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