History of Mammalian Somatic Cell Genetics
N. B. Varshaver Institute of Molecular Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia History of development of mammalian somatic cell genetics since its origin in the late fifties is considered. The data indicating an important role of genetics of somatic cells in studying such problems as spontaneous and induced mutagenesis, regulation of gene differentiation and expression, and gene mapping using somatic cell hybridization are presented. The important results were obtained in studying genetic mechanisms of malignant transformation, discovering protooncogenes, oncogenes, and genes-suppressors of malignancy. The importance of gene khockout in determination of their functions is discussed.
