Timeline of important events happened in molecular biology and bioinformatics
Click on one of the four time periods to discover the past!
From Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" till Morgan's "Theory of the Gene" |
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1859 |
Charles Darwin published the "On the Origin of Species", introducing that genetic evolution allowed adaptation over time to produce organisms best suited to the environment |
1865 |
Gregor Mendel investigated "traits" passed from parents to prodigy and coined the terms dominant and recessive traits |
1869 |
Johann Meisher isolated DNA from the nuclei of white blood cells |
1875 |
Charles Darwin introduced "gemmules" as mechanism of inheritance |
1902 |
Walter Sutton created term "gene" to describe "factors" located on chromosomes: he observed chromosomal movement during meiosis and developed the chromosomal theory of heredity |
1905-1908 |
William Bateson and Reginal Crudell Punnett demonstrated actions of some genes modify action of other genes: the first time gene regulation was demonstrated |
1910 |
Thomas Hunt Morgan was the first to recognise genes are carried on chromosomes: the basis for modern genetics. He demonstrated the existence of sex-linked genes and expanded trait linkage using "crossing-over" |
1911 |
Alfred Sturtevant, mapped the locations of several fruit fly genes. This was the first genetic map |
1926 |
Thomas Hunt Morgan published the "theory of the gene" based on Mendelian genetics |
From the invention of electrophoresis till the cracking of the genetic code |
|
1933 |
A new technique, electrophoresis, was introduced by Arne Tiselius for separating proteins in solution |
1937 |
Frederick Charles Bawden discovered tobacco mosaic virus RNA |
1944 |
Barbara McClintock reported transposable elements: "jumping genes" |
1946 |
Edward Tatum and Joshua Lederberg discovered that bacteria can exchange genetic material directly through conjugation |
| Max Delbruck and Alfred Day Hershey discovered a combination of genetic material from viruses: genetic recombination | |
1950 |
Erwin Chargaff found that amounts of adenine and thymine and cytosine and guanine in DNA are always about the same. This is now called "Chargaff's Rules" |
1952 |
Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins performed X-ray crystallography studies of DNA, providing crucial information that led to the elucidation of the structure of DNA |
1953 |
James Watson and Francis Crick proposed the double-stranded, helical, complementary, anti-parallel model for DNA |
1955 |
Frederick Sanger announced the first complete sequence of a protein, bovine insulin |
| Arthur Kornberg discovered and isolated DNA polymerase from E. coli bacteria | |
1956 |
Francis Crick and George Gamov worked out the "Central Dogma" to explain protein synthesis from DNA: the DNA sequence codes for amino acid sequences and genetic information flows in one direction - from DNA to mRNA to protein |
1959 |
Francois Jacob and Jacques Monod discovered an important mechanism behind genetic regulation: mappable control functions located on chromosomes in DNA sequence - named "repressor" and "operon" |
1961 |
Marshall Nirenberg, Heinrich Mathaei and Severo Ochoa cracked the "Genetic Code": a sequence of three nucleotide bases (codon) determine each of amino acids |
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From the first Arabidopsis newsletter till the introduction of sequence similarity sequencing |
|
1964 |
First Arabidopsis newsletter, the Arabidopsis Information Service, was published |
1967 |
Mary Weiss and Howard Green found a technique for combining human cells and mouse cells grown in one culture: somatic cell hybridisation |
| The first evolutionary trees from protein sequences were set op by WM Fitch and E Margoliash | |
1970 |
Howard Temin and David Baltimore independently isolated reverse transcriptase, an enzyme that can make DNA from RNA |
| Torbojorn Caspersson and Lore Zech discovered a method for staining mammalian chromosomes to reveal banding | |
1972 |
Paul Berg used a restriction enzyme to cut DNA and ligase to past two DNA strands together to form hybrid circular molecule. This was the first recombinant DNA molecule |
| First successful DNA cloning experiments | |
1973 |
Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer first successfully transfered DNA from one life form into another: a spliced viral DNA and bacterial DNA to create a plasmid with dual antibiotic resistance |
1974 |
