8 J.R. McCARREY AND J.L. VANDEBERGTHE JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY 282:8–11 (1998)

© 1998 WILEY-LISS, INC.

9th International Congress on Isozymes, Genes, andGene Families: An Overview

JOHN R. McCARREY* AND JOHN L. VANDEBERGDepartment of Genetics, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research,San Antonio, Texas 78245

ABSTRACT The 9th International Congress on Genes, Gene Families, and Isozymes marked ahistoric transition in the series formerly known as the International Congress on Isozymes. Thename of the congress was changed to reflect the broadened scope of this field and the new direc-tions in which it is moving. To recognize and promote this transition, a number of new featureswere incorporated into this congress. Accordingly, the broad-based program featured preeminentbiologists from 29 different countries. A total of 350 people attended the congress. A special newfeature of this congress was the Student/Fellow Program, which was designed to enhance partici-pation by advanced undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. This congresscelebrated the progress that has occurred during the past 40 years beginning with studies of isozymesand leading into studies of specific genes and gene families. As we move into the next millennium,it is clear that our field is strongly positioned and will continue to be the focus of exciting andimportant new research. J. Exp. Zool. 282:8�11, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Grant sponsors: NIH, DOE, SBC Foundation, Southwest Founda-tion Forum, USA—A Charitable Foundation, the Robert J. Kleberg,Jr., and Helen C. Kleberg Foundation, the Alice Kleberg ReynoldsMeyer Foundation, the Carlsberg Foundation, the March of DimesBirth Defects Foundation, the RGK Foundation, the Southwest Foun-dation Founder’s Council, the Zachary Foundation, the Mind ScienceFoundation, the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation, the John and Flo-rence Newman Foundation, the South Texas Blood and Tissue Cen-ter, the Texas Genetics Society; Trinity University, H-E-B Foods/Drugs,Hoffman–La Roche, Inc., Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., Levi-Strauss and Company, MJ Research, Inc., Montemayor Y Asociados,Sandoz Pharma, Ltd., Pfizer, Inc., Bristol-Meyers Squibb Company,Diamond Fence Supply, Inc., Federal Roofing Company, Promega Cor-poration, Spencer Services, and Intermountain Scientific Corporation.

*Correspondence to: John R. McCarrey, Ph.D., Department of Ge-netics, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, P.O. Box760549, San Antonio, TX 78245. E-mail: johnmc@darwin.sfbr.org

Received 27 March 1998; Accepted 27 March 1998

FEATURES OF THE 9TH CONGRESSThe 9th International Congress on Isozymes,

Genes, and Gene Families was held in San Anto-nio, Texas, on April 14–19, 1997. This series, for-merly known as the International Congress onIsozymes, has been an ongoing successful eventsince its inception in 1961. Previous congresseswere held in 1961 and 1966 in New York City(Wróblewski, ’61; Weyer, ’68), 1974 in New Ha-ven, Connecticut (Markert, ’75), 1982 in Austin,Texas (Rattazzi et al., ’83), 1986 in Kos, Greece(Rattazzi et al., ’87), 1989 in Toyama, Japan(Ogita and Markert, ’90), 1992 in Novosibirsk,Russia (Markert et al., ’94), and 1995 in Brisbane,Australia (Holmes and Lim, ’96).

For the 9th congress we modified the name toemphasize genes and gene families, thus reflect-ing major changes that have occurred in this field.Isozymes, encoded by multiple gene loci or by mul-tiple alleles at a single locus, provided new oppor-tunities in the 1960s and 1970s for research atthe protein level on the structure, function, evolu-tion, mapping, and regulation of genes. This ledto significant progress in the areas of developmen-tal, physiologic, evolutionary, and population ge-netics. The advent of new technologies in molecularbiology in the mid-1970s led to a rapid expansionin these areas by enabling direct investigations atthe level of the genes that encode isozymes. Inmany instances, prior work at the protein level

provided an important source of information onwhich new research at the DNA or RNA level wasbased. From extensive work on eukaryotic ge-nomes, the significance of gene families, by whichisozymes are encoded, is becoming increasinglyapparent. However, while gene families that en-code certain specific types of gene products (e.g.,oncogenes, immunoglobulins, transcription factors)may be one topic of discussion at correspondinglyspecialized meetings, to our knowledge, the topicof gene families per se is not addressed routinelyat any other meeting. Thus we felt it was appro-priate to expand the scope of this congress to in-clude research on genes and gene families.

