50 Years of DNA

Foreword Remarks from Phil Campbell Preface; J.Clayton & C.Dennis PART I: HISTORY On the Shoulders of Giants : The Quest to Solve DNA? 1953 Revisited What Happened Next: The Golden Years of Molecular Biology PART II: THE PRESENT Where AreThey Now? Structural Biology: Still Going Strong Genomes Galore Window on Evolution 'Artificial Evolution': Maize, Wheat, Rice Domestication PART III: THE FUTURE DNA as a Tool in Disease Diagnosis and Therapy DNA and Culture The Genie's Out PART IV: THE DOUBLE HELIX - 50 YEARS The Eternal Molecule; C.Dennis &P.Campbell PART V: FACSIMILE PAPERS FROM NATURE , 25 APRIL 1953 A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid ( Nature 171, 737-738; 1953); J.D.Watson & F.H.C.Crick Molecular Structure of Deoxypentose Nucleic Acids ( Nature 171, 738-740; 1953); M.H.F.Wilkins, A.R.Stokes & H.R.Wilson Molecular Configuration in Sodium Thymonucleate ( Nature 171, 740-741; 1953), R.E.Franklin & R.G.Gosling HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Quiet Debut for the Double Helix; R.Olby Discovering Genes are Made of DNA; M.McCarty DNA and the 'Wronged Heroine'; B.Maddox PART VI: DNA IN MEDICINE AND SOCIETY The Mosaic That is Our Genome; S.Pääbo Nature, Nurture and Human Disease; A.Chakravarti & P.Little The Double Helix in Clinical Practice; J.I.Bell The Mona Lisa of Modern Science; M.Kemp PART VII: DNA: THE BIOLOGICAL MOLECULE Portrait of a Molecule; P.Ball Ten Years of Tension: Single-Molecule DNA Mechanics; C.Bustamante, Z.Bryant & S.B.Smith DNA in a Material World; N.C.Seeman DNA Replication and Recombination; B.Alberts DNA Damage and Repair; E.C.Freidberg The Double Helix and Immunology; G.J.V.Nossal The Digital Code of DNA; L.Hood & D.Galas Controlling the Double Helix; G.Felsenfeld & M.Groudine

BRUCE ALBERTS, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, USAPHILIP BALLJOHN BELL, University of Oxford, UKZEV BRYANT, Department of Molecular Cell Biology, University of California, USACARLOS BUSTAMANTE, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Department of Physics at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, USAARAVINDA CHAKRAVARTI , McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, John Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USAGARY FELSENFELD, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, USAERROL FRIEDBERG, Laboratory of Molecular Pathology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, USADAVID GALAS, Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Sciences, USAMARK GROUDINE, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Washington USALEROY HOOD, Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, USAMARTIN KEMP, Department of the History of Art, University of Oxford and Wallace Kemp, London, UKPETER LITTLE, School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, AustraliaBRENDA MADDOXMACLYN MCCARTY, Rockefeller University, USAGUSTAV NOSSAL, Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, AustraliaROBERT OLBY, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, USASVANTE PÄÄBO, Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, GermanyNADRIAN SEEMAN, Department of Chemistry, New York University,USASTEVEN SMITH, Department of Physics and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, USA

'The editors have crafted a concise, reader-friendly and handsomely illustrated history of the discovery that revolutionized biology...' - Publishers Weekly

'...a superbly illustrated, carefully researched and well-written DNA jubilee book...For me, and probably many other readers who are interested in the history of science, this book provides new insights into understanding what really happened in the first few months of 1953, and who we should remember as providing the decisive data required to elucidate the structure of DNA...50 Years of DNA should find its place on the desks of all those who are interested in history, the current state of DNA research and its future.' - Andrzej Stasiak, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, European Molecular Biology Organization, EMBO reports