MicrobeWorld

Walter Gilbert and Fred Sanger independently develop methods to determine the exact sequence of DNA. Gilbert uses the technique to determine the sequence of the operon of a bacterial genome. Sanger and colleagues use the technique to determine the sequence of all 5,375 nucleotides of the bacteriophage phi-X174, the first complete determination of the genome of an organism. With Paul Berg, Gilbert and Sanger are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980.