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1853
Albrecht Kossel, discovered the nucleic acids. This German biochemist was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1910 for his contributions in deciphering the chemistry of nucleic acids and proteins, discovering the nucleic acids, bases in the DNA molecule, which constitutes the genetic substance of the cell. -
1856
Mendel began studying the inheritance of traits between generations based on experiments involving garden pea plants. He deduced that there is a certain tangible essence that is passed on between generations from both parents. Mendel established the basic principles of inheritance, namely, the principles of dominance, independent assortment, and segregation. -
1859
Charles Darwin, himself a proponent of pangenesis, publishes On the Origin of Species – his explanation of evolution by natural selection. Darwin provides a plethora of evidence on how valuable traits become more common in a population, but does not provide any explanation for the mechanism of transmission of these traits -
1866
Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel published his work on the patterns of inheritance in pea plants. His meticulous studies mark the birth of modern genetics. Mendel’s findings escape the notice of other researchers for over three decades. -
1871
Friedrich Miescher The term nuclein is used for the material found inside the nucleus of a cell. Further experiments (1874) revealed nuclein consisted of a nucleic acid and protein. -
1879
Mitosis Described Walter Flemming describes chromosome behavior during animal cell division. He stains chromosomes to observe them clearly and describes the whole process of mitosis in 1882. -
1882
Chromosomes are discovered by German biologist Walter Fleming and named with the Greek prefix meaning “colour” because they become stained when cells are dyed -
1888
Henrich Wilhelm Gottfried Waldeyer The term chromosome is applied to the condensed version of material found in the nucleus. -
1889
Hugo de Vries postulates that "inheritance of specific traits in organisms comes in particles", naming such particles "(pan)genes" -
1894
William Bateson In the book “Materials for the Study of Variation”, the concept of discontinuous variation is discussed, an important tenet found in Mendel’s work. -
1899
William Bateson The use of hybridization between two individuals is described as a tool of the scientific analysis of heredity. This again was discovered to be an important tenet of Mendel’s work. -
1902
Mendel’s research is rediscovered by botanists in 1900. US and German cell biologists then independently notice the link between Mendel’s “units of inheritance” and chromosomes. They conclude that hereditary information is contained within chromosomes -
1905
The term “genetics” is created by British biologist William Bateson. The terms “gene” and “genotype” surface in 1909. -
1905
Sex chromosomes are discovered following work on butterflies and beetles -
1910
US scientist Thomas Hunt Morgan is the first to discover a sex-linked trait while studying the fruit fly Drosophila. The trait for eye color, on the X chromosome, is also the first gene to be traced to a specific chromosome. -
1911
Chromosomes Carry Genes Thomas Hunt Morgan and his students study fruit fly chromosomes. They show that chromosomes carry genes, and also discover genetic
linkage. -
1913
Alfred Sturtevant makes the first genetic map of a chromosome Gene maps show chromosomes containing linear arranged genes -
1920
Lysenkoism Started, during Lysenkoism they stated that the hereditary factor are not only in the nucleus, but also in the cytoplasm, though they called it living protoplasm. -
1923
Frederick Griffith studied bacterial transformation and observed that DNA carries genes responsible for pathogenicity -
1925
Studies show that X-rays can induce mutations in the genetic material. -
1930
Chemical nature of nuclei acid investigated. It was thought to be a tetranucleotide composed of one unit each of adenylic, guanylic, thymidylic and cytidylic acids -
1931
Walter Fiers, He was the first to establish the complete nucleotide sequence of a gene (1972) and a viral genome (bacteriophage MS2) (1976). -
1931
Harriet B. Creighton
Barbara McClintock Demonstrated the cytological proof for crossing-over in maize. -
1941
Edward Lawrie Tatum and George Wells Beadle show that genes code for proteins;[36] see the original central dogma of genetics -
1943
Luria–Delbrück experiment: this experiment showed that genetic mutations conferring resistance to bacteriophage arise in the absence of selection, rather than being a response to selection. -
1944
