Genetics Through the Ages
	A genetic timeline 1700's 1800's 1900 - 1925 1926 - 1950 1951 - 1975 1976 - 2000 The Future 1700's 1761-67 - J.G. Kolreuter carries out crosses between various species of Nicotiana and finds that the hybrids are quantitatively intermediate between their parents in appearance. The hybrids from reciprocal crosses are indistinguishable. He concludes that each parent contributes equally to the characteristics of the off spring. 1779 - The particular importance of human color blindness is reported to the Royal Society of London by M. Lort 1794 - Erasmus Darwin (Charles Darwin's grandfather) Publishes Zoonomia or the Laws of Organic Life Erasmus Darwin 1798 - Publication of Malthus' Essay on the Principle of Population, a work that Charles Darwin asserted helped him frame the principle of evolution by natural selection. 1800's 1809 - Jean Baptiste de Lamarck's theory of evolution presented with the publication of his Philosophie Zoologique, which emphasized the fundamental unity of life and the capacity of species to vary. Jean Baptiste de Lamarck 1822-24 - T.A. Knight, J. Goss, and A. Seton all indecently perform crosses with the pea and observe dominance in the immediate progeny, and segregation of various hereditary characters in the next generation. However, they do not study later generations or determine the numerical ratios in which the characters are transmitted. 1823 - Thomas Andrew Knight confirmed reports of dominance, recessivity, and segregation in peas, but did not detect regularities. 1830 -33 - Charles Lyell's multi-volume Principles of Geology appear, advancing the theory of uniformitarianism, i.e., the view that geological formations are explainable in terms of forces and conditions observable at present. 1831- Robert Brown published his observations reporting the discovery and widespread occurrence of nuclei in cells. 1838 - M.J. Schleiden and T. Schwann develop the cell theory. Schleiden notes nucleoli within nuclei. 1855 - Rudolf Virchow states the principle that new cells come into being only by division of previously existing cells: "Omnis cellula e cellula" 1858 - Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace jointly announce the theory of natural selection-that members of a population who are better adapted to the environment survive and pass on their traits. Charles Darwin 1859 - Charles Darwin published "The Origin of Species" 1864 - Louis Pasteur refutes the doctrine of spontaneous generation. 1866 - Austrian Monk botanist and monk Gregor Mendel proposes basic laws of heredity based on crossbreeding experiments that discovered the inheritance of "factors" with pea plants. His findings, published in a local natural-history journal, are largely ignored for more than 30 years. Gregor Mendel conducted experiments with pea plants and was the first to propose basic laws of heredity. 1866 - Ernst Heinrich Haeckel hypothesizes that the nucleus of a cell transmits its hereditary information. 1869 - F. Galton publishes Hereditary Genius. In it he describes a scientific study of human pedigrees from which he concludes that intelligence has a genetic basis. 1871 - Charles Darwin publishes Descent of Man, in which the role of sexual selection in evolution is described for the first time. 1873 - Anton Schneider observed and described the behavior of nuclear filaments (chromosomes) during cell division in his study of the platyhelminth Mesostomsa. His account was the first accurate description of the process of mitosis in animal cells. During mitosis, replicated chromosomes separate and form new cells. 1875 - F. Galton demonstrates the usefulness of twin studies for elucidating the relative influence of nature (heredity) and nurture (environment) upon behavioral traits. 1882 - While examining salamander larvae under a microscope, German embryologist Walther Fleming spots tiny threads within the cells' nuclei that appear to be dividing. The threads will later turn out to be chromosomes. 1884-88 - Identification of the cell nucleus as the basis for inheritance was independently reported by Oscar Hertwig, Eduard Strasburger, Albrecht von Kolliker and August Weismann. 1899 - First International Congress of Genetics held in London. 1900 - 1925 1900 - Carl Correns Hugo de Vries and Erich von Tschermak indecently discovered and verified Mendel's experiments, making the beginning of modern genetics 1905 - Nettie Stevens and Edmund Wilson intently described the behavior of sex chromosomes -XX determines female; XY determines male. 1908 - Archibald Garrod proposed that some human diseases are due to "inborn errors of metabolism" that result form the lack of a specific enzyme. 1909 - Identification of the chemical composition of DNA, a long molecular chain of phosphate and sugar. Term "gene" is first used. 1910 - U.S. biologist Thomas Hunt Morgan's experiments with fruit flies reveal that some genetically determined traits are sex linked. His work also confirms that the genes determining these traits reside on chromosomes. 1913 - A.H. Sturtevant, and undergraduate working with Morgan at Columbia, provides the experimental basis for the linkage concept in fruit flies and produces the first genetic map. An example of a genetic map for chromosome 11. 1926 - 1950 1926-1927 - U.S. biologist Hermann Muller discovers that X-rays can cause genetic mutations in fruit flies X-rays such as those taken at a hospital can cause genetic mutations. 