Deep Reads: Strands in the History of Molecular Genetics

Abstract

The history of molecular genetics, its precursors and descendants, is rich in events and colorful characters intertwining through the tumultuous history of the mid20th century. In this second iteration of ‘‘Deep Reads,’’ I try to trace selected strands in the ancestry of the field as told in histories, biographies, and memoirs, some of which I have, unlike Johnson, read through (Image 1). These recommendations form a tale of three successive intellectual utopias. In the first act, the precursors of molecular genetics take hold among physicists, in particular in those around Niels Bohr. In the second act, molecular genetics emerges in the 1940s, spreading out from the phage group and together with structural biology forming the nascent field of molecular biology. In the third act, a diaspora generation of geneticists applies the style of phage genetics to a menagerie of organisms: Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila, zebrafish, and Arabidopsis, among others. First though, for an epic and accessible history of molecular biology and genetics, I, like Jane Gitschier in the 2013 ‘‘Deep Reads,:Recommendations from Jane Gitschier9s Bookshelf ’’ return again to Horace Freeland Judson’s The Eighth Day of Creation (1979, expanded edition in 1996). I first read this as a teenager and remain captivated by Judson’s crisp, drama-filled accounts of discovery, based on countless interviews with the participants. As well as recounting the eureka moments, Judson also gives us the twists and turns, the blind alleys, and the failed experiments. A high point is the story of the maelstrom of experiment and theory that led to the deciphering of the genetic code (Part II, ‘‘RNA: The Functions of the Structure’’). If you read one book on the history of modern genetics, this has to be it!