The evolution of evolutionary molecular medicine

Abstract

New technologies have always been the driving forces for major developments in science. Medicine is no exception. New sequencing technologies have enabled us to begin understanding the genomic and molecular origins of life and the reasons for disease; they are also transforming evolutionary biology into a new, precise, molecular science that has enormous promise for advancing medicine and public health [1]. This issue of the Journal of Molecular Medicine has invited papers to discuss this exciting development. Evolution comes to medicine, genomics comes to evolution Medical doctors are trained to taking a detailed history from their patients, their personal history, a family history (and tree if indicated), and the time course symptoms and laboratory tests. Now we look back into the history of mankind and to the origins of life 3.5 billion years ago to understand why we get sick. The history-taking process has thus been extended from the individual to his phylogenetic ancestors. The transformation of medicine by genomics will eventually be recognized among the most significant in a long history of innovations. The beginnings of modern medicine were made by the ancient Greeks, especially Hippocrates and later Galen. Their free and unbiased observations, descriptions, and interpretations of natural phenomena invented modern science and allowed applying science to medicine. Their ideas were revived in the Renaissance, when Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Vesalius introduced functional analysis and scientific anatomy of the human body. William Harvey in England, Claude Bernard in Paris, and Johannes Peter Müller in Berlin supplanted the ideas of Galen and Hippo-crates. The ingenious scientific experiments of these investigators led to a remarkably improved understanding of human physiology and pathology. Furthermore, every major scientific advance was facilitated by technology; the microscope was crucial to the cell theory, cellular pathology, and the infectious theory of disease. Chemical analytical techniques were crucial for the development of biochemistry, cell biology, and pharmacology. Advances in understanding electricity and physics lead to the electrocardiogram, the electroencephalogram, and eventually to roentgenograms and more modern imaging. The discovery of the structure of the DNA and the development of sequencing by Sanger and collaborators were essential steps leading to our modern molecular biology and genomics. However, only with the recent development of deep sequencing technology has molecular medicine been opened up to new possibilities for understanding health and disease. The progress in sequencing technologies is astounding. Ten years, thousands of scientists , and huge sums of money were required for the human genome project to create the first draft sequence, published in 2000. Today, several revolutionary new methods make genome sequencing a relatively inexpensive routine laboratory technique. All the major model organisms have been sequenced and routine sequencing for individual humans has arrived. Commercial laboratories offer the service for