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Home , Allan Wilson, Barbara McClintock, Charlotte Auerbach, Chromosomal crossover, Edward Tatum, Elizabeth Blackburn

Anne McLaren Edith Saunders 1927-2007 1865-1945 1916-2004

Known for mouse Known for genetics Known for the double helix Fame 62 Fame 41 Fame 99 Impact 77 Impact 28 Impact 93 Nobel Prizes 0 Nobel Prizes 0 Nobel Prizes 1 Number of Children 3 Number of Children 0 Number of Children 3 Special Power (ethics) 18 Special Power (vigour) 30 Special Power (communication) 3

McLaren’s studies of mice and other With and , Working with and inspired by revealed that the external environment Saunders confirmed Mendel’s results but also ’s X-ray images, Crick built influences an embryo’s expression during showed that inheritance of combinations like the double-helix structure of DNA. He also development, which paved the way for in vitro flower colour and pollen shape would break proposed the central dogma of molecular and fertility treatment in . Mendel’s laws, now known to be due to : information cannot flow from . proteins to .

Frederick Sanger 1918-2013 1925-2014 1949-

Known for DNA sequencing Known for X- inactivation Known for the cycle Fame 82 Fame 63 Fame 74 Impact 92 Impact 81 Impact 92 Nobel Prizes 2 Nobel Prizes 0 Nobel Prizes 1 Number of Children 3 Number of Children 0 Number of Children 2 Special Power (boating) 1 Special Power (rigour) 22 Special Power (astronomy) 7

One of only four scientists with two Nobels, Lyon helped explain why women who After Leland Hartwell identified the gene that Sanger won his first for methods that identify only ‘carry’ a genetic disorder can exhibit controls when cells can enter a growth amino acids in proteins and shared his second symptoms. She proposed that in female phase during the cell-division cycle, Nurse with Walter Gilbert for reading the sequence of mammals, one of the two X is discovered the gene controlling whether cells letters in DNA. randomly silenced during early development, a can pass a checkpoint before they divide in two. process dubbed ‘Lyonisation’.

Ronald Fisher William Bateson William Hamilton 1890-1962 1861-1926 1936-2000

Known for Known for Mendelian genetics Known for Fame 87 Fame 70 Fame 74 Impact 94 Impact 50 Impact 98 Nobel Prizes 0 Nobel Prizes 0 Nobel Prizes 0 Number of Children 8 Number of Children 3 Number of Children 3 Special Power (eccentricity) 2 Special Power (feminism) 20 Special Power (curiosity) 11

A genius in , Fisher incorporated Bateson was an early champion of Mendelian Hamilton showed that Mendel’s concept of into Charles principles. After Mendel’s research from 1865 can still favour costly social behaviours like Darwin’s theory of natural selection. With was rediscovered in 1900, he coined the term if it helps relatives (kin) as they share population JBS Haldane ‘genetics’ for the study of heredity and, with the same genes, a theory of evolutionary and , he developed the Edith Saunders, founded . made famous by ’ book modern evolutionary synthesis. . Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard 1899-1994 1942- 1948-

Known for chemical Known for embryonic development Known for Fame 68 Fame 69 Fame 82 Impact 50 Impact 88 Impact 96 Nobel Prizes 0 Nobel Prizes 1 Nobel Prizes 1 Number of Children 0 Number of Children 0 Number of Children 1 Special Power (teaching) 28 Special Power (philanthropy) 12 Special Power (mentoring) 8

After Hermann Muller had shown that radiation By creating insects and comparing Blackburn and Jack Szostak discovered DNA can generate in fruit flies, Auerbach their abnormal features, Nüsslein-Volhard sequences called telomeres that cap the and JM Robson showed that mustard gas and Eric Wieschaus identified key genes ends of chromosomes to protect the genetic could also alter genes, revealing that chemical that control the number and orientation of material. With Carol Greider, she then identified can affect genes too. segments in the body of a fruit-fly embryo. the that builds those telomeres.

François Jacob Oswald Avery 1920-2013 1822-1884 1877-1955

Known for gene regulation Known for the laws of inheritance Known for the genetic material Fame 68 Fame 100 Fame 80 Impact 79 Impact 32 Impact 56 Nobel Prizes 1 Nobel Prizes 0 Nobel Prizes 0 Number of Children 4 Number of Children 0 Number of Children 0 Special Power (philosophy) 6 Special Power (perseverance) 25 Special Power (eloquence) 23

Jacob and ’s work on E. coli Mendel’s breeding experiments with pea Together with Colin MacLeod and Maclyn showed that genetic switches control the showed that characteristics such as flower McCarty, Avery’s experiments isolated the production of proteins using instructions from colour and seed shape are inherited according material that enabled Pneumococcus DNA, which involved copying that information as to specific laws and determined by unseen to inherit virulent features, which suggested an intermediate now known as ‘messenger RNA’. factors, units of heredity now called ‘genes’. that genes are made of that material, the molecule DNA.

