A History of Genetics and Genomics

Phil McClean
September 2011

Genomics is a recent convergence of many sciences including genetics, molecular

biology, biochemistry, statistics and computer sciences. Before scientists even uttered the word
genomics, these other fields were richly developed. Of these fields, the history of genetics and
molecular biology are particularly relevant to the techniques, experimental designs, and
intellectual approaches used in genomics. The development of computers and the internet has
provided researchers ready access to the large body of information generated throughout the
world. Table 1 is an extensive history of the major developments in these fields. The narrative
will try to unify some of these discoveries into major findings.

Mid to Late 19th Century: Evolution, Natural Selection, Particulate Inheritance and Nuclein

Understanding origins is a constant pursuit of man. In the 1858, our understanding of the
origin of species and how species variability arose was revolutionized by the research of Darwin
and Wallace. They described how new species arose via evolution and how natural selection
uses natural variation to evolve new forms. The importance of this discovery was reflected in
the now famous quote of Dobzhansky:

“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.”

- Theodore Dobzhansky, The American Biology Teacher, March 1973

A few years later, Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk, summarized his years of research
on peas in his famous publication. In that paper, he described the unit of heredity as a particle
that does not change. This was in contrast to the prevailing “blending theory of inheritance.”
Equally important, Mendel formalized the importance of developing pure (genotypically
homozygous) lines, keeping careful notes, and statistically analyzing the data. His approach of
crossing individuals with variable phenotypes and following them in successive generations is
still the only approach utilized to understand the genetic inheritance of a trait. Others in this
century were concluding that statistical approaches to biology would help solve problems in
biology and inheritance.

Research in the 19th century was often performed in isolation. While Mendel was
concluding that inheritance was particulate in nature, others were trying to figure out the physical
nature of the particle. Haeckel correctly predicted that the heredity material was located in the
nucleus. Miescher showed the material in the nucleus was a nucleic acid. Others observed the
behavior of chromosomes and suggested they had a role in heredity. One wonders how concepts
might have evolved if information was mobile at that time as it is today.
Early 20th Century: Mendelian Principles are extended and the Chromosomal Theory of
Inheritance solidifies

Except for his early adult years, Mendel did not have an active research program.
Therefore, his groundbreaking research went largely unnoticed. It was not until 1900 that others,
who had performed similar experiments to his, arrived at the same conclusions. Their
publications cited his work, leading to a rediscovery of the Mendelian principles. Quickly
following the rediscovery, other genetic principles such as linkage, lethal genes, and a bit later,
maternal inheritance were described. In each case, the principles provided to be simple
extensions of the Mendelian laws, providing further evidence of their importance.

At the beginning of the century, the work on chromosomes coalesced into the
chromosomal theory of inheritance. This theory focused research on the chromosome as the
location of genes. The field of cytogenetics was based on this discovery. The first observations
of chromosomal abnormalities (duplications, deletions, translocations, inversions) are reported.
Observations such as position effect demonstrate that there is a direct link between chromosome
structure and phenotype. All of these discoveries justified research to discover the physical basis
of heredity.

Mid 20th Century: DNA is the stuff of life; the preeminence of the Darwinian theory of
evolution via natural selection is confirmed

As early as the 1870s, the material in the nucleus was determined to be a nucleic acid.
From the 1920s through the mid-1950s, a series of experiments demonstrated that DNA was
indeed the genetic material. The transformation experiments of Griffith demonstrated that a
factor found in a lethal strain of bacteria could convert a non-lethal strain of the bacteria into a
lethal strain. It was the careful experiments of Avery, MacLeod and McCarty that determined
DNA, not protein or RNA was the factor responsible for the conversion. This was further
confirmed by Hershey and Chase, although their experiments had flaws which prevented them
from being definitive. Watson and Crick determined the structure of DNA, and others suggested
that DNA contained a genetic code. By the mid 1960s that code was deciphered. Experiments
involving the process of transcription and translation led to the development of the “central
dogma of molecular biology” concept by Crick.

The experiments of the early 19th century that confirmed that Mendelian principles could
be extended to many gene systems became a major component of what was to be called the
Modern synthesis (on neo-Darwinism). The experimental demonstration that mutations could be
induced was also an important component of the solidification of the concept that natural
selection was a major factor in evolution. Finally, the theories embodied in population genetics
were also critical. The synthesis states that mutations create variation; recombination develops
new forms, the variation extends through the population, and based on environmental constraints
the variation is finally acted upon by the forces of natural selection to produce more fit
individuals.