CONGRESS OVERVIEW 9

The theme of the 9th International Congresson Genes, Gene Families, and Isozymes was “fun-damental and applied research on the structure,function, evolution, and regulation of genes andtheir products.” To this end, we developed a pro-gram featuring a broad biologic scope. This wasreflected in the general programmatic topics,which included

Evolution of genes and gene familiesOrganization of eukaryotic genomesRegulation of gene expressionGenes and gene families involved in human

diseaseSex-linked genes and gene familiesInteractions between pathogen virulence genes

and endogenous resistance genes in plantsGenomic imprinting and epigeneticsGenetic-environmental interactionsGenes and gene families in developmentThe use of transgenesis and knock-outs to ex-

amine gene functionMapping eukaryotic genomesThe use of population genetics to identify im-

portant genesThis meeting was unusual in that it focused on

interfaces between various biologic disciplines,particularly genetics, molecular biology, biochem-istry, and evolution, rather than focusing directlyon only one or another of these disciplines, as isdone at many other meetings. Additional inter-disciplinary cross-fertilization was achieved by in-tegrating sessions featuring research on humans,other mammals, other vertebrate species, inver-tebrate animals, plants, and microorganisms.

The congress began with an opening ceremonythat featured welcoming remarks from Drs. FrankLedford and John Howe, presidents of the twohost institutions, the Southwest Foundation forBiomedical Research and the University of TexasHealth Science Center at San Antonio, respec-tively, as well as from the Honorable WilliamThornton, Mayor of San Antonio. The HonoraryCongress President, Dr. Clement Markert, alsoaddressed the audience. Dr. Neal Lane, directorof the National Science Foundation, then pre-sented the opening address.

The scientific program featured a variety oftypes of presentations, including plenary lectures,invited symposia, invited talks, contributed sym-posia, contributed talks, and poster sessions. Theplenary speakers included Dr. Bruce Alberts,president of the National Academy of Sciences(USA); four Nobel laureates, Drs. Sidney Altman,

Arthur Kornberg, Joshua Lederberg, and PhillipSharp; an additional member of the NationalAcademy of Sciences (USA), Dr. Nina Fedoroff; aforeign affiliate of the National Academy of Sci-ences, Dr. Diter von Wettstein; and a pioneer inthe area of gene therapy, Dr. Jack Roth.

The program also included nine invited sympo-sia, each of which was focused on a particulartopic and featured three outstanding senior sci-entists as presenters. Another 52 individuals pre-sented invited talks in one of four concurrentsessions. These individuals included senior estab-lished scientists as well as junior faculty who werejust beginning to publish exciting results in areasrelevant to this congress. The fourth tier of oral pre-sentations was made up of contributed papers, alsopresented in one of four concurrent sessions. In ad-dition, four contributed symposia were organizedby leading scientists to further address specific top-ics in detail. Finally, on each of three different eve-nings there were poster sessions featuring the workof a variety of scientists from established investi-gators to graduate and undergraduate students.

A special feature of this meeting was an em-phasis on participation by students (graduatesand some advanced undergraduates) and post-doctoral fellows. To this end, we developed aspecial student/fellow program that included “as-sistance” grants to offset costs of lodging, socialevents, and the registration fee. In addition, therewas a reduced registration fee for students andfellows who were not awarded one of the assis-tance grants. We were pleased to be able to awardassistance grants to 36 outstanding students andpostdoctoral fellows from 18 different countriesincluding the United States. Each funded student/fellow presented either a contributed paper in anoral session or a poster describing his or her work.From abstracts of these presentations, a specialcommittee selected the most promising 8 to befeatured in a special oral plenary session thathighlighted the student/fellow program. Therealso was a special luncheon on the second day ofthe congress for all students and fellows (regard-less of whether they received an award) alongwith plenary, symposium, and invited speakers.This luncheon fostered interaction between thestudents/fellows and the more senior scientiststhroughout the remainder of the congress.

