Recent Advances in Molecular Genetics Technologies: A Themed Issue Honouring Professor Werner Arber on the Occasion of his 90th Birthday

Dear Colleagues,

Professor Werner Arber is a pioneer in the field of molecular genetics, exchange of genetic information and recombinant DNA technologies. Together with his colleagues Daniel Nathans and Hamilton Smith, he was awarded the Nobel prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1978 for his contribution to “the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application to problems of molecular genetics”. In his studies, Arber discovered DNA-cleaving enzymes as a factor restricting horizontal gene transfer from bacteria to bacteria. He postulated that these restriction enzymes bind to DNA at specific sites containing recurring structural elements made up of specific basepair sequences, and as such established the foundation of modern molecular biology and recombinant DNA.

Werner Arber studied chemistry and physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich and received his doctorate in 1958 from the University of Geneva. He worked on bacteriophages and defective lambda prophage mutants and continued his studies while joining the University of Southern California. Werner had the opportunity to spend time in the laboratories of Gunther Stent, Joshua and Esther Lederberg and Salvador Luria and became interested in the then emerging field of phage genetics. In the following years, he established his own lab in Geneva in 1959 and the University of Geneva promoted him to Extraordinary Professor for Molecular Genetics in 1965. It was then that he made his fundamental discoveries on genetic restriction and modification as bacterial defence mechanisms to encounter phage infections. In 1971, after spending a year as a visiting professor in the Department of Molecular Biology of the University of California in Berkeley, Arber moved to the University of Basel where he is an emeritus professor. 

Genes is highly pleased to host a Special Issue honouring Prof. Werner Arber on the occasion of his 90th birthday for his outstanding achievements in the field of molecular genetics. We encourage colleagues to submit outstanding papers in the broader field of molecular genetics technologies, highlighting and embracing the impact that the initial finding of restriction endonucleases has brought about, and to report on new developments and technical applications. In his speech on acceptance of the Nobel prize in 1978, Professor Arber made the statement that he “tried to show that the deeper we penetrate in the studies of genetic exchange the more we discover a multitude of mechanisms either acting as promotors of exchange or acting to set limits to it, and some do both.” I believe that this is an even more important and relevant point than ever, with the field still rapidly evolving more than 40 years later. We would like this issue to be a collection of original articles and reviews on what researchers today consider to be the most recent advances in the world of molecular genetics.

Dr. Philip Hublitz
Guest Editor

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• molecular cloning and recombinant DNA
• molecular genetics
• genetic exchange and recombination
• horizontal gene transfer
• mobile genetic elements
• molecular drivers of evolution
• bacteriophages
• genome engineering
• genetic exchange
• genetic restriction.