Article ID: CBB001220999

An RNA Phage Lab: MS2 in Walter Fiers' Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Ghent, from Genetic Code to Gene and Genome, 1963--1976 (2012)

unapi

The importance of viruses as model organisms is well-established in molecular biology and Max Delbrück's phage group set standards in the DNA phage field. In this paper, I argue that RNA phages, discovered in the 1960s, were also instrumental in the making of molecular biology. As part of experimental systems, RNA phages stood for messenger RNA (mRNA), genes and genome. RNA was thought to mediate information transfers between DNA and proteins. Furthermore, RNA was more manageable at the bench than DNA due to the availability of specific RNases, enzymes used as chemical tools to analyse RNA. Finally, RNA phages provided scientists with a pure source of mRNA to investigate the genetic code, genes and even a genome sequence. This paper focuses on Walter Fiers' laboratory at Ghent University (Belgium) and their work on the RNA phage MS2. When setting up his Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Fiers planned a comprehensive study of the virus with a strong emphasis on the issue of structure. In his lab, RNA sequencing, now a little-known technique, evolved gradually from a means to solve the genetic code, to a tool for completing the first genome sequence. Thus, I follow the research pathway of Fiers and his `RNA phage lab' with their evolving experimental system from 1960 to the late 1970s. This study illuminates two decisive shifts in post-war biology: the emergence of molecular biology as a discipline in the 1960s in Europe and of genomics in the 1990s.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001220999/

Similar Citations

Book Schwartz, James; (2008)
In Pursuit of the Gene: From Darwin to DNA (/isis/citation/CBB000774889/)

Chapter Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg; (2012)
Internationalism and the History of Molecular Biology (/isis/citation/CBB001422700/)

Article Rehmann-Sutter, Christoph; (2006)
Genes in Labs: Concepts of Development and the Standard Environment (/isis/citation/CBB000701084/)

Article Bostanci, Adam; Calvert, Jane; (2008)
Invisible Genomes: The Genomics Revolution and Patenting Practice (/isis/citation/CBB000830441/)

Article Nachtomy, Ohad; Shavit, Ayelet; Yakhini, Zohar; (2007)
Gene Expression and the Concept of the Phenotype (/isis/citation/CBB000770764/)

Article Huxley, Hugh; (2003)
The Cavendish Laboratory and Structural Biology (/isis/citation/CBB000300391/)

Article Kathryn Maxson Jones; Rachel A. Ankeny; Robert Cook-Deegan; (2018)
The Bermuda Triangle: The Pragmatics, Policies, and Principles for Data Sharing in the History of the Human Genome Project (/isis/citation/CBB445174130/)

Book Holmes, Frederic Lawrence; Summers, William C.; (2006)
Reconceiving the Gene: Seymour Benzer's Adventures in Phage Genetics (/isis/citation/CBB000772243/)

Article Stefanie Samida; (2020)
Über mediale Präsenz und Prominenz DNA-gestützter Vergangenheitsforschung (/isis/citation/CBB693962543/)

Article Dietrich, Michael R.; (2007)
Representing the Object of Controversy: The Case of the Molecular Clock (/isis/citation/CBB000931556/)

Article Argüelles, Juan Carlos; (2007)
The Double Helix Revisited: A Paradox of Science and a Paradigm of Human Behaviour (/isis/citation/CBB000831509/)

Article Hall, Kersten T.; (2011)
William Astbury and the Biological Significance of Nucleic Acids, 1938--1951 (/isis/citation/CBB001023996/)

Article Zdenka Brzović; Predrag Šustar; (2020)
Postgenomics function monism (/isis/citation/CBB311069000/)

Article François C. Romijn; (2023)
Negotiating Belgian identity in Wisconsin through ancestry genomics (/isis/citation/CBB760985734/)

Book Hans-Jörg Rheinberger; Staffan Müller-Wille; (2018)
The Gene: From Genetics to Postgenomics (/isis/citation/CBB595178339/)

Authors & Contributors
Rheinberger, Hans-Jörg
Bostanci, Adam
Samida, Stefanie
Brzović, Zdenka
Jones, Kathryn Maxson
Romijn, François C.
Journals
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Science as Culture
Physics World
Philosophia Naturalis
NTM: Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Technik und Medizin
Medical History
Publishers
Yale University Press
University of Chicago Press
Harvard University Press
Concepts
Molecular biology
DNA; RNA
Genetics
Genes
Genomics
Laboratories
People
Waterson, Robert H.
Wilkins, Maurice Hugh Frederick
Watson, James Dewey
Müller, Hermann Joseph
Sulston, John
Kimura, Motoo
Time Periods
20th century, late
20th century
21st century
Modern
20th century, early
19th century
Places
Belgium
United States
Wisconsin (U.S.)
Great Britain
Institutions
Human Genome Project
Wellcome Trust
National Institutes of Health
Ghent University
Heymans Institute
Cambridge. University. Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment