Who Owns DNA, and how It Can Be Patented

The discovery of DNA by Watson and Crick had revealed its principle structure and that DNA is not only as the carrier molecule of genetic information but also represent the beginning of the molecular understanding of genes. Since then the central dogma of molecular biology is established, the concept of that DNA is transcribed to RNA then RNA can be translated to proteins, which can regulate and have functions in our body is well known all around. Of course, the details of the pathway is getting more and more complex as technology improves, but the general rule of central dogma still holds truth. It is believed that DNA base pairs sequence so called genetic codes when can be related to amino acid sequence is nearly universal to all living organisms. As the physical structure of genes was first established by work in bacteria it soon became evident that transcription of DNA into RNA and translation of RNA into protein occurred simultaneously (Brenner et al., 1961; Imamoto and Ito, 1968). In eukaryotes the gene structure was assumed to be the same although the synthesized RNA has to be transported from the nucleus to the cytoplasm where it can be translated into protein.…