Outline of Modern Genetics ► Jean Baptiste Lamarck (French, early 19 th c.): “The Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics” ► Charles Darwin (English, 1859): Species can change through the process of natural selection ► Gregor Mendel (Austrian, 1865): Founder of modern genetics; Experimental discovery of inheritance of traits from one generation to the next; genes as material foundation of heredity
Jean B. Lamarck ( )
Charles Darwin ( )
Gregor Mendel ( )
Modern Genetics ► Thomas Morgan ( ): Located genes at chromosomes and developed modern genetics through experiments on Drosophila—fruit flies ► Oswald Avery ( ) and colleagues: Discovered in 1944 that DNA was the molecule that contained genetic information
Thomas Morgan ( )
Oswald Avery ( )
Watson and Crick ► James Watson (1928-) and Francis Crick ( ): “Cracked” the molecular structure of DNA and explained how the genetic codes were transferred from one generation to another. ► Maurice Wilkins ( ) and Rosalind Franklin ( ): made the crucial contributions to Watson and Crick with their crystallography of DNA
James Watson
Francis Crick
Rosalind Franklin
Maurice Wilkins
Genetics after DNA ► Genetic engineering: 1973, Herbert Boyer and Stan Cohen first transferred genes from one species to another ► Opening the door for genetically engineered drugs and genetically modified organisms, including food. ► 1970s: Golden age of genetically engineering, producing a revolution in pharmaceutical industry and agriculture.
Ethical Issues ► Are we playing God? ► 1970s: Scientists’ self-imposed moratorium on genetic engineering ► Biological warfare: Genetically engineered biological agents ► 1980: Supreme Court allowed genetically modified plant to be patented ► 1990s: The Human Genome Project ► 2000s: Debate over human cloning and therapeutic human embryonic stem cell research ► 2005: Korean scientists simplified human stem cell research, but later discredited