American achievements are regarded of momentous importance, for they demonstrate the feasibility of determining how enzymes are built and how they work. Without the help of enzymes most of the body’s chemical reactions would proceed at an extremely slow pace — or not at all.

[Meanwhile, as reported by agencies in Washington,] evaluation of aerial photographs has revealed damage to civilian buildings near Hanoi after American air attacks.

Some of the damage is believed to have been done when American planes jettisoned their bombs recently before turning to attack North Viet-Namese MIG interceptors.

US intelligence sources reported one such incident yesterday [Jan 21], in which 23 bombs were “dumped” over North Viet-Nam, but said that damage done to civilian structures could also have been caused by North Viet-Nam’s own planes and “stray anti-aircraft missiles”.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2017