Word: lambda
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...fellow at Harvard, Ptashne rose to fame after isolating the repressor of lambda phage virus. The lambda virus is able to remain dormant in E. coli bacteria because its repressor binds to the viral DNA, preventing the expression of the genes necessary for viral replication...
Ptashne recorded his work with lambda repressor in 'A Genetic Switch,' a monograph considered by many scientists to be one of the classics of molecular biology. The book is used by Harvard students taking Biological Sciences 10: "Introductory Molecular Biology," Biological Sciences 14: "Genetics," and Biological Sciences 1: "Introductory Genetics, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology...
After characterizing the lambda repressor, Ptashne began applying the principles of gene regulation in lambda phage virus to higher organisms...
...made a few observations that enabled us to argue that the principles of gene regulation in higher organisms can be understood with certain modifications of what we know in lambda," Ptashne says. "Those principles of gene regulation in higher organisms were then explained in the second edition of 'A Genetic Switch...
...focus is different from that of many labs working on gene regulation." Ptashne says. "It's not so much discovering new examples of regulators but rather understanding what are the common chemical principles that regulate genes. The message from lambda is that you can't study the patterns of gene expression without studying the underlying mechanism...