2
Mid-late 20th Century and the Early Days of the 21st Century: The Age of Molecular Genetics;
Phylogenetics Studies Intensive; The Information Age; The Emergence of Genomics Science

The discoveries of the mid to late 20th century defined processes that would provide the
tools for molecular biology, recombinant DNA technology, and finally the biotechnology
industry. The elucidation of the process of DNA replication described the necessary components
needed for the widely-used chain termination DNA sequencing procedure. Understanding
replication helped determine those tools necessary for the radiolabelling of DNA. The
development was necessary to support Southern hybridizations and the early molecular mapping
experiments. Understanding replication also defined the role of the ligase enzyme that is so
critical for DNA cloning. Restriction enzymes were discovered and used to construct
recombinant DNA molecules that contained foreign DNA that could be grown in abundance in
bacterial cells. The discovery of reverse transcriptase also enabled cDNA cloning which is
essential for the modern EST projects. Cloning is essential for the discovery of gene structure
and function. It is also an essential step for all of the genome sequencing projects. The
importance of the PCR procedure cannot be emphasized enough.

The advent of protein and DNA sequencing launched a new era of phylogenetics.
Species could now be compared at the molecular level. New procedures for the development of
phylogenies are developed. The neutral theory of molecular evolution is proposed. This is a
direct attack on preeminence of selection as the driving force of evolution. The theory suggests
that most mutations are neutral and are fixed by genetic drift and not selection. It is debated
whether the evolution of species is driven more by neutral effects or selection. Some feel the
two theories are compatible and exert their effects on different genes.

The information age is essential to genomics. The electronic analysis, distribution and
storage of genomic data is a hallmark of the science. Critical to this was the development of
computers, both large and small, which put computing power in the hands of all scientists. The
free distribution of analytical software provided scientists with the tools to study the details of
their experiments. The internet spawned the distribution of information from central databases.
E-mail connected scientists and fostered the rapid exchange of ideas. The advent of the WWW
provided a new medium for the presentation of information.

Whole genome are sequenced for the first time. For other species, the gene content is
described using ESTs. Microarray analyses provided the first glimpse of global expression
patterns. Proteomics begins to describe the protein component of the genome. Metabolomics is
established.

Massively parallel sequencing technology is introduced. This new technology greatly

increases the amount of DNA sequence that can be collected in a short period. It will also
dramatically decrease the cost of sequencing. Importantly it launches the age of individual
genome sequencing which will support an era of individualized medicine.

3
Table 1. An annotated history of genetics and genomics.

Year Who Discovery

1858 Charles Darwin These scientists jointly announced the theory of evolution
Alfred Russell Wallace via natural selection. Darwin, an upper class
Englishman, had lectured about the topic, but it took the
insistence of Wallace, a commoner who independently
realized the same concept, for him to publicly state the
theory.
1859 Charles Darwin Publication of “The Origins of Species”, a treatise that
formally outlined the theory of evolution via natural
selection
1865 Gregor Mendel The concept of particulate (gene) inheritance was
established. The laws of segregation and independent
assortment were demonstrated. The publication is entitled
“Experiments in Plant Hybridization” and outlines the
famous “pea experiments.”
1866 Ernst Haeckel Proposes the idea that the hereditary material resides in
the nucleus.
1871 Friedrich Miescher The term nuclein is used for the material found inside the
nucleus of a cell. Further experiments (1874) revealed
nuclein consisted of a nucleic acid and protein.
1871 Lambert Adolphe It is shown that statistical analysis can provide important
Jacques Quetelet insights in biology. This concept was critical to the
development of the field of biometry, the application of
statistics to biological phenomenon.
1879- Walther Flemming The first accurate counting of chromosomes are made.
1892 Eduard Strasburger Cell division is observed. Terms chromatin, mitosis,
Edouard van Beneden cytoplasm, nucleoplasm, prophase, and metaphase are
coined.
1887 August Weismann A universal theory of chromosome behavior is proposed
that predicts meiosis in sex cells. Edouard van Beneden
confirmed this theory in the same year.
1888 Henrich Wilhelm The term chromosome is applied to the condensed version
Gottfried Waldeyer of material found in the nucleus.
1889 Francis Galton The book “Natural Inheritance” is published. Variation
was studied by quantitatively measuring difference among
traits. The field of biometry is formally founded.

