The fellow Cecilia Saccone presents her book “Il codice dei viventi”, published by Rubettino Editore during the pandemic. A scientist who has dedicated her life to Molecular Biology, at first as a “pioneer” to establish herself internationally, has decided to light a metaphorical lantern to illuminate the mysteries of life for the benefit of a wider audience (new Diogenes) enclosed in eukaryotic cells and in particular shed light on a discovery of the second half of the last century, concerning the presence of DNA not only in the cell nucleus (nuclear genome) but also in organelles present in the same cell, mitochondria and plastids (cytoplasmic genomes). A very important discovery, now more than half a century old but still poorly known and interpreted today.

Professor Cecilia Saccone defines “Code of the living” that code belonging to every being endowed with life, even the one traced by cytoplasmic genomes, to the discovery of which she has personally contributed together with many other well-known groups in the world. This code makes it possible to assign to the entire genetic heritage the central role it deserves for the health of organisms. With all its multiple implications: from reproduction to biodiversity, from evolution to the risk of manipulation up to its possible extreme consequences, potentially fatal for the survival of Homo Sapiens.

Starting from the foundations of molecular biology made understandable even to the less experienced, Professor Saccone accompanies the reader on a little known and scarcely explored but very fascinating itinerary. An unmissable journey for enthusiasts but accessible to all, which, giving light to too often dormant anxieties, leads to the heart of the great unknowns of our time, between presumption of omnipotence and a sense of limit.