Landmark Experiments in Biology


Elisha Moses and Tsvi Tlusty, Academic Year 2006

The course covers a number of classic, landmark experiments in Biology, from the perspective of Physics and of physicists. The course will be conducted in the form of student lectures, with one or two lectures per student. Grading of the course will be based on this lecture, and on participation. Topics will include:



Landmark papers




    Evolution


  1. Darwin C Wallace A On the tendencies of species to form varieties; and on the perpetuation of varieties and species by means of selection J Proc Linnean Soc 4 45-62 (1859) another version


  2. Mendel G Experiments in plant hybridization (1865) Read at the February 8th and March 8th 1865 meetings of the Brunn Natural History Society

    Hartl D L and Orel V What did Gergor Mendel think he discovered? Genetics 131 245-253 (1992)


  3. Miller SL Production of Amino Acids Under Possible Primitive Earth Conditions Science 117 528 (1953)

    Miller SL Urey HC Organic Compound Synthesis on the Primitive Earth Science 130 245 (1959)


  4. Eigen M Self-organization of matter and the evolution of biological macromolecules Naturwissenschaften 58 465-523 (1971)


  5. Kimura Evolutionary rate at the molecular level Nature 217 624-6 (1968)


  6. Mills DR Peterson RL Spiegelman S An Extracellular Darwinian Experiment with a Self-Duplicating Nucleic Acid Molecule Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 58 217-224 (1967)


  7. Dubertret B Liu S Ouyang Q Libchaber A Dynamics of DNA-Protein Interaction Deduced from in vitro DNA Evolution Phys Rev Lett 86 6022 - 6025 (2001)



    8. For other landmarks see esp.org Classical Papers in Genetics : A collection of genetics masterpieces since Aristotle



    Development


  8. Turing A The chemical basis of morphogenesis Phil Trans R Soc Lond B 237 37-72 (1952)


  9. Brenner S The genetics of caenorhabditis elegans Genetics 77 71-94 (1974)


  10. Sulston JE Horvitz HR Post-embryonic Cell Lineages of the Nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans Developmental Biology 56 110-156 (1977) See also

    Sulston JE Post-embryonic development in the ventral cord of Caenorhabditis elegans Phil Trans R Soc Lond B 275 287-297 (1976)

    Horvitz HR Sulston JE Isolation and genetic characterization of cell-lineage mutants of the nematode caenorhabditis elegans Genetics 96 435-454 (1980)


  11. Lewis EB A gene complex controlling segmentation in Drosophila Nature 276 565-570 (1978)


  12. Nusslein-Volhard C Wieschaus E Mutations affecting segment number and polarity in Drosophila Nature 287 795-80 (1980)

    Nusslein-Volhard C Of flies and fishes Science 266 572 (1994)

  13. Spemann H Mangold H Induction of Embryonic Primordia by Implantation of Organizers from a Different Species Arch Mikroskop Anat Entwicklungsmechanik 100 599-638 (1924)




    14. Molecular Biology


  14. Sturvtevant AH The linear arrangement of 6 sex-linked factors in Drosophila as shown by their mode of association J Exp Zoo 14 43-59 (1913)


  15. Creighton HS McClintock B A correlation of cytological and genetical crossing-over in Zea Mays Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 17 492-497 (1931)


  16. Avery DT McLeod CH McCarty M Studies of the Chemical nature of the substance inducing transformation of the Pneumococcal types J Exp Med 79 137-158 (1944)


  17. Luria SE Delbruck H Mutations of bacteria from virus sensitivity to virus resistance Genetics 28 491-511 (1943)


  18. Lederberg J Cavalli LL Lederberg EM Sex compatibility in Escherichia coli Genetics 37 720 (1952)


  19. Pauling L Corey RB Branson HR The structure of proteins: 2 hydrogen-bonded helical configuration of the polypeptide chain Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 37 (4) 205 (1951)


  20. Watson JP Crick FHC Molecular structure of nucleic acid Nature 171 (4356) 737-738 (1953) or


  21. Matthaei JH Nirenberg MW Characteristics and stabilization of DNAase-sensitive protein synthesis in E. coli extract Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 47 1580-1588 (1961)

    Nirenberg MW The Genetic Code: II Scientific American (March 1963)


  22. Meselson M Stahl FW The replication of DNA in E coli Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 44 671-682 (1958)


  23. Crick FHC Barnett L Brenner S Watts-Tobin RJ The general nature of the genetic code for proteins Nature 192 1227-1232 (1961)


  24. Jacob F Monod J Genetic regulatory mechanisms in the synthesis of proteins J Mol Biology 3 318-356 (1961)

    Jacob F Perrin D Sanchez C Monod J Edelstein S Operon: a group of genes with the expression coordinated by an operator C R Acad Sci Paris 250 1727-1729 (1960)

    Pardee AB Jacob F Monod J The genetic control and cytoplasmic expression of inducibility in the synthesis of beta-galactosidase in E coli J Mol Bio 1 165–178 (1959)




    25. Neurobiology


  25. Katz B Miledi R The statistical nature of the acetylcholine potential and its molecular components J Physiology 224 665-699 (1972)


  26. Wiesel TN Hubel DH

    Receptive fields of single neurons in the cat's striate cortex J Physiol. 148, 574-591 (1959)

    Laminar and columnar distribution of geniculo-cortical fibers in the macaque monkey J Comparative Neurology 146(4) 421-450 (1972)


  27. Neher E Sakmann B Single-channel currents recorded from membrane of denervated frog muscle fibres Nature 260 799-802 (1976)


  28. Hodgkin AL Huxley AF

    Measurement of current-voltage relations in the membrane of the giant axon of Loligo J Physiology 116 424-448 (1952)

    Current carried by sodium and potassium through the membrane of the giant axon of Loligo J Physiology 116 449-472 (1952)

    The components of membrane conductance in the giant axon of Loligo J Physiology 116 473-496 (1952)

    The dual effect of membrane potential on sodium conductance in the giant axon of Loligo J Physiology 116 497-506 (1952)

    A quantitative description of membrane current and its application to conduction and excitation in nerve J Physiology 117 500-544 (1952)


  29. Kandel ER Tauc L

    Heterosynaptic facilitation in neurons of the abdominal ganglion of Aplysia depilans J Physiology 181 1-27 (1965)

    Mechanism of heterosynaptic facilitation in the giant cell of the abdominal ganglion of Aplysia depilans J Physiology 181 28-47 (1965)

    Dash PK Hochner B Kandel ER

    Injection of the cAMP-responsive element into the nucleus of Aplysia sensory neurons blocks long-term facilitation Nature 345 718-21 (1990)




Presentations







Organization