Allan Maxam and Walter Gilbert (Harvard) and Frederick Sanger (U.K. Medical Research Council) independently developed different methods for sequencing DNA |
1975 |
Georges Kohler and Cesar Milstein fused antibody-producing B lymphocyte cells with tumor cells that are "immortal" to produce the first monoclonal antibodies |
| Edwin Southern published the experimental details for the Southern Blot technique to identify DNA fragments | |
1977 |
Bacteriophage FX-174 (5368 bp) was the first complete genome (DNA) to be sequenced |
| Richard Roberts’ and Phil Sharp’s labs showed that eukaryotic genes contain many interruptions, called introns. | |
1978 |
Genentech successfully produced human insulin using recombinant DNA technology in E. coli |
| David Botstein discovered the use of restriction enzymes produces different fragments from one person to another, RFLP: restriction fragment length polymorphisms | |
1980 |
Kary Mullis invented the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a method for multiplying DNA sequences in vitro |
1981 |
Gordon and Ruddle (Ohio University) made the first transgenic mice by inserting genes from other animals with DNA microinjection |
| Human mitochondral DNA sequenced (16569 bp) | |
1982 |
Phage lambda genome sequenced (48,502 bp) |
1983 |
First genetic modifed plant is created; a tobacco plant resistant to an antibiotic |
1984 |
Alec Jeffreys developed the technique of using sequences of DNA for identification, called "genetic fingerprinting" |
| Chiron Corp determined the entire sequence of the HIV-1 genome | |
1985 |
FASTP/FASTN introduced: algorithms sequence similarity searching |
From the DNA fluorescence sequencer till the presentation of the human genome |
|
1986 |
Applied Biosystems introduced the first automated DNA fluorescence sequencer |
| The Environmental Protection Agency (USA) approved the release of the first genetically engineered crop: a herbicide resistant tobacco plants | |
1987 |
"Yeast artificial chromosomes", YACs, expression vector for large DNA fragments, were introduced by David Burke |
1988 |
National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) founded at NIH/NLM |
| EMBnet network for database distribution introduced | |
| Clustal multiple alignment algorithm (Higgins) introduced | |
1990 |
Human Genome Project launched: estimated cost of $13 billion (plan 15 years) |
| BLAST: fast sequence similarity searching tool introduced by S. Karlin and S.F. Altshul | |
1991 |
EST: expressed sequence tag sequencing first described by Craig Venter and colleagues: a method for identifying active genes |
1992 |
The Institute for Genome Research (TIGR), associated with plans to exploit sequencing commercially through gene identification and drug discovery, was formed |
| Mel Simon introduced the use of BACs for cloning | |
1993 |
The Sanger Centre, a genome research institute with the purpose to further the knowledge of genomes, was crated in Hinxton, UK |
| The EMBL European Bioinformatics Institute, the centre for research and service for bioinformatics was established in Hinxton, UK | |
1994 |
The FlavrSavr Tomato becomes the first genetic modified food to be approved for sale. A gene expression the enzyme polygalacturonase, which is responsible for the tomato's softness, was introduced by Calgene |
1995 |
First completed sequence of a bacterial genome, Haemophilus influenzae by TIGR |
1996 |
Yeast and E. coli genome completely sequenced |
| Arabidopsis Genome Initiative started | |
| Patrick Brown of Stanford University presented the 'gene chip' containing 6116 different gene specific sequences of the yeast genome | |
| Ian Wilmut at Scotland's Roslin Institute presented"Dolly", a sheep cloned from the cell of an adult mammary gland | |
1998 |
The genome of Caenerhabditis elegans, a small soil nematode, was completely sequenced (97Mb) |
1999 |
Drosophila melanogaster (fruitfly) genome completely sequenced (175 Mb) |
2000 |
Completion of the Arabidopsis thaliana sequence (157 Mb) |
| Human genome draft version finished (3200 Mb) | |
2002 |
Presentation of human genome by Celera Genomics and the collaborating group of laboratories supported by public foundation |
Future goals of molecular biology and bioinformatics research |
|
2010 |
Completion of the 2010 Project: the understanding the function of all genes within their cellular, organismal and evolutionary context of Arabidopsis thaliana |
2050 |
Completion of the first computational model of a complete cell, or maybe even already of a complete organism |
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