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Special Report: The birth of biotechnology

Nature volume 421, pages 456–457 (2003)Cite this article

According to one account, biotechnology was born during a meeting at a Hawaiian delicatessen in 1972. The shop has long since been torn down, and there is no plaque to mark biotech's inception — but its legacy lives on. And the two pioneers who met there blazed distinct career paths that have become well trodden (see box 1 ).

Both saw the potential for combining the two discoveries into what would become genetic engineering. First, use EcoRI to slice both plasmid DNA and the DNA of choice. Then, with the identical DNA termini exposed, attach the DNA fragment to the plasmid DNA, and clone the whole in E. coli.

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  1. freelance writer based in Takoma Park, Maryland

    Eugene Russo

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Russo, E. Special Report: The birth of biotechnology. Nature 421, 456–457 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nj6921-456a

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