4
1894 William Bateson In the book “Materials for the Study of Variation”, the
concept of discontinuous variation is discussed, an
important tenet found in Mendel’s work.
1894 Karl Pearson Methods for the analysis of statistical frequency
distributions developed. These were necessary for the
later development of mathematical models of evolution.
1899 William Bateson The use of hybridization between two individuals is
described as a tool of the scientific analysis of heredity.
This again was discovered to be an important tenet of
Mendel’s work.
1900 Carl Correns Mendel’s work is rediscovered independently. de Vries
Hugo de Vries and Correns were experiments similar to those of Mendel
Erich von Tschermak and arrived at similar results. Once they read Mendel’s
paper, they recognized its preeminence and made the
world aware of it.
1900 Hugo de Vries The term mutation is used to describe the apparently
spontaneous appearance of new traits in evening primrose
(Oenothera).
1902 C.E. McClung The concept that specific chromosomes are responsible for
determining sex in a number of animals is presented.
1902 Walter Sutton Within a specific species, each chromosome is described
Theodor Boveri as having unique physical characteristics. It is shown that
chromosomes occur in pairs, one parent contributes each
member of the pair, and the pairs separate during meiosis.
Sutton suggests chromosomes are a physical manifestation
on which the unit of heredity resides. This came to be
known as the chromosomal theory of inheritance.
1902 Archibald Garrod The first human disease is described that exhibits
Mendelian inheritance. The disease is alkaptonuria. Later
(1909) Garrod is the first to discuss the biochemical
genetics of man.
1902 William Bateson The terms genetics, homozygote, heterozygote, epistasis,
F1, F2, and allelomorph (shortened later to allele) were
first used.
1903 Wilhelm Johannsen The important concepts of phenotype, genotype, and
selection were elucidated. The terms were actually coined
later (1909).
1905 William Bateson Experiments performed on sweet pea demonstrated the
R.C. Punnett concept of linkage.

5
1905 Lucien Claude Cuenot Lethal genes were discovered in the classic experiment
involving a cross between two yellow mice. The
population segregated in the following ratio: 2 yellow fur
mice to 1 agouti fur mouse.
1907 Friedrick Laibach The first suggestion of Arabidopsis as a model organism.
1908 G.H. Hardy Independently, the Hardy-Weinberg principle of genetic
W. Weinberg equilibrium is formulated. This is the unifying theory that
underlies population genetics.
1909 G.H. Shull The use of self-fertilized corn to produce commercial seed
is proposed. This is a direct application of the scientific
approach utilized by Mendel.
1909 Wilhelm Johannsen While studying seed size in common bean, it becomes
apparent that the outward appearance of the individual and
its genetic makeup must be clearly distinguished. The
terms phenotype and genotype and coined for this
purpose. The term gene is also used for the first time.
1909 H. Nilsson-Ehle The quantitative variation is seedcoat color in wheat and
oat was explained by the interaction of multiple genetic
factors. This is the birth of quantitative genetics.
1910 Thomas Hunt Morgan The first demonstration of sex linkage in Drosophila is
published. This suggested genes reside on chromosomes.
The era of fruit fly as a model organism begins.
1913 Alfred Sturtevant The first genetic map is developed in Drosophila. This
solidifies the concept of linkage in this organism.
1914 Calvin Bridges The observation of non-disjunction in sex chromosomes
provides the tool necessary to definitively provie the
chromosome theory of inheritance
1917- Calvin Bridges The first observations of deficiencies (1917), duplications
1923 (1919), and translatocations (1923) are observed in
Drosophila chromosomes.
1915- Frederick Twort Bacteriophage, a virus that attacks bacteria were first
1917 Felix D’Herelle described.
1919 Thomas Hunt Morgan It is shown the number of chromosomes equals the
number of linkage groups.
1923 A.E. Boycott Maternal inheritance is demonstrated for shell coiling
C. Diver direction in snail, Limnea peregra. Sturtevant suggests
the phenomenon is the result of the phenotype of the
female ooplasm, and that the phenotype is controlled by
the genotype of the mother.

