Danna and Nathans: Restriction enzymes and the boon to modern molecular biology

Danna and Nathans: Restriction enzymes and the boon to modern molecular biology I n 1971, a paper published in PNAS (1) helped jump-start the era of modern molecular biology and biotechnology, eventually giving rise to many of the genetic advances that seem so commonplace today.The article, written by Academy member Daniel Nathans and his then graduate student, Kathleen Danna, exposed the marvelous utility of restriction enzymes.In the accompanying Perspective highlighting this classic work of scientific literature, Rich Roberts provides a historical account of the scientific discoveries leading up to the PNAS paper and the unparalleled scientific advances made after its publication. Leaving Medicine for ResearchThe road to the discovery of restriction enzymes began in 1945, when Nathans enrolled in an undergraduate chemistry program at the University of Delaware (Newark).Lingering in Wilmington, DE, the same town where he was born and raised, Nathans initially lived at home and commuted to class by hitchhiking.He was the last of eight children born to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, who encouraged his natural interest in science.Nathans claimed that his father saw him as ''the last chance to have a doctor in the family'' (2).''Becoming a physician also seemed more attractive to me than any other alternative I knew about,'' Nathans noted (3), so he applied to medical school and received a scholarship at Washington University (St.Louis).However, an intense summer session of research convinced Nathans that his future lay in research and teaching rather than in medical practice.After he received his medical degree in 1954, an internship at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, followed by 2 years as a clinical associate at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda), confirmed Nathans' desire to focus on research.Much to the surprise and dismay of his father, Nathans left medicine and began his basic research career at The Rockefeller University (New York) in 1959.However, tired of sitting through endless lectures, Nathans abandoned his Ph.D. program at Rockefeller and started laboratory research on bacterial