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Nature Reviews. Molecular Cell Biology Sep 2011Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology celebrated its 10-year anniversary during this past year with a series of specially commissioned articles. To complement this, here... (Review)
Review
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology celebrated its 10-year anniversary during this past year with a series of specially commissioned articles. To complement this, here we have asked researchers from across the field for their insights into how molecular cell biology research has evolved during this past decade, the key concepts that have emerged and the most promising interfaces that have developed. Their comments highlight the broad impact that particular advances have had, some of the basic understanding that we still require, and the collaborative approaches that will be essential for driving the field forward.
Topics: Cell Biology; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Molecular Biology
PubMed: 21941276
DOI: 10.1038/nrm3187 -
Comptes Rendus Biologies 2016The origins of genetics are to be found in Gregor Mendel's memoir on plant hybridization (1865). However, the word 'genetics' was only coined in 1906, to designate the... (Review)
Review
The origins of genetics are to be found in Gregor Mendel's memoir on plant hybridization (1865). However, the word 'genetics' was only coined in 1906, to designate the new science of heredity. Founded upon the Mendelian method for analyzing the products of crosses, this science is distinguished by its explicit purpose of being a general 'science of heredity', and by the introduction of totally new biological concepts (in particular those of gene, genotype, and phenotype). In the 1910s, Mendelian genetics fused with the chromosomal theory of inheritance, giving rise to what is still called 'classical genetics'. Within this framework, the gene is simultaneously a unit of function and transmission, a unit of recombination, and of mutation. Until the early 1950s, these concepts of the gene coincided. But when DNA was found to be the material basis of inheritance, this congruence dissolved. Then began the venture of molecular biology, which has never stopped revealing the complexity of the way in which hereditary material functions.
Topics: Animals; Epigenomics; Genes; Genetics; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Humans; Molecular Biology; Plants
PubMed: 27263362
DOI: 10.1016/j.crvi.2016.05.009 -
EMBO Reports Jun 2004Biology's various affairs with holism and reductionism, and their contribution to understanding life at the molecular level (Review)
Review
Biology's various affairs with holism and reductionism, and their contribution to understanding life at the molecular level
Topics: History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; Macromolecular Substances; Models, Biological; Molecular Biology; Probability
PubMed: 15170468
DOI: 10.1038/sj.embor.7400180 -
BMC Genomics May 2019
Topics: Genomics; Systems Biology
PubMed: 32039700
DOI: 10.1186/s12864-019-5707-0 -
Analytica Chimica Acta Jan 2021Recent advances in high-throughput technologies have enabled the profiling of multiple layers of a biological system, including DNA sequence data (genomics), RNA... (Review)
Review
Recent advances in high-throughput technologies have enabled the profiling of multiple layers of a biological system, including DNA sequence data (genomics), RNA expression levels (transcriptomics), and metabolite levels (metabolomics). This has led to the generation of vast amounts of biological data that can be integrated in so-called multi-omics studies to examine the complex molecular underpinnings of health and disease. Integrative analysis of such datasets is not straightforward and is particularly complicated by the high dimensionality and heterogeneity of the data and by the lack of universal analysis protocols. Previous reviews have discussed various strategies to address the challenges of data integration, elaborating on specific aspects, such as network inference or feature selection techniques. Thereby, the main focus has been on the integration of two omics layers in their relation to a phenotype of interest. In this review we provide an overview over a typical multi-omics workflow, focusing on integration methods that have the potential to combine metabolomics data with two or more omics. We discuss multiple integration concepts including data-driven, knowledge-based, simultaneous and step-wise approaches. We highlight the application of these methods in recent multi-omics studies, including large-scale integration efforts aiming at a global depiction of the complex relationships within and between different biological layers without focusing on a particular phenotype.
Topics: Biomedical Research; Computational Biology; Genomics; Metabolomics; Phenotype
PubMed: 33248648
DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2020.10.038 -
Hereditas Nov 2020The founders of Hereditas envisioned that race biology would be a major subject that had social applications with utmost importance in the near future. Anthropometrics... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
The founders of Hereditas envisioned that race biology would be a major subject that had social applications with utmost importance in the near future. Anthropometrics was in this context understood to be the pure and eugenics the applied science. Sweden had a long tradition in physical anthropometry. Herman Lundborg, member of the advisory board of Hereditas, united the anthropometric and eugenic approaches in a synthesis. He was the first head of the Institute for Race Biology in Sweden. The contents of Hereditas reflect the development of race biology in the Nordic countries.
CONCLUSIONS
The initial enthusiasm for applied race biology did not last long. In the 1920's Hereditas carried papers on both physical anthropology and eugenics. Most paper dealt, however, with human genetics without eugenic content. Two papers, published in 1921 and 1939 show how the intellectual climate had changed from positive to negative. Finally only human genetics prevailed as the legitimate study of the human race or humankind. A belated defense of eugenics published in 1951 did not help; geneticists had abandoned anthropometrics for good around the year 1940 and eugenics about a decade later. In spite of that, eugenic legislation was amended astonishingly late, in the 1970's. The development was essentially similar in all Nordic countries.
Topics: Anthropometry; Biology; Breeding; Eugenics; Genetic Association Studies; Genetics, Population; History, 20th Century; Human Genetics; Humans; Plant Breeding; Racial Groups; Scandinavian and Nordic Countries
PubMed: 33239087
DOI: 10.1186/s41065-020-00161-x -
The Plant Cell Sep 2019
Topics: Cell Biology; Genomics; History, 21st Century; Humans; Plant Cells; Publications; Synthetic Biology
PubMed: 31311835
DOI: 10.1105/tpc.19.00547 -
Current Biology : CB Apr 2023Interview with Tom Richards, who uses comparative genomics and molecular biology to explore eukaryotic cell evolution.
Interview with Tom Richards, who uses comparative genomics and molecular biology to explore eukaryotic cell evolution.
Topics: Genomics; Eukaryotic Cells; Molecular Biology
PubMed: 37040700
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.03.001 -
Molecular Systems Biology 2005
Topics: Biology; Periodicals as Topic; Systems Biology
PubMed: 19440236
DOI: 10.1038/msb4100008 -
Current Biology : CB Oct 2020Florian Maderspacher introduces the microbiology special issue and asks how the study of microbes has shaped our understanding of evolution.
Florian Maderspacher introduces the microbiology special issue and asks how the study of microbes has shaped our understanding of evolution.
Topics: Bacteria; Biodiversity; Biological Evolution; Ecology; Environmental Microbiology; Microbial Interactions; Phylogeny
PubMed: 33022245
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.09.010