| Abstract: | Contrary to what Jacques Monod affirmed in the 1960s, it is now known that what is true of the bacterium is not true of the elephant. In particular, it was discovered in 1977 that the genes of the higher organisms are split into segments, instead of being continuous as is the case with, for example, Escherichia coli. What is the significance of this split structure and how do organisms manage to gather together the useful parts of their genes and to eliminate those which are surplus? This article reviews what is already certain in this field and comments on the most recent prospects opened up by the discovery of genes ‘in pieces’. |
