A History of Molecular Biology

by Morange, Michel; Cobb, Matthew

• ISBN13: 9780674001695
• ISBN10: 0674001699
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-03-01
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

Every day it seems the media focus on yet another new development in biology--gene therapy, the human genome project, the creation of new varieties of animals and plants through genetic engineering. These possibilities have all emanated from molecular biology. A History of Molecular Biology is a complete but compact account for a general readership of the history of this revolution. Michel Morange, himself a molecular biologist, takes us from the turn-of-the-century convergence of molecular biology's two progenitors, genetics and biochemistry, to the perfection of gene splicing and cloning techniques in the 1980s. Drawing on the important work of American, English, and French historians of science, Morange describes the major discoveries--the double helix, messenger RNA, oncogenes, DNA polymerase--but also explains how and why these breakthroughs took place. The book is enlivened by mini-biographies of the founders of molecular biology: Delbruuml;ck, Watson and Crick, Monod and Jacob, Nirenberg. This ambitious history covers the story of the transformation of biology over the last one hundred years; the transformation of disciplines: biochemistry, genetics, embryology, and evolutionary biology; and, finally, the emergence of the biotechnology industry. An important contribution to the history of science, A History of Molecular Biology will also be valued by general readers for its clear explanations of the theory and practice of molecular biology today. Molecular biologists themselves will find Morange's historical perspective critical to an understanding of what is at stake in current biological research.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Birth of Molecular Biology

The Roots of the New Science

The One Gene One Enzyme Hypothesis

The Chemical Nature of the Gene

The Phage Group

The Birth of Bacterial Genetics

The Crystallization of the Tobacco Mosaic Virus

The Role of the Physicists

The Influence of the Rockefeller Foundation

The Introduction of Physical Techniques

The Role of Physics

The Development of Molecular Biology

The Discovery of the Double Helix

Deciphering the Genetic Code

The Discovery of Messenger RNA

The French School

The Expansion of Molecular Biology

Normal Science

Genetic Engineering

Split Genes and Splicing

A New Molecular Biology

The Discovery of Oncogenes

From DNA Polymerase to the Amplification of DNA

Molecular Biology in the Life Sciences

Appendix: Definition of Terms

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

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