6
1925 Alfred Strutevant The Drosophila Bar-eye effect is described. This is the
first demonstration of position effect.
1926 Alfred Strutevant The first inversion is observed in Drosophila.
1927 J.B.S. Haldane The concept of homologs is presented. This is based on
observations of coat color in rodents and carnivores.
1927 B.O. Dodge Neurospora first used as a genetic organism.
1927 H.J. Muller X-rays induce mutations in Drosophila.
1928 L.J. Stadler Corn mutations are induced by x-rays, and the relationship
between the number of mutations and the x-ray dosage
effect is established.
1928 F. Griffith Transformation of Pneumococci is obtained. This is the
critical experiment that leads to the eventual discovery
that DNA was the genetic material.
1930 R.A. Fisher The first formal analysis of selection is provided in the
book “The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection.”
1930 Arne Tiselius Electrophoresis is developed as a technique to separate
proteins.
1931 Harriet Creighton Using corn as their experimental organism, it was
Barbara McClintock demonstrated that crossing over between two homologous
chromosomes involves the physical exchange of genetic
material between the two chromosomes. C. Stern also
demonstrated this concept using Drosophila. The fact that
corn has a longer life cycle demonstrated that
McClinktock first developed the idea.
1932- R.A. Fisher The Modern Synthesis is formulated. This couples the
1953 Theodore Dobzhansky laws of Mendelian inheritance and a knowledge of
mutation with the Darwinian theory of evolution via
natural selection.
1933 T.S. Painter Salivary gland chromosomes of Drosophila first used in
cytogenetic studies. These became critical tools to exactly
locate genes responsible for phenotypes.
1935 G.W Beadle and B. The biochemical genetics controlling eye-pigment
Ephrussi; and A. Kuhn synthesis in Drosophila (Beadle and Ephrussi) and
and A. Butenandt Ephestia (Kuhn and Butenandt) is described.
1936 Calvin Bridges The first cytogentic map of the Drosophila salivary gland
chromosome is published.
1936 Alfred Sturtevant The use of inversions to describe the phylogeny of a
Theodore Dobzhansky chromosome is described.

7
1937 Theodore Dobzhansky “Genetics and the Origin of Species”, a seminal book in
the field of evolutionary genetics, is published.
1937 Arne Tiselius The use of electrophoresis to separate proteins was
demonstrated.
1939 E.L. Ellis Phage genetics research begins with experiments that
Max Delbrück showed a virus is taken up in a single step, undergoes a
latent period, and then burst the bacterial cell.
1941 George Beadle The one gene, one enzyme concept is developed based on
E. L. Tatum biochemical studies of Neurospora.
1941 K. Mather Following experiments that demonstrate multiple genes
control traits in several organisms, the term polygenes is
coined.
1943 S.E. Luria Experiments are reported that demonstrate that bacteria
Max Delbrück are capable of undergoing spontaneous mutations. This
begins the field of bacterial genetics.
1944 Oswald T. Avery Extending the experiments of Griffith (1929), it is first
Colin M. MacLeod shown that DNA is the genetic material. This fact is
Maclyn McCarty often lost, and this discovery is often afforded to Hershey
and Chase (1953).
1945 S.E. Luria It is demonstrated that mutations can occur in bacterial
viruses.
1945 John von Neumann The concept of a computer is developed.
1946 J. Lederberg Bacterial genetic recombination is demonstrated. This
E.L. Tatum involves movement of DNA from one bacteria to another
1946 Max Delbrück and Bacteriophage genetic recombination is demonstrated.
W.T. Bailey
A.D. Hershey
1948 H.J. Muller The phenomenom of dosage compensation is described.
1948 J. Lederberg and N. The technique of using penicillin selection to discover
Zinder biochemical mutants of bacteria is described. The two
B.D. Davis groups make this discovery independently.
1948 Barbara McClintock Following an intense study of the genes controlling seed
coat color in corn, the concept of transposable elements is
proposed to explain the spontaneous induction of
mutations.
1949 J.V. Neel Sickle-cell anemia is inherited as single gene, recessive
Mendelian trait.

