Question:

Who developed techniques in early 1960s to chemically synthesize polynucleotides ?

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This scientist's synthetic nucleotide sequences helped crack the genetic code and earned a shared 1968 Nobel Prize.
Updated On: Jul 4, 2026
  • James Watson
  • Barbara Mc Clintock
  • Fredrick Sanger
  • Har Gobind Khurana
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The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Har Gobind Khurana developed chemical methods to synthesize specific short polynucleotide sequences (oligonucleotides) of known composition during the early 1960s.
Step 2: These synthetic polynucleotides of defined, repeating sequence were crucial tools used together with cell-free protein synthesis systems to help decipher which triplet codons corresponded to which amino acids, work for which he shared the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Step 3: James Watson is known for co-discovering the DNA double helix structure, Barbara McClintock discovered transposable genetic elements in maize, and Frederick Sanger developed DNA and protein sequencing methods, none of which is the chemical synthesis of polynucleotides described here.
Step 4: So the correct answer is Har Gobind Khurana.
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