Gene Machine

Title: Gene Machine – The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome

Author: Venki Ramakrishnan

Publisher: HarperCollins India, 2018 (First)

ISBN: 9789353023232

Pages: 272

Sometimes, the simplest questions are the most difficult to answer. One such is that of how many Indians have won the Nobel Prize so far. The figure can be as high as twelve, if you count Ronald Ross, Rudyard Kipling, Dalai Lama, V S Naipaul and Mother Teresa. Some or of Indian origin, or been born in India or left India too early in their career. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan was a graduate of Physics from Baroda but immediately migrated to the US for further studies. He won the Nobel in Chemistry in 2009 for ribosome research along with two others. Ramakrishnan’s research strengthened our understanding of the fundamental processes of life and provided a clue to the evolution of modern species of life. This book is a combination of popular science and an autobiography with a seamless blending of the two. His life is devoted to research and learning.

We know that our genetic material is locked up in a structure called DNA inside the nucleus of each of our cells. Apart from heredity, these contain recipes for building proteins which are essential for life. Insulin, adrenaline and albumin are all proteins required to sustain the organism. What makes these proteins inside a cell is a molecular gene-machine called ribosome. This machine reads the component list from data derived from the DNA and assembles the protein using amino acids just like a production line. The critical nature of the process need not be emphasized further, as the animal will soon be dead if the pathways are somehow clogged. Virtually every molecule in every cell in every form of life is either made by the ribosome or made by enzymes that are themselves made by ribosomes. Discovery of ribosomes and its role in making protein is the culmination of one of the great triumphs in modern biology. This was by no means easy as the ribosome is not a simple molecule like DNA. It was enormous and complex. The attempt to decipher it was taken up by Crick and Watson, who found the structure of DNA but was abandoned in despair.

Ramakrishnan was attracted to ribosomes by an article in the magazine Scientific American. He knew practically nothing of biology which he made up through courses studied part-time. Thus we have a physicist who studied the structure of a crucial biological unit being awarded with a Nobel in chemistry! He attempted to solve the ribosome structure first by neutron scattering which was eventually proved ineffective but was well understood by people with a physics background. The author dwells at length on the step by step progress in revealing the structure and the race with other scientists doing similar work, but this is not in a form that can be easily digested by ordinary readers. I found it extremely tedious especially after reading Siddhartha Mukherjee’s great book ‘The Gene - An Intimate History’ a few weeks before. Of course, you cannot expect such lucidity from a Nobel laureate, but the pertinent fact is that almost all of the readers are not Nobel laureates themselves. It is only during the autobiographical passages that the book becomes even slightly interesting.

Study of ribosomes is important in learning how medicines cure us of diseases. Some antibiotics work by blocking the protein creation function of bacterial ribosomes. This is done by binding to a vulnerable location in its structure. Since bacterial and human ribosomes are very different, humans will not be adversely affected by the mechanism of its action. This study also casts light on the dark alleyways of early evolution. Building blocks of RNA can be made from simple chemicals that could have been around in the earth billions of years ago. It may be possible that life emerged with lots of randomly made RNA molecules until some of them could reproduce entirely by themselves. RNA could also preserve heredity between generations.

This book presents some valid advice to novices in scientific research. The author asks them not to be hesitant to ask questions, however basic it might be. He justifies it by claiming that no question is too stupid to ask if you want to know the answer. It is also a bare necessity for present-day researchers to belong to the top-line institutes and laboratories. Advanced science has now become a team effort transcending national frontiers and continental boundaries. The members of the theoretical and testing facilities should be known to each other, otherwise it would be difficult to obtain and manage precious time allocated for using sophisticated machines.

The author makes a short but pointed criticism of the Nobel award conventions. There is a ‘Rule of Three’ in force. This means that the award, if shared, shall not be divided into more than three parts. This criterion is claimed to be impractical now. When the prize started in 1901, scientists worked in relative isolation and met only once every few years. By the time they announced their results, there was no question of who had discovered what. In the current world, an idea quickly spreads and a lot of people contribute to it in various measures and capacities. And it is not always clear whether the original idea or a later contribution was the truly ground breaking advance. It is a difficult task to select three people from a crowd of somewhat equal contributors without causing resentment or heartburn.

Ramakrishnan left India very early and harbours no soft spots in his mind for the mother country. Ignorant of his real feelings, thousands of naïve Indians sent congratulatory emails to him upon winning the Nobel. This clogged his inbox and they received a curt reminder that ‘nationality was an accident of birth’ and by corollary, he does not attach much importance to it. This is a clear case of brain drain.

The narrative about the role and secrets of ribosomes is disappointingly matter-of-fact. The author has failed to share the awe he might have felt in revealing the heretofore hidden details. The scientist’s idea of a paper for publishing in a journal is too far away from an ordinary reader’s preference of what is interesting. The book is a veritable Who’s Who of the rapidly growing field of structural biology in general and ribosomes in particular. The author has had a great collaboration with like-minded scholars from across the globe. There are many photographs of co-workers and even rivals. The illustrations given as part of the description are not at all helpful. Relevance has not been a parameter for inclusion as we even see a conceptual diagram of a four-stroke internal combustion engine as part of the narrative.

The book is recommended only to serious readers.

Rating: 2 Star