8
1950 Erwin Chargaff Adenine=thymine and guanine=cytosine. It is
demonstrated that within all DNA molecules, the number
of adenines equals the number of thymine, and the number
of guanine equals the number of cytosine.
1952 F. Sanger The complete amino acid sequence of insulin is
Colleagues determined, and it is shown that the molecule is a dimer
held together by disulphide bonds.
1952 A.D. Hershey The classic “blender experiment” is reported that shows
M. Chase that phage DNA enters (along with a little protein) and
leads to the eventual rupture of the cell. This is often, and
mistakenly, considered the definitive experiment proving
that DNA is the genetic material.
1953 James Watson A structural model of DNA is presented that states it
Francis Crick consists of two anti-parallel chains held together by
hydrogen bonds. The model suggests a model of DNA
replication.
1954 George Gamow It is suggested that DNA contains a code that is
responsible for the production of proteins. This concept
supported later research that discovered the actual code.
1955 Seymor Benzer The fine structure of the rII region of the T4 bacteriophage
of E. coli is worked out. This will eventually lead to the
concept that the nucleotide is the unit of mutation. The
term cistron is coined.
1955 Severo Ochoa An enzyme, RNA polymerase, is described that can
synthesize RNA. This is a key discovery relating to the
mechanism of transcription.
1955 Newton Morton LOD score method of determining linkage distance in
humans developed.
1956 Arthur Kornberg DNA polymerase I is purified from E. coli. This enzyme
is shown to be a component of DNA replication. The
understanding of the process was critical for the discovery
of key enzymes and mechanisms critical to recombinant
DNA technology.
1956 F. Jacob Bacterial conjugation is shown to involve the physical
E.L. Woolman exchange of DNA between two bacterial strains.
1957 Francis Crick The central dogma of molecular biology is proposed.
This is a first elucidation of the link between the
sequences in the DNA molecule and the production of
proteins.

9
1957 V.M. Ingram The normal and mutant sickle cell hemoglobin molecules
are distinguished by a mutation in a single amino acid.
1958 F. Jacob It is demonstrated that the E. coli chromosome is circular,
E. Woolman and the F factor disturb the linear order of gene by its
insertion into the chromosome.
1958 Francis Crick Crick predicts the existence of tRNA when he suggests
that amino acids are brought to a template mRNA by a
nucleic acid adaptor molecule (tRNA), and the molecule
actually fits on the mRNA.
1958 Matthew Meselsohn Semiconservative DNA replication is proven by the use
F.W. Stahl of density equilibrium centrifugation.
1959 R.L. Sinsheimer The bacteriophage X174 of E. coli is shown to contain a
single-stranded DNA molecule.
1961 F. Jacob The publication of “Genetic Regulatory Mechanisms in
J. Monod the Synthesis of Proteins” describes the Lac Operon
controlling network in E. coli.
1961 Marshall Nirenberg The concept that each amino acid corresponds to a triplet
code was developed. The first correspondence was found
between the triplet AAA and the amino acid
phenylalanine.
1961 Sydney Brenner Ribosomes are described as the site of protein synthesis.
Francois Jacob It is also proven that mRNA exists and binds ribosomes.
Matthew Meselsohn
1965 Margaret Dayhoff The first “Atlas of Protein Sequence and Structure” is
published. It contains the sequenceof 65 proteins and is
considered the first publication in bioinformatics.
1965 Emile Zuckerandl The concept of a molecular clock is introduced. The
Linus. Pauling theory suggests that the rate of amino acid substitutions
are linear over time.
1966 Marshall Nirenberg The genetic code that correlates the triplet code in the
H. Gobind Khorana mRNA with a specific amino acid is completed.
1967 Waclaw Szybalski It is shown, that of the two strands that make up the DNA
W. Summers molecule only one is used during transcription.
1967 W.M Fitch The first phylogentic tree was developed. It consisted of a
E. Margoliash comparison of the amino acid sequence of cytochrome C
from twenty species that ranged from fungi to mammals.

