Cytogenetics / edited by Ronald L. Phillips, Charles R. Burnham.

Date:
[1977], ©1977
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Credit: Cytogenetics / edited by Ronald L. Phillips, Charles R. Burnham. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/520 (page VII)
    PREFACE The field of cytogenetics emerged from the integration of knowl¬ edge concerning the segregation of heritable variations and the behavior of chromosomes in somatic and meiotic ceil division. The molecular basis of cytogenetics that is under investigation today will lead to a more complete understanding of genetics. Cytogenetics is not a side branch of genetics but rather a stepping stone to a more complete understand¬ ing of the subject. The volume editors' goal is to guide the reader to an understanding of how the field of classical cytogenetics developed from experiments that utilized both genetics and cytology and how modern cytogenetics couples genetics^ cytology, and molecular biology. Present-day cytogenetics was built from a multitude of benchmark contributions. After four years of working at the interesting task of devel¬ oping this volume, we have become convinced that the goal of providing a historical perspective of cytogenetics through the reprinting of bench¬ mark papers could not be met solely by means of a necessarily limited number of papers. For this reason we have written a Historical Perspec¬ tives'' introduction that precedes each section and refers to other con¬ tributions along with references. The editors' intent is that reading this volume will provide cytogenetics students with the historical perspective that will enhance their understanding and enjoyment of a modern course in cytogenetics. Although we have attempted to survey the entire field of cytogenet¬ ics, we are aware that our selection of papers reflects certain biases that result from our own collective knowledge and experience in cytogenetics research, teaching, and personal contacts. Nevertheless, the volume does bring together many important contributions. We approached the task by listing first the papers that immediately came to mind, then the laboratories that had made major contributions, and finally the various subareas of cytogenetics. By scanning literature lists in textbooks and reviews and by referring to published collections of benchmark papers in genetics and to historical reviews, we obtained a rather lengthy list of papers that were important contributions. After making a tentative selection, we then sought opinions of leading author¬ ities. In general, the papers we finally selected for inclusion present both vii