• Biotechnology
• Genetic engineering

Genetics

Genetics is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms. Humans began applying knowledge of genetics in prehistory with the domestication and breeding of plants and animals. In modern research, genetics provides important tools in the investigation of the function of a particular gene, e.g. analysis of genetic interactions. Within organisms, genetic information generally is carried in chromosomes, where it is represented in the chemical structure of particular DNA molecules.

Table of contents

1 Closely-related fields 2 Brief history 3 Timeline of notable discoveries in genetics 4 See also 4.1 Related topics 4.2 People working in genetic research 4.3 Companies related to genetic research 4.4 Research institutes involved in genetics research 4.4.1 Americas 4.4.2 Europe 4.4.3 Asia/Pacific 4.4.4 Africa 4.5 Genetic research watchdog organizations 5 External links 5.6 Related publications 5.7 Associations

Closely-related fields

The study of inherited features not strictly associated with changes in the DNA sequence is called epigenetics.

Some take the view that life can be defined, in molecular terms, as the set of strategies which RNA polynucleotides have used and continue to use to perpetuate themselves. This definition grows out of work on the origin of life, specifically the RNA world hypothesis.

Brief history

From his statistical analysis Mendel defined a concept that he described as an allele, which was the fundamental unit of heredity. The term allele as Mendel used it is nearly synonymous with the term gene, whilst the term allele now means a specific variant of a particular gene.

The significance of Mendel's work was not understood until early in the twentieth century, after his death, when his research was re-discovered by other scientists working on similar problems.

Mendel was unaware of the physical nature of the gene. We now know that genetic information is normally carried on DNA. (Certain viruses store their genetic information in RNA). Manipulation of DNA can in turn alter the inheritance and features of various organisms.

Genes encode the information necessary for synthesizing proteins, which, in turn play a large role in influencing, although, in many instances, do not completely determine, the final phenotype of the organism.

Timeline of notable discoveries in genetics

1859 Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species

1865 Gregor Mendel's paper, Experiments on Plant Hybridization

1903 Chromosomes are discovered to be hereditary units

1905 British biologist William Bateson coins the term "genetics" in a letter to Adam Sedgwick

1910 Chromosomes include genes

1918 Ronald Fisher publishes On the correlation between relatives on the supposition of Mendelian inheritance - the modern synthesis starts.

1913 Gene maps show chromosomes containing linear arranged genes

1927 Physical changes in genes are called mutations

1928 Frederick Griffith discovers a hereditary molecule that is transmissible between bacteria (see Griffiths experiment)

1931 Crossing over is the cause of recombination

1944 Oswald Theodore Avery, Colin McLeod and Maclyn McCarty isolate DNA as the genetic material (at that time called transforming principle)

1945 Genes code for proteins; see the original central dogma of genetics

1950 Erwin Chargaff shows that the four nucleotides are not present in nucleic acids in stable proportions, but that some general rules appear to hold (e.g., that the amount of adenine, A, tends to be equal to that of thymine, T).

1952 The Hershey-Chase experiment proves the genetic information of phages (and all other organisms) to be DNA

1953 DNA structure is resolved to be a double helix by James D. Watson and Francis Crick

1958 The Meselson-Stahl experiment demonstrates that DNA is semiconservatively replicated

1961 The genetic code is arranged in triplets

1977 DNA is sequenced

1997 First genome sequenced

2001 First draft sequences of the human genome are released simultaneously by the Human Genome Project and Celera Genomics.

2003 (14 April) Successful completion of Human Genome Project with 99% of the genome sequenced to a 99.99% accuracy [1]

• biology
• genetic screen
• genomics
• central dogma of genetics
• gene regulatory network
• bioinformatics
• Important publications in genetics.

• Craig Venter
• Svante Pääbo

• Affymetrix, UK [1]
• Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA [1]
• Celera Genomics
• Genentech, San Francisco, CA [1]
• Applera Norwalk, CT [1]
• Genetix, Hampshire, UK [1]
• The NanoAging Institute, Québec, UK [1]

Americas

• Arizona, USA
  • Translational Genomics Research Institute, Phoenix founded in July of 2002 [1]

• Arkansas, USA
  • Whitetail Genetic Research Institute, Jerusalem, [1]

• California, USA
  • Genetic Information Research Institute, Mountain View founded 1994 [1]
  • Stanford University, Stanford, California [1]

• Florida, USA
  • University of Florida Genetics Institute, Miami [1]

• Maryland, USA
  • The Institute of Genetic Research, founded in 1992 by Craig Venter
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase [1]

• Massachusetts, USA
  • Whitehead Institute Center for Genome Research, Cambridge, USA, [1]

• New York, USA
  • Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, [1]

• Washington, DC, USA
  • Research Institute for Genetic and Human Therapy - Instituto di Ricerca per la Terapia Genetica Umana, [1]

• USA
  • Center for the Advancement of Genomics
  • National Human Genome Research Institute founded 1989 [1]
  • Washington University, St. Louis, [1]

• Austria
  • Institut für Forstgenetik, Vienna [1]

• Germany
  • Zentrum für genetische Forschung, (part of Max-Planck-Institute für Psychiatrie und Biochemie) München
  • Institut für Humangenetik, Hamburg [1]
  • Institut für Humangenetik, (Klinikum der Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg), Heidelberg [1]
  • Institut für Humangenetik, (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität), Erlangen-Nürnberg [1]
  • Institut für Humangenetik (Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität), Bonn [1]
  • Institut für Humangenetik, (Universität Lübeck), Lübeck [1]
  • Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin [1]
  • European Molecular Biology Lab (EMBL), Heidelberg

• Italy
  • International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Maccarese (Fiumicino) [1]

• UK
  • Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge [1]
  • Imperial College Genetics and Genomics Research Institute, Hammersmith Hospital, London [1]

• Australia
  • Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation [1]

• Hong Kong
  • Chinese University of Hong Kong, [1]
  • Hong Kong Institute of Biotechnology, [1]
  • Institute of Molecular Biology, Hong Kong, [1]

• China
  • Beijing Genomics Institute, Beijing , Beijing Genomics Institute website
  • The National Human Genome Centre in Southern China, Shanghai
  • The National Human Genome Centre in Northern China, Beijing
  • Huada Human Genome Research Centre
  • Bio Island Haizhu, Guangzhou [1]
  • The Human Genome Centre of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS)

• Singapore
  • Biopolis, Singapore [1]
  • Genome Institute of Singapore [1]
  • Bioinformatik Institute, Singapore [1]
  • Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology [1]
  • Bioinformatics Center, Singapore [1]

• Kenya
  • International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, [1]

• GeneWatch [1], UK
• Smallpox Bio Security [1] Conference 21-22 Oct 2003, Geneva, Switzerland
• Sunshine Project [1], Hamburg, Germany and Austin, |TX

• Cell
• Molecular Cell
• Nature Genetics
• Nature Neuroscience
• Human Molecular Genetics
• Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) [1]
• American Journal of Human Genetics
• Trends in Endocrinology Met
• Nature Genomics
• European Journal of Human Genetics
• Pharmacogenetics
• Endocrinology Journal
• Journal of Clinical Endorcrinology and Metaboli
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