10
1968 M. Kimura The neutral theory of molecular evolution is presented.
It suggests that genetic drift is responsible for evolution.
To some, this diminishes the importance of natural
selection in evolution. The theory is later synthesized in
the 1983 publication “The Neutral Theory of Molecular
Evolution”.
1969 Arpanet The Arpanet is developed that links computers at four
universities. This is thought to be the beginning of the
internet.
1969 Jonathan Beckwith The first bacterial gene is isolated.
1969 Bell Laboratories The UNIX operating system is created. It has evolved
into many flavors, but is the most robust OS for
everything from database work to WWW page delivery.
1970 Werner Arber The first restriction enzyme, HindII is isolated and shown
Hamilton Smith to cut DNA at a specific sequence.
1970 David Baltimore The enzyme reverse transcriptase, that can make a DNA
Howard Temin copy of RNA was discovered independtly. The enzyme is
an essential element of cDNA cloning.
1970 U.K. Laemmli The use of a stacking gel and SDS in electrophoresis is
introduced. This innovation made protein characterization
much easier.
1971 Lynn Margulis The endosymbiotic theory is proposed. The theory
suggests that organelles arouse when a pre-eukaryotic cell
took up energy transducing bacteria.
1971 Ray Tomlinson E-mail, the first killer application for the internet, is
created.
1972 Paul Berg The first recombinant DNA molecule was created by
splicing together bacterial and viral DNA. This was
described as a general approach of mixing together two
different DNA molecules.
1973 Herbert Boyer Recombinant DNA transformation of E. coli is achieved
Stanley Cohen when a kanamycin gene is inserted into a plasmid, and the
gene functions properly. When genes from toad were later
inserted and replicated via the same bacterial plasmid, it is
demonstrated that any gene can be cloned in this manner.
1973 Brookhaven National The Brookhaven Protein Database is created.
Laboratory

11
1973 Robert Metcalfe The principles that support ethernet are described. This
will eventually provided the ability of fast delivery of data
over fiber optic cable.
1974 Vint Cerf The concept of the internet is developed. The TCP
Robert Kahn protocol that supports that transfer of data packets is
developed.
1974 Charles Goldfarb The Standardized General Markup Language (SGML) is
created. The hypertext markup language (HTML), the
language used to create WWW pages, is a subset of
SGML.
1974 Goodman et al. The parsimony procedure for developing phylogentic
trees is described.
1975 P. O’Farrell Two-dimensional electrophoresis is developed. This will
become an important component of the field of
proteomics.
1975 Erwin Southern A technique is described to transfer and immobilize DNA
on a filter memberane and subsequently hybridize a
radiolabelled probe to the membrane. Southern
hybridizations quickly become a key element of
molecular biology research and were a key component of
genetic mapping using RFLPs.
1975 King It is suggested for the first time that the sequences of the
Wilson human and chimpanzee are very similar.
1977 Frederick Sanger The chain-termination and chemical methods of DNA
Walter Gilbert sequencing are developed. The chain-termination (or
Sanger techniqu)e was less onerous and became widely
adapted.
1977 Roger Staden The Staden Programs that are used to analyze DNA
sequence data begin to be developed.
1977 Phillip Sharp Independently, it is shown that a mammalian viral gene is
Rich Roberts interrupted by DNA sequences not found in the mature
mRNA. These sequences are called introns by Walter
Gilbert in 1978. It was soon shown that introns are
common feature of eukaryotic genes.
1978 David Botstein The RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism)
technique is described and launches a new generation of
genetic mapping. The technique launches map-based
cloning of genes.

12
1979 Goodman et al. The parsimony procedure for developing phylogenetic
trees is first described
1980 Sanger Group The first complete genome sequence is published. The
genome was of the bacteriophage X174 of E. coli
1980 K. Wuthrich Protein structure is determined using multi-dimensional
NMR.
1981 Felsenstein The maximum likekihood procedure to develop
phylogenetic trees is published.
1982 GenBank GenBank established to be a database of all DNA
sequences. Initially housed at the Los Alamos National
Laboratory, it was transferred to National Center for
Biotechnology Information (NCBI) in 1988.
1983 Kary Mullis The procedure to amplify large amounts of DNA is
described. The procedure was later improved by the use
of a DNA polymerase from the Thermus aquaticus
bacterial. The polymerase chain reaction or PCR
procedure will prove one of the most widely applied
procedures in all of molecular biology.
1986 Leroy Hood The first automated DNA sequencer is released. This
Lloyd Smth development, based on fluorescent labeling of nucleotides
Michael Hunkapiller and the Sanger sequencing technique, made it possible to
Tim Hunkapiller sequence genomes in a reasonable amount of time.
Applied Biosystems released the first sequencer.
1986 SWISS-PROT The initial version of the SWISS-PROT protein database
is released.
1987 Eric Lander et al. MAPMAKER, a computer program for developing
genetic linkage maps from molecular marker data is
released.
1988 H.D. Higgins The Clustal multiple sequence alignment approach is
P.M. Sharp published.
1989 Jean Thierr-Mieg The ACeDB (A C. elegans DataBase) is developed. This
Richard Durbin is the first database developed for genomic information.
1990 US Government The 15-year Human Genome Program is launched. The
goal is to "find all the genes on every chromosome in the
body and to determine their biochemical nature."
1990 Altshul et al. BLAST, a computational approach to aligning two DNA
sequences is described. An updated version is released in
1997.

