General and molecular microbiology and microbial genetics in the IM CAS

Abstract

This review summarizes the main results obtained in the fields of general and molecular microbiology and microbial genetics at the Institute of Microbiology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (AS CR) [formerly Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (CAS)] over more than 50 years. Contribution of the founder of the Institute, academician Ivan Málek, to the introduction of these topics into the scientific program of the Institute of Microbiology and to further development of these studies is also included.

Ivan Málek [1909-1994]: a tribute

“…Málek surely would have been gratified by the authors’ reference to the current renaissance of continuous culture, a few applications of which I highlight later. Other prominent research promoted at the Institute of Microbiology is discussed by Jan Nesvera 5. He begins by reminding readers that the word ‘genetics’ was taboo in the Czechoslovakia of the early 1950s; nevertheless under Málek's guidance, programmes of research on pneumococcal transformation, transduction of Salmonella , and the genetics of the model mycobacterium Mycobacterium phlei were established.…”