Sydney Brenner Tomoko Ohta Tsuneko Okazaki 1927-2019 1933- 1933-

Known for organ development Known for nearly-neutral Known for DNA replication Fame 77 Fame 57 Fame 52 Impact 89 Impact 80 Impact 59 Nobel Prizes 1 Nobel Prizes 0 Nobel Prizes 0 Number of Children 3 Number of Children 1 Number of Children 2 Special Power (mischief) 4 Special Power (persuasiveness) 21 Special Power (resilience) 24

Brenner followed the effects of mutations on After had suggested that One strand in the double helix cannot be the development of nematode worms to reveal mutations which are neither good nor bad will copied continuously during replication so how cells divide and differentiate to form spread by chance, Ohta’s theory of molecular cells will combine pieces of DNA, short various organs, which and Robert evolution revealed how mildly harmful ‘nearly sequences of discovered by Horvitz later showed requires programmed neutral’ mutations can persist in a population’s Tsuneko and her husband Reiji that are cell death. gene pool. now called ‘Okazaki fragments’. Barbara McClintock 1902-1992 1922-2006 1903-1989

Known for Known for bacterial genetics Known for one gene - one enzyme Fame 91 Fame 71 Fame 69 Impact 78 Impact 52 Impact 60 Nobel Prizes 1 Nobel Prizes 0 Nobel Prizes 1 Number of Children 0 Number of Children 0 Number of Children 1 Special Power (independence) 10 Special Power (music) 27 Special Power (climbing) 15

McClintock discovered transposable elements Lederberg discovered , a Beadle and exposed bread or ‘jumping genes’ in (corn) that can that infects E. coli, and the ‘Fertility factor’ that mould to X-rays and found that genetic move around chromosomes. With Harriet many bacteria need for . mutations alter the enzyme that catalyses Creighton, she also observed that genes are She also invented techniques that helped her a particular biochemical reaction, which exchanged by during first husband Joshua win a . suggested that each gene encodes the the process of . instructions for making one enzyme.

Janet Rowley Marshall Nirenberg 1925-2013 1964- 1927-2010

Known for genetics Known for CRISPR gene editing Known for the Fame 61 Fame 71 Fame 69 Impact 86 Impact 98 Impact 72 Nobel Prizes 0 Nobel Prizes 0 Nobel Prizes 1 Number of Children 4 Number of Children 1 Number of Children 0 Special Power (cycling) 13 Special Power (gardening) 17 Special Power (precision) 14

Rowley showed that cancer is a genetic Doudna and modified Nirenberg helped crack the genetic code that disease by observing the movement a bacterial defence system that uses a genetic translates instructions encoded in DNA to the or ‘translocation’ of DNA between two sequence called ‘CRISPR’ to guide the enzyme language of proteins. With Heinrich Matthaei, he chromosomes in patients with leukaemia, a Cas9 to cut viral DNA, creating a gene-editing deciphered the first ‘codon’ to demonstrate that discovery that enabled the development of tool that can target specific DNA sequences. each of DNA’s code words is three letters long. chemotherapy drugs.

Mary-Claire King Phillip Sharp 1946- 1861-1912 1944-

Known for genetics Known for determination Known for split genes Fame 74 Fame 74 Fame 64 Impact 86 Impact 32 Impact 100 Nobel Prizes 0 Nobel Prizes 0 Nobel Prizes 1 Number of Children 1 Number of Children 0 Number of Children 3 Special Power (activism) 19 Special Power (creativity) 29 Special Power (farming) 5

King isolated BRCA1 and BRCA2, genes that Stevens discovered that sex is determined by Sharp and Richard Roberts revealed that genes normally suppress tumours but can cause chromosomes after observing that mealworm are not always a continuous DNA sequence breast cancer when mutated. With , eggs fertilised by sperm carrying a large but are split into segments that can be spliced she also showed that sequences in X chromosome produced female beetles, together in alternative combinations, which humans and are 99% identical. whereas sperm that delivered a small Y means a single gene can encode multiple created male offspring. different proteins. Thomas Morgan 1918-1997 1921-2007 1866-1945

Known for extranuclear inheritance Known for behavioural genetics Known for chromosomes Fame 56 Fame 71 Fame 81 Impact 74 Impact 81 Impact 58 Nobel Prizes 0 Nobel Prizes 0 Nobel Prizes 1 Number of Children 0 Number of Children 3 Number of Children 4 Special Power (enthusiasm) 26 Special Power (reinvention) 16 Special Power (generosity) 9

Before a career in cancer research, Sager Benzer’s work on showed that genes Morgan noticed that mutations which changed showed that antibiotic resistance in green have a linear structure. The former physicist eye colour in fruit flies matched the pattern algae was not inherited via chromosomes also found that the circadian rhythm of fruit flies of inheritance for sex chromosomes, leading inside the , which suggested that is controlled by the clock gene period, proving him to conclude that chromosomes are the genes are also present in chloroplasts within that mutations can influence behaviour. physical structures that carry genes. the .

