"It's a good bet that this is one of the body's master molecules," said Gregor Eichele, a cellular physiologist at Harvard Medical School and a leading researcher in retinoic acid.

Very early in development, a master molecule shuts down thousands of genes on one of the female's X chromosomes, to prevent her from receiving a potentially lethal double dose of genes.

Like the one ring of power in Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings," deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the master molecule of every cell.

There has always been a dispute over which biological molecules came first, proteins or DNA, the master genetic molecule that contains the information to make proteins.

Some respond by trying to capture media attention: thus the gene becomes a 'master molecule' and the genome the 'Book of Man'.

Thus, the "master molecule" requires many servants.

In 1953, James D. Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of the master molecule of life, DNA.

We know that the master molecules of living organisms on the earth are the proteins and the nucleic acids.

Foremost among them is the molecule that makes elephants elephants and humans human - the master molecule, DNA.

Laboratory analysis of them repeatedly found signs of DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, the master molecule of heredity and life.