Jacob & Monod Explain the Basic Process of Regulating Gene Expression in Bacteria

In 1961 French biologists François Jacob and Jacques Monod explained the basic process of regulating gene expression in bacteria, showing that enzyme expression levels in cells is a result of regulation of transcription of DNA sequences. Their experiments and ideas gave impetus to the emerging field of molecular developmental biology, and of transcriptional regulation in particular.

Jacob & Monod, "Genetic Regulatory Mechanisms in the Synthesis of Proteins," Journal of Molecular Biology 3 (1961) 318-56.