Elementary plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology (2+1)

Selected historical events that lead to the development of biotechnology

Box 1. Selected historical events that lead to the development of biotechnology

Box 1. Selected historical events that lead to the development of biotechnology:
(events in bold letters are must to remember)
1810: Brown described nucleus as a central feature in plant cells.
1838: Schleiden and Schwann proposed cell theory.
1865: Mendal published his experimental results on the inheritance of traits in peas.
1869: Meischer reported that DNA is a major component of the nucleus.
1900s: Mendel's results are "rediscovered" and the science of genetics begins. Laws of heredity are confirmed in plants.
1875: Strasburger described chromosomes 1902: Sutton described chromosome theory
1902: Haberlandt first attempted plant tissue culture
1903: Buchner discovered the enzyme
1911: Morgan proposed the gene theory: genes are linearly arranged along chromosomes in a definite order.
1917: Karl Ereky coined the term biotechnology
1922: Knudson showed in vitro asymbiotic germination of orchid seeds
1928: Griffith discovered genetic transduction in bacteria.
1934: White demonstrated successful culturing of tomato roots
1935: Stanley isolated tobacco mosaic virus in crystalline form.
1941: Van Overbeek used first time the coconut milk which contains a cell division factor
1944: Avery, Mcleod and McCarty showed the significance of DNA in hereditary transmission in bacteria.
1944: Barbara McClintock discovered the transposable elements.
1952: Morel and Martine used meristem tip culture for production of virus free plants
1952: Morel and Martine shown first application of micrografting
1952: Chase and Hershey showed that the gene was DNA.
1953: Watson and Crick invented DNA double helix model.
1954: Sanger gave the complete structure of a protein molecule (insulin).
1957: Skoog and Miller discovered the regulation of organ formation by changing the ratio of auxin : cytokinin
1958: Beadle and Tatum discovered that one gene one polypeptide hypothesis- one gene regulates one definite chemical process.
1958: Crick proposed the central dogma of life or molecular biology
1959: Kornberg synthesized in vitro polydeoxiribonucleotides (DNA).
1960: Kanta showed first successful test tube fertilization in Papaver rhoeas
1960: Cocking developed enzymatic degradation of cell walls to obtain large number of protoplasts
1961: Crick produced direct evidence that the genetic code is a triplet one.
1961: Jacob and Monad discovered regulatory genes- operon concept.
1962: Murashige and Skoog has developed MS medium
1964: Guha and Maheswari developed first haploid plants from pollen grains of Datura
1968: Nirenberg and Khorana proposed genetic code for amino acids.
1968: Meselson and Yuan coined restriction endonuclease: a class of enzymes involved in DNA cleavage.
1970: Temin and Baltimore discovered reverse transcriptase.
1970: Power et al., first achieved the protoplast fusion
1970: Smith discovered first restriction endonulease from Haemophillus influenzae Rd. it was later purified and named as HindII.
1971: Nathans prepared first restriction map using HindII to cut circular DNA of SV40 into 11 specific fragments.
1972: Khorana et al., synthesized entire tRNA gene.
1972: Berg et al., produced first recombinant DNA molecule
1973: Boyer and Cohen established recombinant DNA technology.
1975: O’Farrel developed high resolution two-dimensional gel electrophoresis procedure, which led to the development of proteomics.
1978: Nathans, Smith and Arber discovered restriction enzymes and awarded Nobel prize .
1980: Eli Lilly Co., has commercially produced human insulin through genetic engineering in bacterial cells.
1981: Larkin and Scowcroft introduced somaclonal variation.
1983: Engineered Ti plasmids used to transform plants.
1983: Kary Mullis discovered polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
1984: Jeffreys introduced DNA fingerprinting to identify individuals.
1984: De Block et al., and Horsch et al., shown transformation of tobacco with Agrobacterium and transgenic plants were developed.
1986: Powell-Abel et al., shown TMV resistant tobacco and tomato transgenic plants developed using cDNA of coat protein gene of TMV.
1987: Development of biolistic gene transfer method; isolation of Bt gene from Bacillus thrungiensis.
1990: Human Genome Project officially initiated and physical and genetic map was published in 2000.
1995: The first genetically engineered potato, resistant to the Colorado potato beetle is sold in Canada. Canada is the first country in the world to grow biotech crops.
1997: Nuclear cloning of a mammal, a sheep – dolly, with a differentiated cell nucleus was done. Blattner et al., completely sequenced E. coli.
1998: Genome sequencing of Caenorhabditis elegans completed.
2000: Craig Venter and Francis Collins announced the first draft human genome sequence.
2002: Complete draft genomic sequence of rice published.
2007-2009: Initiatives on genome sequencing in many agriculturally important crops such as cotton, tomato etc.,
(This is just to list a few well known historical events. The list is still lengthy and growing)