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In this Timeline article, Collins and colleagues chart the history of synthetic biology since its inception just over a decade ago, with a focus on both the cultural and scientific progress that has been made as well as on key breakthroughs and areas for future development. The ability to rationally engineer microorganisms has been a long-envisioned goal dating back more than a half-century. With the genomics revolution and rise of systems biology in the 1990s came the development of a rigorous engineering discipline to create, control and programme cellular behaviour. The resulting field, known as synthetic biology, has undergone dramatic growth throughout the past decade and is poised to transform biotechnology and medicine. This Timeline article charts the technological and cultural lifetime of synthetic biology, with an emphasis on key breakthroughs and future challenges.

This book presents a history of the last two centuries of biology. It covers early evolutionary biology — Lamarck, Cuvier, Darwin, and Wallace through to Mayr and the neodarwinian synthesis — and also discusses social implications, the struggles with our religious understanding, and the interweaving of genetics into evolutionary theory. The book's account is an integration of the cytological tradition and the new understanding of the diversification of life coming from comparative analyses of complete microbial genomes. The book includes the history of research and theories about symbiosis in evolution, research on microbial evolution, bacterial evolution, and symbiosis in evolution.

Systems analysis has historically been performed in many areas of biology, including ecology, developmental biology and immunology. More recently, the genomics revolution has catapulted molecular biology into the realm of systems biology. In unicellular organisms and well-defined cell lines of higher organisms, systems approaches are making definitive strides toward scientific understanding and biotechnological applications. We argue here that two distinct lines of inquiry in molecular biology have converged to form contemporary systems biology.

In the 80 years that have passed since the first issue of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was published, the field of prokaryote systematics has changed dramatically. The 4th edition of Bergey’s Manual of Determinative Bacteriology (1934) described 132 genera and 2,703 species. The numbers of genera and species with names with standing in the nomenclature in August 2013 were 2,390 and 11,482, respectively, including no more than 75 genera and 250 species that were recognized in 1934. In the years 2006–2012, on average 624 new species were added annually, most of which were described by scientists in Asian countries. We review the past and current species concept for the prokaryotes and the current requirements for the description of new species, based on a ‘polyphasic’ approach. We discuss the impact of genomics and metagenomics and other new trends toward revitalization of prokaryote systematics, and provide some ideas and speculations on possible future developments in the field.

In this paper, I will conduct three interrelated analyses. First, I will develop an analysis of various concepts in the history of biology that used to refer to individual-level phenomena but were then reinterpreted by the Modern Synthesis in terms of populations. Second, a similar situation can be found in contemporary evolutionary theory. While different approaches reflect on the causal role of developing organisms in evolution, proponents of the Modern Synthesis refrain from any substantial change by reinterpreting and explaining individual-level phenomena from a population perspective. Finally, I will approach these historical and contemporary debates by arguing for the statistical reading of natural selection, which holds that explanations by natural selection are statistical. My main conclusion is that the historical conceptual reinterpretations belong to a new explanatory strategy developed by the Modern Synthesis based on population thinking. Adopting the statistical point of view has three advantages for the issues discussed in this paper. First, understanding historical conceptual change as part of an explanatory shift fits with the emergence of population biology as a discipline that employs statistical methods. Second, concerning current debates in evolutionary biology, the statisticalist reading can validate the goal of both sides of the dispute. It ascribes an invaluable role to the population statistical explanation of the MS and also commends the study of developmental and organismal causes of adaptive evolution. Finally, the division of explanatory roles in evolutionary biology, embarrassed by statisticalism, can be related to the different interpretations that important biological concepts have undergone throughout history and contemporary biology, i.e., that the division of explanatory roles allows for a division of conceptual interpretations.

