Ukr.Biochem.J. 2025; Volume 97, Issue 6, Nov-Dec, pp. 142-148

doi: https://doi.org/10.15407/ubj97.06.142

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard: from Drosophila genetics to the discovery of genetic control of embryonic development

16.12.2025   Uncategorized

M. V. Grigorieva*, V. M. Danilova, S. V. Komisarenko

Palladin Institute of Biochemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv
*e-mail: mvgrigorieva@biochem.kiev.ua

Received: 27 October 2025; Revised: 21 November 2025;
Accepted: 28 November 2025; Available on-line: 23 December 2025

The article presents Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard – a distinguished researcher in genetics and develop­mental biology whose studies have profoundly advanced our understanding of how genes in a fertilized egg determine the formation of the embryo. When Nüsslein-Volhard and her colleagues began their experiments with Drosophila melanogaster, this model organism was already widely used in genetic research. However, her approach was innovative: instead of merely observing mutations, she systematically induced thousands of them to identify the genes controlling the earliest stages of development. Her research demonstrated that the development of living organisms is governed by specific genes that can be identified, studied, and even modified. In 1995, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, together with Eric Wieschaus and Edward B. Lewis, for the discovery of the genetic mechanisms controlling embryonic development. This became a turning point in developmental biology: similar genes were later found in frogs, fish, mice – and even in humans – convincingly demonstrating the evolutionary commonality of the genetic pathways that determine morphogenesis.

Keywords: , , , , ,

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