Beginning a new period celebrating the 60~(th) anniversary of the journal Scientia Sinica-(Science China)

<正>Funded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences,Science in China (Scientia Sinica) was first published in 1950 and will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2010. During its earlier     

The 50th anniversary of gene therapy: Beginnings and present realities

Applying my experience in microbial genetics, especially in the genetic transformation/transduction of Bacilus subtilis bacteria, I decided around 1956 to develop a similar system for eukaryotic, especially human cell cultures. I believed it would permit the development of clinical applications for replacing defective genes to treat or cure some of the genetic diseases.     

The 50th anniversary of the publication of the operon theory in the Journal of Molecular Biology: past, present and future

A series of eight review articles that appear in the present issue of the Journal of Molecular Biology celebrates the 50th anniversary for the landmark publication of François Jacob and Jacques Monod entitled “Genetic Regulatory Mechanisms in the Synthesis of Proteins”. In this publication, the authors presented a model for the regulation of gene expression deduced from genetic and biochemical studies. They proposed that a new class of genes, regulatory genes, would code for repressors that bind to operator sequences upstream of operons consisting of a group of catabolic or biosynthetic genes with related functions. Binding is controlled by small metabolites, substrates or end products. The repressors control the transmission of information from genes to mRNA that is translated into proteins. The present review articles demonstrate how this publication influenced our thinking and how it stimulated the studies on the regulation of gene expression all the way to present day epigenetics and systems biology.