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<p>As discussed earlier in this series, rediscovery of Mendel’s laws of inheritance in 1900 was followed by Morgan’s introduction of <i>Drosophila</i> for genetic studies, whose group studied the finer nuances of inheritance using mutant phenotypes for inferring the existence of genes and understanding their properties. Within the first decade of the 1900s, several researchers, including Cuénot, Garrod, Durham, and Wheldon, suggested Mendelian factors to affect enzymes, with Garrod specifically identifying diseases like alkaptonuria, cystinuria, etc., as ‘inborn errors of metabolism’. These suggestions remained ignored by geneticists and biochemists for nearly three decades, until Beadle, a fly geneticist, collaborating initially with embryologist Ephrussi and later with biochemist Tatum, undertook experiments to understand how genes act. Beadle and Ephrussi transplanted <i>Drosophila</i> larval imaginal eye discs (that differentiate into adult eyes) of one eye colour mutant type into larvae of another eye colour genotype. They concluded that a gene’s product converts one precursor to the next in the pigment biosynthesis cascade. Using <i>Neurospora</i>, Beadle and Tatum in 1941 directly correlated mutated nutritional requirements with specific enzymes in biosynthetic pathways, leading to ‘one gene–one enzyme’ concept. Historically, the recurring theme of ignorance of far-reaching suggestions, like those of Mendel, Cuénot, Garrod, and others, for decades, reflects the insufficient background understanding that prevents others from imbibing pathbreaking suggestions. The human habit of possessively ‘guarding’ one’s own study field with little inter-disciplinary interactions also blocks the rapid adoption of novel ideas.</p>

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Tracing the Roots of Molecular Biology

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年11月1日

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  • Subhash C. Lakhotia

摘要

As discussed earlier in this series, rediscovery of Mendel’s laws of inheritance in 1900 was followed by Morgan’s introduction of Drosophila for genetic studies, whose group studied the finer nuances of inheritance using mutant phenotypes for inferring the existence of genes and understanding their properties. Within the first decade of the 1900s, several researchers, including Cuénot, Garrod, Durham, and Wheldon, suggested Mendelian factors to affect enzymes, with Garrod specifically identifying diseases like alkaptonuria, cystinuria, etc., as ‘inborn errors of metabolism’. These suggestions remained ignored by geneticists and biochemists for nearly three decades, until Beadle, a fly geneticist, collaborating initially with embryologist Ephrussi and later with biochemist Tatum, undertook experiments to understand how genes act. Beadle and Ephrussi transplanted Drosophila larval imaginal eye discs (that differentiate into adult eyes) of one eye colour mutant type into larvae of another eye colour genotype. They concluded that a gene’s product converts one precursor to the next in the pigment biosynthesis cascade. Using Neurospora, Beadle and Tatum in 1941 directly correlated mutated nutritional requirements with specific enzymes in biosynthetic pathways, leading to ‘one gene–one enzyme’ concept. Historically, the recurring theme of ignorance of far-reaching suggestions, like those of Mendel, Cuénot, Garrod, and others, for decades, reflects the insufficient background understanding that prevents others from imbibing pathbreaking suggestions. The human habit of possessively ‘guarding’ one’s own study field with little inter-disciplinary interactions also blocks the rapid adoption of novel ideas.