Entomology and Molecular Biology Need a Shotgun Wedding

摘要

One of the most gratifying moments of my career as a scientist came unexpectedly some years ago when Marshall Johnson, a colleague and well-recognized entomologist, came to me and said, "You know, Dave, I finally understand how this molecular biologystuff can help us answer questions that we just couldn't answer before."That happened around 1995, but since then, unfortunately, I can't say that this idea has adequately caught on with enough people in the entomology community. For the most part, I believe that too many entomologists still do not appreciate what molecularbiology can do for it rather than to it. There are exceptions, of course (I will address this further), but in my career, I cannot think of another discipline of biology that has so stubbornly failed to adequately grasp what the advances in molecular biology, in particular molecular genetics, can mean to our ability to truly understand and appreciate the nature of the organisms we work with every day.