Molecular genetics and industrial microbiology--30 years of marriage

Thirty years ago, molecular genetics and industrial microbiology joined their hands in marriage. The event took place in Prague at the first Symposium on the Genetics of Industrial Microorganisms. My closing plenary lecture, titled "The Marriage of Genetics and Industrial Microbiology--After a long Engagement, a Bright Future," dealt with industrial uses of mutants, the lack of success with genetic recombination, control of branched and unbranched pathways and thoughts about the future, e.g., identifying the biochemical sites of beneficial mutations, exploitation of recombination and genetic means to increase production of enzymes. It is quite amazing that the Symposium was held 3 years before the advent of recombinant DNA technology. This important meeting was followed in 1976 by the first Genetics and Molecular Biology of Industrial Microorganisms (GMBIM) meeting in Orlando, all of the six subsequent GMBIM meetings being held in Bloomington, Indiana. Today, thousands of biotechnology companies are in existence making great progress in the pharmaceutical and agricultural sectors. Hundreds of new genetically engineered compounds, produced in microbial, mammalian or insect cells, are in clinical trails and many are already being marketed. The field is booming with new technologies such as transgenic animals and plants, site-directed mutagenesis, combinatorial biosynthesis, gene therapy, antisense, abzymes, high-throughput screening, monoclonal antibodies, PCR and many more. Agricultural biotechnology has made great strides but unfortunately its progress is being delayed by political controversy.