Emergence of Molecular Genetics

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Molecular genetics is defined as a scientific discipline concerned with the structure, function, and manipulation of genes at the molecular level.  It begins to emerge in 1871 from the discovery of Nucleic acid by F. Meister and the description of cell division in 1875 by E Strausberger but it grows rapidly after the rediscovery of Mendel’s paper in 1900. Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance by Sutton and bovery in 1902 laid the foundation for the molecular basis of the inheritance of genes from parents to offspring followed by detailed descriptions of events like sex linkage by T.H Morgan in 1910 and QTL Mapping by sax in 1923.

The theory of one gene-one enzyme hypothesis was proposed by Beadle and Tatum in 1941 which help in understanding various metabolic pathways. An important breakthrough in the field of genetics is marked in 1953 when the double helix model of DNA was proposed by Watson and Crick, resulting in a huge curiosity among the scientists to know about the molecular mechanism. In vitro synthesis of DNA  in 1956 by Kornberg and explanation of the flow of genetic information within a biological system via Central Dogma of life by Francis Crick in 1957 gives the direction to solve many complex phenomena. Operon concept of gene regulation was given by Jacob and Monad in 1961 and the discovery of mRNA by Brenner, Jacob, and Meselson help the scientific community in understanding events like translation and transcription. Interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis by Har Gobind Khorana in 1967 helped in understanding the gene expression. 


The invention of instruments like PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) by Kary Mullis and techniques like DNA Fingerprinting by Alec Jeffrey in 1985 makes the wet lab experiments convenient. Further advancements in genome editing like CRISPR (Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) and Bioinformatics software in analyzing and sequencing the genome of different species are exploring new areas of genetics to understand different problems like aging and genetic disorders.

In conclusion, the emergence of molecular genetics and its current applications are helping us in understanding the biological system for the benefit of human welfare.




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