Our program was purposely designed to includepresentations from scientists at all levels, fromundergraduate students to Nobel laureates. In ad-dition, we strove to attain appropriate represen-tation of U.S. and foreign speakers. We featured

10 J.R. McCARREY AND J.L. VANDEBERG

presentations by scientists from 29 different coun-tries including Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Bra-zil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece,Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakstan,Kenya, Mexico, the Peoples Republic of China, Por-tugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tai-wan, Thailand, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, theUnited States, and Yugoslavia.

A central feature of this congress was to honorthe father of the isozyme field, Dr. Clement L.Markert, on the occasion of his eightieth birth-day. Many of Dr. Markert’s former students,postdoctoral fellows, and colleagues, most ofwhom have worked and continue to work ongenes, gene families, and isozymes, attended andparticipated in the congress. Dr. Markert was hon-ored throughout the congress and at a special cer-emony at the Congress Banquet that featuredremarks by his former students, postdoctoral fel-lows, and colleagues.

Finally, the congress was marked by severalvery enjoyable social functions that fostered anintroduction for many congress participants andtheir spouses to San Antonio and South Texas,as well as congenial interactions among all whoattended. These events included the welcome re-ception that followed the opening ceremony andopening address and was highlighted by serenad-ing mariachis, a barbeque and country dance atthe Rio Cibolo Ranch, a special presentation bythe San Antonio Symphony entitled “The Prideof San Antonio,” and the Congress Banquet witha special tribute to the Honorary Congress Presi-dent, Dr. Clement Markert. In addition, there wasa dinner to honor all plenary and invited sympo-sium speakers. Special activities for accompany-ing persons included a tour of the Texas HillCountry and a luncheon featuring an address byNobel laureate, Dr. Joshua Lederberg.

CONCLUSIONSIt was our goal to address several specific goals

or objectives at this congress. First, as the next inthe series of congresses previously dealing prima-rily with isozymes, we wanted this congress tobuild on that tradition by expanding the previousscope in a logical manner that emphasized genesand gene families. As noted earlier, this transitionreflected the progression that has occurred in thisfield from classic enzymology and protein chemis-try to modern molecular biology and genetics. Sec-ond, because the phenomenon of gene families ineukaryotic genomes has become increasingly im-portant as gene mapping and cloning have pro-

gressed, we felt it was important that the topic ofgene families be featured at an international meet-ing. We felt it was particularly important that thisoccur at this international congress because thestudy of isozymes provided much of the early un-derstanding of gene families and their evolutionby gene duplication. Third, with so many special-ized, narrowly focused meetings that are typicallyattended repeatedly by the same individuals, webelieved a meeting emphasizing a relatively broadbiologic scope at the interfaces of related disciplinesand broad participation in terms of career stages,geographic locations of attendees’ home institu-tions, and model organisms investigated would fos-ter new synergistic interactions and lead to newperspectives, new ideas, new collaborations, andultimately, enhanced scientific progress. Finally,with the current national and international em-phasis on genome projects, we hoped that this con-gress would provide a unique forum in which topromote interaction between scientists working onthose projects and other scientists interested ingenetic polymorphisms, gene mapping, and relatedbiomedical areas. We leave it to those who attendedthis congress to judge the success of our efforts.However, we hope that many of the initiatives weinstituted at this congress will continue to be in-cluded in future congresses in this series.