13
1990 Tim Berners-Lee Version 1.0 of HTML is published. This language is used
to delivery WWW pages.
1991 Craig Venter The first EST (expressed sequence tagged) sequences are
published. These short sequences prove to be important
for gene discovery.
1993-4 Genthon The first high density linkage map of the human genome
is published.
1995 Celera Corp The entire H. influenza genome sequence (1.8 Mbp) is
Craig Venter published. This bacterium is the first free-living organism
that is sequenced. The result demonstrated the feasibility
of the shotgun genome sequencing approach.
1995 Pat Brown The first microarray system is described. This system
Ron Davis uses cDNA sequences printed on glass slides.
1996 Yeast Genome The entire S. cerevisiae (yeast) genome sequence (12.1
Consortium Mbp) is published. This is the first eukaryotic genome to
be sequenced. The genome is reported to contain 6,250
genes, later (2003) revised to 5,700.
1997 deRisi et al. The first study of regulatory pathway using microarray
technology is published.
1997 E. coli genome project E. coli (4.7 Mbp) is sequenced and shown to contain
4,500 genes.
1998 C. elegans genome The C. elegans genome sequence (97 Mbp) is reported.
project This is the first genome of a multicellular organism to be
sequenced. The genome contains 19,100 genes.
1998 Eisen et al. Cluster analysis approaches are described for the analysis
of microarray data.
1999 Affymetrix The oligonucleotide microarray system is developed.
2000 Arabidopsis Genome The Arabidopsis thaliana genome (125 Mbp) is
Initiative sequenced. This is the first publishing of a flowering
plant genome. The genome is shown to contain 25,500
genes.
2000 Drosophila Genome The Drosophila genome sequence (123 Mbp) reveals it
Initiative contains 13,400 genes. This is the first shotgun approach
to the sequencing of a eukaryotic organism.
2000 Steven Tanksley The first gene controlling a quantitative trait is cloned.

14
2001 International Human The human genome sequence (2900 Mbp) is published.
Genome Sequencing It is estimated that the genome contains between 35,000
Consortium and 40,000 genes. Later (2002) estimates place the
Celera Corp number at 30,000 genes.
2001 Sanger Institute The Ensembl Genome Browser provides easy access to
Wellcome Trust human genome data.
2002 Mouse Genome The mouse genome sequence (2500 Mbp) is published.
Sequencing Consortium The number of genes is estimated to be 30,000.
2002 Syngenta, Torrey Pines The draft of the rice genome sequence (470 Mbp) is
Research Institute and published. The estimates of the number of genes range
Beijing Genomics from 32,000 – 56,000. The sequences of the indica and
Institute japonica strains were published jointly.
2002 Puffer-fish Genome The puffer-fish (Fugu rubripes) genome (365 Mbp) is
Sequencing Consortium sequenced. A total of 31,059 genes are observed. This is
the smallest animal gene by size but contains a similar
number of genes as human and mouse.
2002 Mosquito Sequencing The malaria-parasite-carrying mosquito genome
Consortium sequence (278 Mbp) is published. It is shown to contain
13,600 genes, similar to the number found in Drosophila
2002 Malaria Sequencing The sequence of Plasmodium falciparum geneome (23
Consortium Mbp) is published. This is the parasite that causes
malaria. The genome consists of 5300 genes.
2003 British Columbia Cancer The SARS-associated coronavirus genome sequence (30
Agency Kbp) is released. The genome contains 16 open-reading
frames. The sequence is released less than five months
after the disease began spreading world-wide.
2004 Solexa (now Illumina) The sequencing-by-synthesis technology is developed.
This is the first of the genome resequencing technologies
developed. The age of personalized genome sequences is
launched.
2005 454 Company (now Pyrosequencing technology is automated. This takes de
Roche) novo sequencing into the age of massively parallel
sequencing.
2005 Applied Biosystems Sequencing by oligonucleotide ligation and detection is
developed. This is another genome reseqeuncing
technology.
2010 Pacific Biosciences Single molecule DNA sequencer released

