The sequence hypothesis was first formally proposed in the review "On Protein Synthesis" by Francis Crick in 1958. It states that the sequence of bases in the genetic material ( DNA or RNA) determines the sequence of

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha a ...

s for which that segment of nucleic acid codes, and this amino acid sequence determines the three-dimensional structure into which the

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

folds. The three-dimensional structure of a protein is required for a protein to be functional. This hypothesis then lays the essential link between information stored and inherited in nucleic acids to the chemical processes which enable life to exist. Or, as Crick put it in 1958: This description is further amplified in the article and, in discussing how a protein folds up into its three-dimensional structure, Crick suggested that "the ''folding is simply a function of the order of the amino acids''" in the protein.

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