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.

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Authors & Contributors
Samida, Stefanie
Barbujani, Guido
Jones, Kathryn Maxson
Romijn, François C.
Hall, Kersten T.
Yi, Doogab
Concepts
Genetics
DNA; RNA
Molecular biology
Genes
Genomics
Laboratories
Time Periods
20th century, late
20th century
21st century
20th century, early
19th century
Places
United States
Belgium
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
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