Tellurium (Te) is a semimetal rare element in nature. Together with oxygen, sulfur (S), and selenium (Se), Te is considered a member of chalcogen group. Over recent decades, Te applications continued to emerge in different fields including metallurgy, glass industry, electronics, and applied chemical industries. Along these lines, Te has recently attracted research attention in various fields. Though Te exists in biologic organisms such as microbes, yeast, and human body, its importance and role and some of its potential implications have long been ignored. Some promising applications of Te using its inorganic and organic derivatives including novel Te nanostructures are being introduced. Before discovery and straightforward availability of antibiotics, Te had considered and had been used as an antibacterial element. Antilishmaniasis, antiinflammatory, antiatherosclerotic, and immuno-modulating properties of Te have been described for many years, while the innovative applications of Te have started to emerge along with nanotechnological advances over the recent years. Te quantum dots (QDs) and related nanostructures have proposed novel applications in the biological detection systems such as biosensors. In addition, Te nanostructures are used in labeling, imaging, and targeted drug delivery systems and are tested for antibacterial or antifungal properties. In addition, Te nanoparticles show novel lipid-lowering, antioxidant, and free radical scavenging properties. This review presents an overview on the novel forms of Te, their potential applications, as well as related toxicity profiles.

In 1809--the year of Charles Darwin's birth--Jean-Baptiste Lamarck published Philosophie zoologique, the first comprehensive and systematic theory of biological evolution. The Lamarckian approach emphasizes the generation of developmental variations; Darwinism stresses selection. Lamarck's ideas were eventually eclipsed by Darwinian concepts, especially after the emergence of the Modern Synthesis in the twentieth century. The different approaches--which can be seen as complementary rather than mutually exclusive--have important implications for the kinds of questions biologists ask and for the type of research they conduct. Lamarckism has been evolving--or, in Lamarckian terminology, transforming--since Philosophie zoologique's description of biological processes mediated by \"subtle fluids.\" Essays in this book focus on new developments in biology that make Lamarck's ideas relevant not only to modern empirical and theoretical research but also to problems in the philosophy of biology. Contributors discuss the historical transformations of Lamarckism from the 1820s to the 1940s, and the different understandings of Lamarck and Lamarckism; the Modern Synthesis and its emphasis on Mendelian genetics; theoretical and experimental research on such \"Lamarckian\" topics as plasticity, soft (epigenetic) inheritance, and individuality; and the importance of a developmental approach to evolution in the philosophy of biology. The book shows the advantages of a \"Lamarckian\" perspective on evolution. Indeed, the development-oriented approach it presents is becoming central to current evolutionary studies--as can be seen in the burgeoning field of Evo-Devo. Transformations of Lamarckism makes a unique contribution to this research.

An interview with Lucy Shapiro, from Stanford University, a renowned molecular and developmental biologist is presented. Shapiro said that I grew up in New York City, the child of Ukrainian immigrants. Although he never had formal schooling, my father taught me to play chess as a young child and instilled in me a love of literature. My mother, a first-generation American, was a music teacher and a pianist. I am the eldest of three sisters. Enid, only 17 months younger than I, was brain damaged at birth. From a very early age, Enid was my responsibility because both my parents worked. Looking back on it, I did not have a carefree childhood. My goal was to become a medical illustrator, and while in college, I supported myself by illustrating course syllabi. I could have graduated in three and a half years, and near that ending time, I was part of a group art show at Lever House.

Researchers from across the field consider the new concepts that have emerged during the past decade of molecular cell biology research, and the key challenges still to be met. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology celebrated its 10-year anniversary during this past year with a series of specially commissioned articles. To complement this, here we have asked researchers from across the field for their insights into how molecular cell biology research has evolved during this past decade, the key concepts that have emerged and the most promising interfaces that have developed. Their comments highlight the broad impact that particular advances have had, some of the basic understanding that we still require, and the collaborative approaches that will be essential for driving the field forward.

In 1977, Carl Woese and George Fox published a brief paper in PNAS that established, for the first time, that the overall phylogenetic structure of the living world is tripartite. We describe the way in which this monumental discovery was made, its context within the historical development of evolutionary thought, and how it has impacted our understanding of the emergence of life and the characterization of the evolutionary process in its most general form.