1928 - Fred Griffith proposed that some unknown "principle" had transformed the harmless R strain of Diplococcus to the virulent S strain. 1931 - Harriet B. Creighton and Barbara McClintock demonstrated the cytological proof for crossing-over in maize 1932 - Publication of Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World, which presents a dystopian view of genetic engineering. 1933 - T. H. Morgan receives a Nobel Prize in Medicine for his development of the theory of the gene; He is the first geneticist to receive this award. 1941 - George Beadle and Edward Tatum irradiated the red bread mold, Neurospora, and proved that the gene produces its effect by regulating particular enzymes. 1944 - Working with pneumococcus bacteria, Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod and Maclyn McCarty prove the DNA, not protein, is the hereditary material in most living organisms. 1945 - Max Delbruck organized a phage course at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, which was taught for 26 consecutive years. This course was the training ground of the first two generations of molecular biologists. 1946 - Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded to H.J. Muller for his contributions to radiation genetics Late 1940's - Barbara McClintock developed the hypothesis of transposable elements to explain color variations in corn 1948 - J. Lederberg and N. Zinder, and, independently, B.D. Davis develop the penicillin selection technique for isolating biochemically deficient bacterial mutants. 1950 - Erwin Chargaff discovered a one-to-one ratio of adenine to thymine to guanine to cytosine in DNA samples from a variety of organisms. 1950 - British physician Douglas Bevis describes how amniocentesis can be used to test fetuses for Rh-factor incompatibility. The prenatal test will later be used to screen for a battery of genetic disorders The prenatal test not only tests for pregnancy but can be used to test for genetic disorders as well. 1951 - 1975 1951 - Rosalind Franklin obtained sharp X-ray diffraction photographs of DNA 1952 - Martha Chase and Alfred Hershey used phages in which protein was labeled with 35S and the DNA with 32P for the final proof that DNA is the molecule of heredity. 1952 - J. Lederberg and E.M. Lederberg invent the replica for plating technique 1953 - American biochemist James Watson and British biophysicist Francis Crick announce their discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule that carries the genetic code. The double helix structure of DNA carries the genetic code 1958 - Matthew Meselson and Frank Stahl used isotopes of nitrogen to prove the semi conservative replication of DNA 1958 - Arthur Kronberg purified DNA polymerase I from E.coli, the first enzyme that made DNA in a test tube 1964 - Stanford geneticist Charles Yanofsky and colleagues prove that the sequence of nucleotides in DNA corresponds exactly to the sequence of amino acids in proteins. 1966 - Marshall Nirenberg and H. Gobind Khorana led teams that cracked the genetic code - that triplet mRNA codons specify each of the twenty amino acids. 1969 - A Harvard Medical School team isolates the first gene: a snippet of bacterial DNA that plays a role in the metabolism of sugar. 1970 - University of Wisconsin researchers synthesize a gene from scratch. First artificial gene is made. 1970 - Hamilton Smith and Kent Wilcox isolated the first restriction enzyme, HindII that could cut DNA molecules within specific recognition sites. 1972 - Paul Berg and Herb Boyer produced the first recombinant DNA molecules. 1973 - American biochemists Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer insert a gene from an African clawed toad into bacterial DNA, where it begins to work. Their experiment marks the beginning of genetic engineering. 1973 - Joseph Sambrook led the team at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory that refined DNA electrophoresis by using agarose gel and staining with ethidium bromide. 1973 - Annie Chang and Stanley Cohen showed that a recombinant DNA molecule could be maintained and replicated in E. coli. 1975 - International meeting at Asilomar, California urged the adoption of guidelines regulating recombinant DNA experimentation. 1976 - 2000 1976 - The first genetic-engineering company, Genetech, is founded in South San Francisco Genetech, the first genetic engineering company was founded in 1976. They used recombinant DNA methods to make medical drugs. 1977 - Fred Sanger developed the chain termination (dideoxy) method for sequencing DNA. 1978 - Scientist from Genetech, a Durate, Calif., medical center clone the gene for human insulin. 1978 - Somatostatin became the first human hormone produced using recombinant DNA technology. 1980 - Researchers successfully introduce a human gene - one that codes for the protein interferon -- into a bacterium. 1980 - Martin Cline and co-workers create a transgenic mouse, transferring functional genes from one animal into another. 1981 - Three independent research teams announced the discovery of human oncogenes (cancer genes). 1982 - The U. S. Food and Drug Administration approves the first genetically engineered drug, a form of human insulin produced by bacteria. A diabetes patient gives herself a shot of insulin to keep her blood sugar level in check. 1983 - James Gusella used blood samples collected by Nancy Wexler and her co-workers to demonstrate that the Huntington's disease gene is on chromosome 4. 