Synopses & Reviews
In 1998, the nematode worm was the first multicellular organism ever to have its genome sequenced, or its DNA mapped and read. "When we understand the worm, we will understand life," predicted John Sulston, one of the Nobel laureates, and his prediction proved astonishingly accurate.
Along with Bob Horvitz and Sydney Brenner, Sulston discovered the phenomenon of programmed cell death in the worm, a concept that enables us to understand the way all animals develop; Horvitz later showed that the genes leading to cell death in the worm did the same in humans. The worm is about as simple as an animal can be, but its genetic organization its patterns of being and recognizable coherence reveals much about how life works and how we work. Andrew Brown shows that we cannot understand the story of the human genome without looking at the story of the worm. But this story is about more than just what the worm can tell us about our genetic makeup. It is about how the intensely human quest for knowledge and passion for discovery still fire science today.
Full of immense ambition, a small group of scientists built a community outside the normal jealousies and competitions of scientific practice where they could understand how stable chemical patterns are translated into the wonder of life.
Review
"Brown's book traces the worm project from its inception, as fascinating for the obsessive, almost nerd-like quality of the researchers as for the unravelling of the worm's wormliness." Guardian
Review
"Brown an award-winning religious affairs journalist and the author of The Darwin Wars (1999) is at his best when telling the human story behind the scientific work." Telegraph
Synopsis
This is the story of how three men won the Nobel Prize for their research on the humble nematode worm C. elegans; how their extraordinary discovery led to the sequencing of the human genome; how a global multibillion-dollar industry was born; and how the mysteries of life were revealed in a tiny, brainless worm.
In 1998 the nematode worm -- perhaps the most intensively studied animal on earth -- was the first multicellular organism ever to have its genome sequenced and its DNA mapped and read. When we understand the worm, we will understand life, predicted John Sulston, one of the three Nobel laureates, and his prediction proved astonishingly accurate. Four years later, the research that led to this extraordinary event garnered three scientists a Nobel Prize. Along with Robert Horvitz and Sydney Brenner, Sulston discovered the phenomenon of programmed cell death in the worm, an essential concept that explains how biological development occurs in animal life and, as Horvitz later showed, how it occurs in human life. C. elegans is about as simple as an animal can be, but understanding its genetic organization is helping to reveal the mechanisms of life and, by extension, the mechanisms of our own lives. In the Beginning Was the Worm shows that in order to unlock the secrets of the human genome we must first understand the worm.
But this story is about more than just the worm. It is about how an eccentric group of impassioned scientists toiled in near anonymity for years, driven only by a deep passion for knowledge and scientific discovery. It is the story of countless hours of research, immense ambition, and one of the greatest discoveries in human history.