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Article: Go forth and multiply: the human genome. (molecular genetics research)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- March 13, 1993
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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MOLECULAR genetics started as a cottage industry. Small teams of researchers would painstakingly seek out individual genes - usually genes which, when they misfunction, cause inherited disease - from the haystacks of DNA surrounding them. There was rivalry between the teams, of course; but with an estimated 100,000 genetic needles to choose from, hidden in an endless summer's worth of haystacks, there was no need to get too possessive. Now those days are over. Molecular genetics has left the cottage and started its industrial revolution. And one of the chief industrialisers, Daniel Cohen, is turning these new techniques to the search for groups of genes with interwoven ...