Editing Frederick Sanger (section)

===Sequencing RNA===
From 1951 Sanger was a member of the external staff of the [[Medical Research Council (UK)|Medical Research Council]]<ref name=nobelbio/> and when they opened the [[Laboratory of Molecular Biology]] in 1962, he moved from his laboratories in the Biochemistry Department of the university to the top floor of the new building. He became head of the Protein Chemistry division.<ref name=brownlee/><!--segment 26-->

Prior to his move, Sanger began exploring the possibility of sequencing RNA molecules and began developing methods for separating ribonucleotide fragments generated with specific nucleases. This work he did while trying to refine the sequencing techniques he had developed during his work on insulin.<ref name=markspath/>

The key challenge in the work was finding a pure piece of RNA to sequence. In the course of the work he discovered in 1964, with Kjeld Marcker, the [[formylmethionine|formylmethionine tRNA]] which initiates protein synthesis in bacteria.<ref>{{Harvnb|Marcker|Sanger|1964}}</ref> He was beaten in the race to be the first to sequence a [[tRNA]] molecule by a group led by [[Robert W. Holley|Robert Holley]] from [[Cornell University]], who published the sequence of the 77 ribonucleotides of [[alanine]] tRNA from ''[[Saccharomyces cerevisiae]]'' in 1965.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Holley | first1 = R. W. | last2 = Apgar | first2 = J. | last3 = Everett | first3 = G. A. | last4 = Madison | first4 = J. T. | last5 = Marquisee | first5 = M. | last6 = Merrill | first6 = S. H. | last7 = Penswick | first7 = J. R. | last8 = Zamir | first8 = A. | doi = 10.1126/science.147.3664.1462 | title = Structure of a Ribonucleic Acid | journal = Science | volume = 147 | issue = 3664 | pages = 1462–1465 | year = 1965 | pmid =  14263761|bibcode = 1965Sci...147.1462H | s2cid = 40989800 }}</ref> By 1967 Sanger's group had determined the nucleotide sequence of the [[5S ribosomal RNA]] from ''[[Escherichia coli]]'', a small RNA of 120 nucleotides.<ref>{{Harvnb|Brownlee|Sanger|Barrell|1967}}; {{Harvnb|Brownlee|Sanger|Barrell|1968}}</ref>