Synthetic Lethality
Synthetic lethality is derived from a <↕±"genetic concept. In 1922,☆♦₩ Calvin Bridge, a geneticist at Col¶★umbia University, was studying$<δ Drosophila melanogaster. He disco÷δvered that combinations of several muta¥¶$tions induced lethali≈™®ty, while flies were viable w"∞§ ith any single gene mutatiδγπon. Twenty-four years later, Theod★ ∏→ore Dobzhansky, also working ←™α at Columbia University, u♥β™sed the term "synthetic lethal&★↑©quot; to describe these genetic in≈Ωteractions. Till now, t×¶≠γhe definition of synthetic lethality isδ± well beyond the classical genetic inte÷©α≥ractions, as it refers to cell death ca÷πΩ¶used by simultaneous inhibitio★n of two non-lethal genes'← &.