Discovery that DNA is genetic molecule - in other words, it is the way genetic information is passed between generations. DNA is the hereditary material, and not protein as was previously suspected -
1944
A trio of US geneticists revisit work from the 1920s and prove that, in bacteria, DNA is the hereditary material, and not protein as was previously suspected -
1951
Clear X-ray diffraction images of DNA are captured for the first time by British researcher Rosalind Franklin. -
1952
The Hershey-Chase experiments are carried out by Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase to demonstrate that DNA, rather than protein, carries our genetic information. -
1953
Watson and Crick describe the double helix structure of DNA, providing more insight into how DNA carries genetic information. -
1995
The first bacterial genome sequence is completed (Haemophilus influenza). -
1960
Jacob and collaborators discover the operon, a group of genes whose expression is coordinated by an operator -
1961
Crick and South African geneticist Sydney Brenner report that trios of DNA bases – called nucleotides – each hold the instructions for one of the 20 amino acids that combine to form proteins -
1968
Marshall Nirenberg, Har Gobind Khorana and Robert Holley share the 1968 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine for Nirenberg and Khorana’s work cracking the genetic code, and Holley’s work sequencing the first tRNA molecule. -
1973
Cohen and Boyer successfully splice a gene from one organism and move it into another, launching the modern biotechnology era. -
1978
Genetically modified bacteria produce the hormone insulin -
1978
Boyer’s lab created a synthetic version of the human insulin gene. -
1980
Paul Berg, Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger developed methods of mapping the structure of DNA. In 1972, recombinant DNA molecules were produced in Paul Berg’s Stanford University laboratory. Berg was awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for constructing recombinant -
1983
The gene for an inherited disorder (Huntington’s disease) is mapped to a chromosome for the first time. is identified by James Gusella and his team at Massachusetts General Hospital, USA. -
1986
Kary Mullis in the US develops the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), which allows researchers to produce many millions of copies of DNA molecules in just a few hours -
1990
A rabbit is the first animal to be created by the process of in-vitro-fertilization (IVF) which using crossing-over to create the specimen -
1994
Flavr Savr tomatoes, genetically modified to have a long shelf-life is the first GM product to go on sale in the US. GM tomato puree goes in sale in the UK in 1996 -
1996
Baker’s yeast is the first (non-viral) genome to be completed, followed by the worm Caenorhabditis elegans in 1998 and then the plant Arabidopsis and fruit fly Drosophila in 2000
An international team complete sequencing the genome of yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The first cloned animal, Dolly the Sheep, is born at the Roslin Institute, part of the University of Edinburgh. -
2000
Completion of the draft human genome is jointly announced by US firm Celera Genomics and the Human Genome Project (an international public consortium). The full sequence – comprising 30,000 to 40,000 genes – is completed in 2003 -
2000
The first entire plant genome is sequenced, Arabidopsis thaliana, which provides researchers with greater insight into the genes that control specific traits in many other agricultural plants. The full genome sequence of the model organism Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) is completed. -
2001
First draft of the human genome sequence released. -
2002
The mouse is the first mammal to have its full genome sequence completed. The project is carried out by the International Mouse Genome Sequencing Consortium. The mouse genome is 14 per cent smaller than the human genome, but over 95 per cent of the mouse genome is similar to ours. -
2003
A tropical fish that fluoresces bright red becomes the first genetically modified pet to go on sale in the US
Human Genome Project is completed and confirms humans have approximately 20,000–25,000 genes. The human genome is sequenced to 99.99 percent accuracy, 2 years ahead of schedule. -
2012
ENCODE study publishes 30 research papers describing the active regions of the human genome including confirmation that the human genome contains 20,687 protein-coding genes. -
2014
The schizophrenia working group of the psychiatric genomics consortium discovered more than 100 genes that play some kind of role of the development of schizophrenia. -
2016
A genome is sequenced in outer space for the first time, with NASA astronaut Kate Rubins using a MinION device aboard the International Space Station.
