© 1993 • 477 pp., illus., color plate, indexes
Paperback • $61.00 • ISBN  978-087969874-4

Yeast genetics began with Winge's 1935 studies of S. cerevisiae in Copenhagen, and afterwards was pursued by Lindegren in the U.S. and Ephrussi in France. Genetic studies in S. pombe were pioneered by Leupold in the 1940s in Switzerland. Within four decades, not without controversies, both yeast species were recognized as essential models in eukaryotic molecular cell biology. In this remarkable volume, Hall and Linder have assembled the reminiscences of many early investigators whose pioneering studies in the years before 1975 brought yeast biology to its current maturity. These illustrated essays about the science, the events and the personalities involved capture a fascinating era, in the informal style made famous by Phage and the Origins of Molecular Biology. This is a book that all scientists interested in the development of modern genetics and molecular biology should have on their shelves.

Beginnings

Ojvind Winge: Founder of Yeast Genetics (R.K. Mortimer); Carl C. Lindegren: Iconoclastic Father of Neurospora and Yeast Genetics (R.K. Mortimer); Reprint from Nucleo-Cytoplasmic Relations in Micro-organisms (1953) "First Lecture" (B. Ephrussi); Reprint from Annual Review of Genetics (1986) "The Early Days of Yeast Genetics: A Personal Narrative" (H. Roman); Saccharomyces Studies 1950_1960 (D.C. Hawthorne); The Origin of Schizosaccharomyces pombe Genetics (U. Leupold)

Recombination, Gene Conversion, Mutation, and Repair

The Salad Days of Yeast Genetics and Meiotic Gene Conversion (S. Fogel); My Road to Repair in Yeast: The Importance of Being Ignorant (R.H. Haynes); Some Recollections on Forty Years of Research in Yeast Genetics (R.K. Mortimer); Taming the Oldest Domesticated Organism (R.C. von Borstel); Chemically Induced Genetic Change in Yeast Cells (F.K. Zimmermann)

Mitochondria and Cytoplasmic Inheritance

Psi Phenomena in Yeast (B. Cox); From "Granules" to Organelles: How Yeast Mitochondria Became Respectable (G. Schatz); From MIT to PET Genes (A.A. Tzagoloff); Early Recollections of Fungal Genetics and the Cytoplasmic Inheritance Controversy (D. Wilkie)

Mating

a's, a's, and Shmoos: Mating Pheromones and Genetics (V.L. MacKay); Homothallism, Mating-type Switching, and the Controlling Element Model in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Y. Oshima)

Cell Cycle

Getting Started in the Cell Cycle (L.H. Hartwell); The Cell Cycle of Fission Yeast (J.M. Mitchison); Circles and Cycles: Early Days at Nutfield (D.H. Williamson)

Gene Structure and Expression

Genetic Roots (E.W. Jones); My Life with Cytochrome c (F. Sherman)

Molecular Biology

A Phage Geneticist Turns to Yeast (D. Botstein); Genes, Replicators, and Centromeres: The First Artificial Chromosomes (J. Carbon); Starting to Probe for Yeast Genes (B.D. Hall); From Caterpillars to Yeast (F. Lacroute)

Institutions

Humble Beginnings (R.E. Esposito); The Double Entendre (G.R. Fink); The Carlsberg Laboratory: Historical Retrospective and Personal Reminiscence (J. Friis); The International Yeast Community (R.C. von Borstel)