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National traditions and the emergence of genetics: the French example

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 5, pages 150–156 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

After the 'rediscovery' of Mendel in 1900, Mendelian approaches to heredity were controversial. In France, however, resistance to Mendelism was especially strong and genetics only began to be institutionalized there after 1945. Nonetheless, extra-university research programmes in population and physiological genetics, which began after 1930, led to the rapid growth of genetic research after the Second World War, especially in regulatory genetics. We show that this rapid, but delayed, growth of genetic research was based on distinctively French traditions.

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Acknowledgements

We thank W. FitzPatrick (Virginia Tech.) and two anonymous referees for helpful criticisms of earlier drafts of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Paris 1-Panthéon Sorbonne (Department of Philosophy), 17 rue de la Sorbonne, Paris, 75015, France

    Jean Gayon

  2. Department of Philosophy, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, 24061, VA, USA

    Richard M. Burian

Authors
  1. Jean Gayon
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard M. Burian.

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FURTHER INFORMATION

Foundations of classical genetics web site

Institut d'histoire et de philosophie des sciences et des techniques (IHPST)

IHPST section for philosophy of biology and medicine

Jean Gayon's web page (in section 'Membres, Paris-1')

Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

Richard Burian's web page

Glossary

ACRIFLAVIN

An acridine dye that was first intensively studied for its mutagenic properties during the Second World War.

ALLOSTERY

The property of some proteins to change conformation at their active site in response to the binding of another molecule at a second, non-overlapping site.

BALANCED POLYMORPHISM

A genetic polymorphism that is maintained in the absence of selection because the heterozygotes for the alleles in question are more fit than either homozygote.

BIOMETRY

The application of statistics to measurable biological traits; the starting point for the analysis of quantitative traits of organisms and populations.

FRENCH POSITIVISM

A philosophical stance, originating from A. Comte, according to which positive knowledge (derived from direct experience) was required as the basis for scientific knowledge. In some versions, hypothetical (or 'theoretical') entities were sharply rejected.

IMAGINAL DISCS

Patches of epidermal and mesodermal cells in the larvae of metamorphic insects that are fated to become specific organs or tissues of the adult (or imago) during metamorphosis.

INDUCTION

Activation or triggering of a process such as enzyme or virus formation. These two examples of induction were important in studies that led to the analysis of the regulation of gene expression.

KINETOSOME

An organelle from which flagella and cilia are formed, often thought to be self-duplicating and considered to be homologous to the centriole.

LYSENKOISM

An ideology proposed by T. Lysenko (1898–1976) that was formally adopted for biological research and teaching in the Soviet Union in 1948. Lysenko maintained that external treatments could direct evolution by altering the hereditary constitution of organisms.

LYSOGENY

Bordet's term for the ability of some bacterial cells to cause or induce lysis (dissolution of the bacterial cell) in themselves and/or in other bacteria.

OPERON

A genetic unit or cluster that consists of one or more genes that are transcribed as a unit and are expressed in a coordinated manner.

PLASMAGENE

A self-replicating gene in the cytoplasm. In the late 1940s, when it was recognized that protein synthesis takes place mainly in the cytoplasm, it was proposed that nuclear genes produce plasmagenes, which compete for substrate to produce proteins.

PROPHAGE

The structure in lysogenic bacteria that contains the genetic information that is required for the production of bacteriophage and that confers specific hereditary properties on the host (such as immunity from the corresponding bacteriophage).

SHIFTING BALANCE THEORY

S. Wright's theory that evolution is most rapid when small subpopulations remain isolated for long enough to acquire distinctive adaptations, after which increased gene flow restores genetic diversity and maximizes genetic flexibility.

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Gayon, J., Burian, R. National traditions and the emergence of genetics: the French example. Nat Rev Genet 5, 150–156 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg1274

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