101 years ago: Hermann Muller’s remarkable insight.

The article focuses on Hermann Muller's 1922 insights into the nature of the gene as an autocatalytic, mutable, yet stable hereditary unit, predating the identification of DNA as genetic material. Muller proposed that genes self-propagate by templating their own structure and retain mutability without losing stability, and he notably predicted that understanding genes would come from studying bacteriophages—viruses that infect bacteria—rather than from Drosophila genetics. His ideas anticipated key molecular genetic concepts, including gene replication and mutation, and foreshadowed later foundational work on bacteriophages that advanced molecular biology. The article also reflects on how some of Muller's concepts, such as chromosome pairing and gene "auto-attraction," remain areas of active research.