Talk:Timeline of model organisms
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Review by Vipul on 2025-03-12
Standalone evaluation
Line-by-line comments
None in this round of review!
Overall comments
- I'd like for you to say more about what makes a given model organism a food model organism, as perceived by the people who pioneered its use as a model organism. Examples could be how quickly the model organism can reproduce (allowing more iterations of genetic experimentation), how cheap it is to maintain, similarity to other organisms in terms of the range of genes to test with, etc. You could do this either in the full timeline, or (better in my view) a table on top listing the most important model organisms, their first pioneering use as a model organism, and what makes them a good model organism. Maybe also a column saying what range of organisms they are a good model of (for instance, mice are chosen as models for mammals in general and humans in particular, e.coli for bacteria, etc. We wouldn't use e. coli as a model for humans).
- I'd appreciate a distinction between research about a model organism that is believed to yield broadly applicable insights across biology (for instance, Mendelian laws of inheritance) versus research about a model organism that is meant to improve our understanding of the model organism itself (such research may indirectly help discover broader biological truths by providing more background information that helps conduct and interpret experiments with the model organism, but it doesn't directly yield broad biological knowledge).
- I see that all your sample questions have answers that involve sorting by event type. How about adding a sample question whose answer involves sorting the full timeline by species? Adding sample questions that highlight the different columns can help sell the value of the timeline.
- You talk about the house model as a model organism. In this connection, it may be helpful to talk about "lab mouse" which is a few strains of mice that have been bred for ease of lab experiments. I also wonder if it makes sense to have rows around the controversy surrounding how strains of model organisms used for research (such as lab mice) are bred in ways that make them unnatural and therefore make research on them hard to generalize.
- Also, want to add a row about rats similar to the row about mice, considering that both are used in research in similar ways (though mice are more common)?
- The timeline covers extensively the use of model organisms for scientific research, but not much about their use for drug discovery and evaluation of treatments and protocols. My guess is that quantitatively, at least right now, the latter dominates. Thoughts?
- For the species column, thoughts on parenthetically including the common name for the organism, so that people scanning that column can quickly find what they're looking for. For instance, "Mus musculus" can be written as "Mus musculus (mouse)". Similarly for peas, corn/maize, and fruit fly.
External evaluation
Wikipedia
I read the Wikipedia page on model organism after a first draft of the feedback above. I feel like reading the Wikipedia page reinforced my feedback points, since the Wikipedia page talks more about many of these topics.
ChatGPT
I asked ChatGPT to write a timeline of model organisms. The timeline it produced was largely contained in your timeline, though it did cover rats which I included in my feedback above.
Extended timeline
| Year | Species | Event type | Details | Location/researcher affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1665 | Model discovery | English polymath Robert Hooke describes cells in cork, leading to the development of cell theory.[1] | Kingdom of England | |
| 1865 | Pisum sativum (garden pea) | Foundational genetics | Gregor Mendel demonstrates hereditary laws using pea plants. Chosen for easily observable traits, controlled pollination, and short generation time. Models basic inheritance for all plants and eukaryotes. | Brno, Austria-Hungary |
| 1888 | Chlamydomonas reinhardtii | Description | Dangeard describes the species C. reinhardtii. | |
| 1935 | Genetic research | When Øjvind Winge begins conducting genetic research with yeast, advancements in genetics using other model organisms pave the way for his experiments. Key developments include the understanding of four-strand crossing over, which improves insights into genetic recombination; chromosome mapping, which facilitates the identification of gene locations; the discovery of lethal genes, which helps researchers understand gene functions and interactions; and the transformation of Pneumococcus, which demonstrates the principles of genetic transfer and transformation. These foundational discoveries provide a practical framework for genetic studies in yeast, ultimately contributing to the field of genetics.[2] | ||
| 1944 | Bacteriophage | Phage Group and Phage Treaty | German–American biophysicist Max Delbrück initiates the Phage Group, advocating for the "Phage Treaty," which encourages phage researchers to concentrate on a limited number of phage and bacterial strains under standardized experimental conditions. This initiative aims to enhance the comparability and replicability of research across different laboratories, thereby unifying the field of bacterial genetics. Delbrück's efforts would significantly advance the study of bacteriophages and lay a foundation for future research in molecular biology and genetics.[3] | United States |
| 1949 | Saccharomyces cerevisiae | Genetic Studies | S. cerevisiae: Roman begins major US genetic studies. | |
| 1950 | Chlamydomonas reinhardtii | Genetic Studies | C. reinhardtii: Lewin and Sager begin nuclear and organelle genetic studies. | |
| 1956 | C. reinhardtii: Levine develops important genetic programme | |||
| 1958 | C. reinhardtii: Gillham begins genetics of chloroplast | |||
| 1960 | E. coli: Jacob and Wollman fully describe genetic system. | |||
| 1994? | Rattus norvegicus | Protocol evaluation | The OECD includes rats as the preferred species in regulatory safety testing guidelines for repeated dose toxicity, developmental toxicity, and carcinogenicity testing. | France (OECD HQ) |
| 2010s | Mus musculus (lab strains) | Controversy | Scientists increasingly raise concerns that laboratory mice, especially inbred strains like C57BL/6, may poorly represent natural variation and human disease. Studies show that genetic homogeneity, absence of environmental stressors, and specific microbiomes may limit translational relevance. Calls grow for “wildling” or outbred models. | International |
- ↑ Kevin Crouvisier-Urion, Julie Chanut, Aurélie Lagorce, Pascale Winckler, Zi Wang, Pieter Verboven, Bart Nicolai, Jeannine Lherminier, Eric Ferret, Régis D. Gougeon, Jean-Pierre Bellat, Thomas Karbowiak (2019). "Four hundred years of cork imaging: New advances in the characterization of the cork structure". Scientific Reports. 9. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-56166-7. Retrieved 4 February 2025.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ↑ Bruno Müller, Ueli Grossniklaus (2010). "Model organisms--A historical perspective". Journal of Proteomics. 73 (12): 2182–2183. doi:10.1016/j.jprot.2010.08.002. PMID 20727995.
- ↑ "History: The Phage Group". Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Archived from the original on 2007-05-17. Retrieved 2007-05-04.