HOW TO PLAY GLOSSARY

GENETICIST TRUMPS is a game for Amino acids: the building blocks of proteins. 2-6 players. Here are the instructions: Chromosomes: structures made mostly of DNA that carry genes. DNA: deoxyribonucleic acid, a long molecule that stores genetic information.

1. Shuffle the 30 playing cards in the deck then genetics.org.uk deal them face down. Each player holds their DNA replication: process of making a copy of the stack so they can only see the uppermost card. molecule. Double helix: the twisted ladder-like structure of DNA. Gene: unit of heredity with instructions for producing a protein or other 2. One player (conventionally left of the functional product. Gene expression: process of dealer) starts by choosing and reading one of executing the instructions encoded by a gene. the categories and its value, such as “Fame: Gene pool: set of all genetic variants () in a 100.” Each player reads-out the value on their population. Genetic linkage: tendency for genes uppermost card before putting it in a central pile. to be inherited together when they are near one another on a chromosome. : proteins @GenSocUK 3. The player whose card beats or ‘trumps’ the CATEGORIES based on the renown of a measure Fame: online popularity ’s at which the scientist’s Impact: rate has been cited published research awards prestigious Nobel Prizes: number of major scientific advances for won that offspring amount of Children: Number of genes the person’s inherited that or hobby a characteristic Special Power: their personality reflects that work as catalysts in biochemical reactions. others then adds the entire pile to the bottom Heredity: transmission of features from parents of their hand. If there is a tie between two or to offspring.Meiosis : a kind of cell division that more players, values for the same category are splits pairs of similar chromosomes to reduce read from subsequent cards (also placed in the the number of sets. : something that can centre) until one has the highest value. cause mutations, including radiation, chemicals or biological factors (such as viruses). Mutant: an 4. The winner of a round chooses the category organism or feature that results from . Mutations: heritable changes to DNA. Nucleotides: for the next round. The player who ends-up with the building blocks of DNA/RNA. Proteins: large all of the cards wins the game! molecules that perform functions or make up organisms. RNA: ribonucleic acid, often a sequence copied from DNA. Sequence: a continuous series #GenTrumps #GenTrumps of nucleotides along a DNA/RNA molecule.

Who are the world’s most famous geneticists?Who are the world’s most famous geneticists?

genetics.org.uk Have they won a Nobel prize?

Have they won a Nobel prize? GENETICIST TRUMPS What are their special powers? What areGENETICIST TRUMPS their special powers? Find out with GENETICIST TRUMPS! Find out with GENETICIST TRUMPS! This card game features 30 of history’s This card game features 30 of history’s greatest geneticists and explains how theygreatest geneticists and explains how they changed our understanding of genes and changed our understanding of genes and heredity. Play against your family, friends andheredity. Play against your family, friends and academic rivals by comparing values for statsacademic rivals by comparing values for stats like fame or impact. Discover the top trumpslike in fame or impact. Discover the top trumps in

each category as you try to win @GenSocUK all the cards!each category as you try to win all the cards! GENETICIST TRUMPS was funded by a Public GENETICIST TRUMPS was funded by a Public Engagement grant from the Genetics Society. TheEngagement grant from the Genetics Society. The Genetics Society is Registered Charity No: 261062/Genetics Society is Registered Charity No: 261062/ SC038492. This project has received funding fromSC038492. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research GENETICIST GENETICIST appear. automatically will : a notification

: tap ‘More’ then ‘Lens’ followed by search. search. by followed then ‘Lens’ : tap ‘More’ innovation programme under grant agreement innovation programme under grant agreement GENETICIST TRUMPS GENETICIST TRUMPS No ERC-2014-ADG 669207. TRUMPS GENETICIST No ERC-2014-ADG 669207. TRUMPSPrinted by Ivory Graphics | ivorygraphics.co.uk Printed by Ivory Graphics | ivorygraphics.co.uk Android devices Android . Open the default Camera app and make sure that the whole sure app and make Camera . Open the default . your share can choose to You the link in pop-up box. . Tap #GenTrumps @GenSocUK genetics.org.uk #GenTrumps QR square is visible on your device’s touchscreen. device’s on your is visible QR square scanned this card. you us where tell to location JV Chamary by | jvchamary.com and illustrations Text Tina Smith Hobson | tinasmith.co.uk design by Graphic | D Hurst Supervised Laurence by go.bath.ac.uk/laurencedhurst Ivory by | ivorygraphics.co.uk Graphics Printed #GenTrumps @GenSocUK in GENETICIST featured about the scientists Find out more on the right. code scanning the Quick Response by TRUMPS phone or tablet: your from scan a QR code to how Here’s 1 genetics.org.uk2 iPhone or iPad Apple 3