The history of genetic engineering

Since 1865 scientists have been searching on genetic codes. Only in the past 25 years though has genetic engineering had a rapid development.

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  1865: "Experiments on plant hybrids" by the Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel lay the foundations for classical genetics.
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  1869: The Swiss pathologist Friedrich Miescher discovers nucleic acids in fish sperm and other biological material.
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  1888: Chromosomes are discovered by Wilhelm von Waldeyer.
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  1900: Mendel's Laws are rediscovered by Carl Correns, Erich von Tschermak and Hugo de Vries.
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  1902: Theodor Boveri defines the chromosome theory of inheritance.
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  1906: William Bateson introduces the word "genetics" to describe the laws of heredity and variation.
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  1909: The first autosomal recessive hereditary metabolic disorders are described by Archibald Garrod.
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  1915: Thomas H. Morgan develops the chromosome theory of heredity and mutation in his famous "fly room".
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  1944: DNA is identified as the carrier of genetic information by Oswald Avery, Colin McLeod and Maclyn McCarty.
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  1953: The double helix structure of DNA is revealed by James D. Watson and Francis Crick.
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  1966: Severo Ochoa, Marshall W. Nirenberg, Heinrich Matthei and Har Gobind Khorana decipher the genetic code underlying protein synthesis.
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  1972: John Mertz and Ronald Davis discover that gene fragments can be recombined following the use of restriction enzymes.
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  1973: The first recombinant bacterium develops in the laboratories of Stanley Cohen and Herbert W. Boyer.
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  1975: Conference in Asilomar, California. The first conference devoted to the risks of genetic engineering. Based on a voluntary moratorium, guidelines are drawn up in the USA for working with recombinant DNA molecules.
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  1976: The first biotechnology firm is founded: Genentech Inc.
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  1977: Two methods for rapid DNA sequencing are developed by Allan M. Maxam, Walter Gilbert and Frederik Sanger.
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  1980: Green genetic engineering is born. Genetic material is introduced into cell cultures for the first time ever with the aid of Agrobacterium tumefaciens.
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  1980: The US microbiologist Ananda Chakrabarty is finally awarded a patent for oil-eating bacteria. With this award, the patentability of life is confirmed by the US Supreme Court.
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  1982: Human insulin produced in bacteria is the first genetically engineered drug to be approved by the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA).
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  1983: The first genetically modified tobacco plant grows in a greenhouse with an antibiotic resistance gene from bacteria.
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  1983: The gene for Huntington's disease, a hereditary disease, is mapped on the human chromosome 4p.
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  1986: The world's first field test with a genetically modified plant is launched.
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  1986: The first genetically engineered vaccine is approved. It is designed to protect people against the hepatitis B virus.
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  1986: The gene for Duchenne muscular dystrophy is cloned following intensive research.
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  1987: The "Harvard oncomouse" is the first animal to be patented.
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  1988: DNA can be detected in the most minute concentrations and reproduced with the newly developed polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
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  1989: The gene for mucoviscidosis is finally cloned after years of research.
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  1990: The first genetically engineered food additive appears on the market. Chymosin is used to ripen cheese.
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  1990: The "Cologne petunias" - the first genetically modified organisms to be released in a field test in Germany.
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  1990: The first attempt to treat a hereditary disorder with the aid of genes is approved. A child with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) receives gene therapy.
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  1993: The first large-area field test with sugar beet resistant to rhizomania is launched in Germany.
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  1994: The first genetically modified food is approved by the American FDA: the anti-squash FlavrSavrT tomato engineered by Calgene.
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  1995: The bacterium Haemophilus influenzae is the first icroorganism whose genetic material is decoded completely.
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  1996: Das Genom der B¹ckerhefe Saccharomyces cerevisiae wird als erstes hùheres Lebewesen komplett entziffert.
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  1996: The genome of baker's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is the first higher organism to be completely decoded.
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  1999: Human chromosome 22 is the first chromosome to be completely decoded.
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  2000: Thale cress Arabidopsis thaliana is the first plant whose genome is decoded.
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  2001: The DNA sequence of the human genome is published by two rival groups, the public Human Genome Project (HUGO) and the company Celera.
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  2003: Diverse mammals are cloned, e.g. rats, wildcats, horses.
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  2004: South Korean researchers create a human clone but stop the experiment in the blastocyst phase.