1983 - While driving along a California highway, Kary Mullis, a biochemist at Cetus Corp., conceives of the so-called polymerase chain reaction, of PCR, a technique that will enable scientists to rapidly reproduce tiny snippets of DNA. 1985 - Kary B. Mullis published a paper describing the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the most sensitive essay for DNA yet devised. 1985 - First use of genetic fingerprinting in a criminal investigation. Criminals are fingerprinted in order to keep accurate records of them 1986 - The FDA approves the first genetically engineered vaccine for humans, for hepatitis B. 1988 - Harvard University is awarded the first patent for genetically altered animal, a mouse that is highly susceptible to breast cancer. 1988 - The human Genome Project began with the goal of determining the entire sequence of DNA composing human chromosomes. Human Genome Project 1989 - Creation of the National Center of Human Genome Research, headed by James Watson, which will oversee the $3 billion U.S. effort to map and sequence all human DNA by 2005 1989 - Alec Jeffreys coined the term DNA fingerprinting and was the first to use DNA polymorphisms in paternity, immigration, and murder cases. 1989 - Francis Collins and Lap-Chee Tsui identified the gene coding for the cystic fibrosis transmembrance conductance regulator protein (CFTR) on the chromosome 7 that, when mutant, causes cystic fibrosis. 1990 - Human Genome Project - a U.S. led effort by public-sector scientists to map genetic code - is launched. The novel Jurassic Park was made into a major motion picture. 1990 - First gene replacement therapy - T cells of a four-year old girl were exposed outside of her body to retrovirus containing an RNA copy of a normal ADA gene. This allowed her immune system to begin functioning. 1990 - American geneticist W. French Anderson performs the first gene therapy on a four-year-old girl with an immune-system disorder called ADA deficiency. 1990 - Publication of Michael Crichton's novel Jurassic Park, in which bioengineered dinosaurs roam a paleontological theme park; the experiment goes awry, with deadly results. 1991 - Analyzing chromosomes from women in cancer-prone families, Mary-Claire King, of the University of California, Berkeley, finds evidence that a gene on chromosome 17 causes the inherited form of breast cancer and also increases the risk of ovarian cancer. 1992 - The U.S. army begins collecting blood and tissue samples from all new recruits as part of a "genetic dog tag" program aimed at better identification of soldiers killed in combat. 1992 - American and British scientists unveil a technique for testing embryos in vitro for genetic abnormalities such as cystic fibrosis and hemophilia. 1993 - FlavrSavr tomatoes, genetically engineered for longer shelf life, were marketed. 1993 - After analyzing the family trees of gay men and DNA of pairs of homosexual brothers, biochemists at the U.S. National Cancer Institute report that at least on gene related to homosexuality resides on the X chromosome, which is inherited from the mother. 1993 - George Washington researchers clone human embryos and nurture them in a Perti dish for several days. The project provokes protests from ethicists, politicians and critics of genetic engineering. 1993 - An international research team, led by Daniel Cohen, of the Center for the Study of Human Polymorphisms in Paris, produces a rough map of all 23 pairs of human chromosomes. 1995 - Researchers at Duke University Medical Center report that they have transplanted hearts form genetically altered pigs into baboons. All three transgenic hearts survived at least a few hours, proving that cross-species operations are possible. 1995 - Former Football player O.J.Simpson is found not guilty in a high profile double murder trial in which PCR and DNA fingerprinting play a prominent but apparently unpersuasive role. 1996 - Genetic map of brewer's yeast is decoded, the most complex organism so far. 1997 - Researchers at Scotland's Roslin Institute. Led by embryologist Iam Wilmut, report that they have cloned a sheep - named Dolly - from the cell of an adult ewe. Dolly the first cloned animal 1998 - A private-sector rival, Celera Genomics, joins the human genome race. A nematode worm (C. elegans) is the first multi-celled animal to have its genome decrypted. 1998 - Biologist Craig Venter announces ambitious plans to decode the entire human genome by 2001. 1998 - University of Hawaii scientists, using a variation of Wilmut's technique, clone a mouse, creating not only dozens of copies but also three generations of cloned clones. 1998 - DNA analyses of semen stains on a dress worn by Monica Lewinsky match DNA from a blood sample taken from President Clinton. 1998 - DNA testing proves that U.S. president Thomas Jefferson had at least one child with on of his slaves, Sally Hemings. 1998 - Two research teams succeed in growing embryonic stem cells. 1998 - Scientists at Japan's Kinki University clone eight identical calves using cells taken from a single adult cow. 2000 - U.S. President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair make a joint appeal for genome sequence to be made freely available to the world. 2000 - Birth of KnowledGENE.com The Future 2003 - The Human Genome Project's current target date for sequencing all human DNA.