15
2011 SEQUENCING Kingdom Completed On-going
PROGRESS TO DATE
Viruses 2,688
Microbes 1,710 6,085
Fungi 208 205
Animals 182 256
Plants (+algae) 47 107

16
A History of Genetics and Genomics

Mid to Late 19th Century: Evolution, Natural

Selection, Particulate Inheritance and Nuclein

1858
• Darwin and Wallace
• Role of natural variation and natural selection in evolution

“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.”

- Theodore Dobzhansky, The American Biology Teacher,
March 1973

1865
• Gregor Mendel
• Particulate inheritance

1866
• Ernst Haeckel
• Heredity materials was in the nucleus

1871
• Friedrich Miescher
• Material in the nucleus was a nucleic acid
Early 20th Century: Mendelian Principles are
extended and the Chromosomal Theory of
Inheritance solidifies

1900
• Correns, de Vries, von Tschermak
• Mendel’s work is rediscovered
• The age of genetics begins

1902
• Walter Sutton and Theodor Boveri
• Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance
• The heredity material resides in chromosomes

1905-1923
• Linkage
• Sex linkage
• Genetic mapping
• Number of linkage groups = number of chromosomes
• Lethal genes
• Maternal inheritance

1908
• Hardy and Weinberg
• Hardy-Weinberg principle of genetic equilibrium

1909
• Nilsson-Ehle
• Theory of quantitative traits and quantitative genetics
Mid 20th Century: DNA is the stuff of life; the
preeminence of the Darwinian theory of
evolution via natural selection is confirmed

1928
• Griffith
• Transformation experiments

1944
• Avery, MacLeod, McCarty
• Definitive proof that DNA is the genetic material

1953
• Watson and Crick
• DNA structure is defined

1954-1961
• DNA code is determined
• Transcription is described
• Replication is described
• Translation is described
• Operons are discovered

1932-1953
• Fisher and Dobzhansky
• The Modern Synthesis is formulated
• Links Darwinian evolutionary theory and Mendelian genetics

1968
• Kimura
• Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution is introduced
Mid-late 20th Century and the Early Days of the
21st Century: The Age of Molecular Genetics;
Phylogenetics Studies Intensive; The
Information Age; The Emergence of Genomics
Science

1969
• ARPANET
• Internet comes on line

1970
• Arber and Smith
• First restriction enzyme, HindII, is isolated

1970
• Baltimore and Temin
• Discovery of reverse transcriptase

1972
• Berg
• First recombinant DNA molecule is constructed

1973
• Boyer and Cohen
• First functional recombinant E. coli cell produced

1977
• Sanger and Gilbert
• DNA sequencing techniques are described
1977
• Sharp and Roberts
• Introns discovered

1978
• Botstein
• RFLPs launch the era of molecular mapping of linkage
groups

1980
• Sanger Group
• First genome is sequenced, the bacteriophage ΦX174 of E.
coli

1983
• Mullis
• PCR technique is discovered

1986
• Hood, Smith, Hunkapiller and Hunkapiller
• First automated DNA sequencer

1990
• US Government
• Human Genome Project launched

1990
• Berners-Lee
• HTML language is created

1995
• Celera
• First bacterial genome (H. influenza) is sequenced
1995
• Brown, Stanford
• Microarray technology developed

1996
• Yeast Genome Consortium
• First eukaryotic genome (yeast) sequenced

2000
• Arabidopsis Genome Initiative
• First flowering plant genome (Arabidopsis thaliana) is
sequenced

2001
• International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium
• Celera
• The human genome sequence is published

2004
• Solexa (now Illumina)
• Sequencing by synthesis technology
• Genome resequencing technology

2005
• 454 company
• Automated pyrosequencing technology
• High throughput whole genome sequencing

2005
• Applied Biosystems
• Sequencing by Oligonucleotide Ligation and Detction
• Genome resequencing technology