For the past 35 years, the International Con-gress on Isozymes has provided a unique and im-portant venue for interaction among scientistsfrom all over the world working with isozymes.With the new features incorporated in the 9th In-ternational Congress on Genes, Gene Families,and Isozymes, this series will continue to fulfillan important niche in international communica-tion among biologists. We look forward to the 10thInternational Congress on Isozymes, Genes, andGene Families to be hosted by the Chinese Acad-emy of Sciences in Beijing in 1999 and the 11thCongress to be hosted by the Karolinska Insti-tute in Stockholm in 2001.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSIn the absence of any supporting society or

standing organization, the presentation of thiscongress represented a formidable challenge. Wewish to thank all the individuals and organiza-tions that contributed to the 9th InternationalCongress on Isozymes, Genes, and Gene Fami-lies. We particularly want to thank our two hostinstitutions, the Southwest Foundation for Bio-medical Research and the University of TexasHealth Science Center at San Antonio, for their

CONGRESS OVERVIEW 11

strong support of this congress. Of the many in-dividuals who worked so hard to make this con-gress so successful, two stand out for theirenormous efforts and commitment: Dr. Sarah Wil-liams-Blangero, the Local Arrangements Chair,and Ms. Daphne Wright, the Congress Liaison.Without their dedication and hard work over the2 years leading up to the congress, this eventcould not have taken place. Other individuals towhom we are indebted for their extensive effortsinclude Dr. Frank Ledford, President of the South-west Foundation for Biomedical Research; Mr.Albert Steves, SFBR Director of Development; Ms.Barbara Parsons, Congress Secretary; and mem-bers of the International and National AdvisoryCommittees, the Local Executive Committee, theProgram Committee, the Publicity and Registra-tion Committee, the Finance Committee, the Stu-dent Program Committee, the Social ProgramsCommittee, the Local Arrangements Committee,and the Sponsors Committee. We also extend spe-cial thanks to Dr. James Hixson, Chairman of theDepartment of Genetics at the Southwest Foun-dation for Biomedical Research, for making manydepartmental resources available to us.

Funding for the congress was obtained from avariety of sources including government agencies,private foundations, and corporate supporters. Weparticularly acknowledge very generous supportfrom individual benefactors, including Mr. andMrs. Andrew Novak, Dr. and Mrs. Burton E.Grossman, Mr. Red McCombs, Mr. and Mrs. JamesW. Gorman, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. George C. Hixon,

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel E. Barshop, Mr. and Mrs.Louis Stumberg, and Mr. and Mrs. J. BurlesonSmith. A majority of these individuals and organi-zations reside in the San Antonio area. We weredeeply gratified by the level of community supportthat was forthcoming for this congress, which en-abled it to be a world-class event.

LITERATURE CITEDHolmes, R.S., and H.A. Lim (1996) Gene families: structure,

function, genetics and evolution. In: Proceedings of the 8thInternational Congress on Isozymes, Brisbane, Australia,1995. World Science Publishing, Singapore.

Markert, C.L. (1975) Isozymes. In: 3rd International Con-ference on Isozymes, New Haven, Connecticut, 1974. Aca-demic Press, New York.

Markert, C.L., J.G. Scandalios, H.A. Lim, and O.L. Serov(1994) Isozymes: Organization and roles in evolution, ge-netics, and physiology. In: Proceedings of the 7th Interna-tional Congress on Isozymes, Novosibirsk, Russia, 1992.World Science Publishing, Singapore.

Ogita, Z.-I., and C.L. Markert (1990) Isozymes. In Proceed-ings of the 6th International Congress on Isozymes,Toyama, Japan, 1989. Prog. Clin. Biol. Res., p. 344.

Rattazzi, M.C., J.G. Scandalios, and G.S. Whitt (1983)Isozymes. In: Proceedings of the 4th International Con-gress on Isozymes, Austin, Texas, 1982. Curr. Top. Biol.Med. Res., pp. 7–11.

Rattazzi, M.C., J.G. Scandalios, and G.S. Whitt (1987)Isozymes. In: Proceedings of the 5th International Con-gress on Isozymes, Kos, Greece, 1986. Curr. Top. Biol. Med.Res., pp. 14–16.

Weyer, E.M. (1968) Multiple molecular forms of enzymes.Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 151:1–689.

Wróblewski, F. (1961) Multiple molecular forms of enzymes.Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 94:655–1030.