Reconceiving the gene : Seymour Benzer's adventures in phage genetics / Frederic Lawrence Holmes ; edited by William C. Summers.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Holmes, Frederic Lawrence.

Contributor:

Summers, William C.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Benzer, Seymour.

Geneticists--United States--Biography.

Geneticists.

Bacteriophages--Genetics.

Bacteriophages.

Viral genetics--History.

Viral genetics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (352 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book relates how, between 1954 and 1961, the biologist Seymour Benzer mapped the fine structure of the rII region of the genome of the bacterial virus known as phage T4. Benzer's accomplishments are widely recognized as a tipping point in mid-twentieth-century molecular biology when the nature of the gene was recast in molecular terms. More often than any other individual, he is considered to have led geneticists from the classical gene into the molecular age. Drawing on Benzer's remarkably complete record of his experiments, his correspondence, and published sources, this book reconstructs how the former physicist initiated his work in phage biology and achieved his landmark investigation. The account of Benzer's creativity as a researcher is a fascinating story that also reveals intriguing aspects common to the scientific enterprise.

Contents:

Classical mendelian genetics

Genetics and the phage biologists

The physicist becomes a phage biologist

To Paris and back

Teaching and research at Purdue

Entering the rII region

Crossing into the fine structure

Is gene a dirty word?

The survival of the "gene".

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [303]-329) and index.

ISBN:

9786611730475

9781281730473

1281730475

9780300129700

030012970X

OCLC:

952732441