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James Watson, the geneticist who shared a Nobel prize for discovering
the structure of DNA, has resigned as head of the US government’s programme
of research on the human genome. His departure follows clashes with his
director at the National Institutes of Health, whose decision last year
to patent sequences of DNA he publicly opposed.

Watson met the director, Bernardine Healy, last Friday afternoon and
handed her his resignation. His formal statement said he wanted to return
to full-time work at his second job, directing Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
on Long Island. ‘My resignation at this time also provides Dr Healy . .
. the opportunity to appoint her own director for the project,’ he said.

There was confused speculation last week about why Watson intended to
resign. Before his formal announcement, he had already told journalists
in Washington that he had ‘strong and unassailable reasons’ for thinking
that Healy wanted him to leave. The two have publicly disagreedon several
occasions.

However, Watson has also been under investigation by the NIH for possible
conflicts of interest. He owns stocks in certain biotechnology companies,
including Merck and Amgen, that are involved in gene sequencing. Last week,
he told journalists he had been willing to sell his stock.

On the day before Watson resigned, Healy told journalists: ‘I have concerns
that there may be apparent, if not real, conflicts of interest.’ She conceded
that the two had had ‘differences of opinion’ over the issue of DNA patenting,
but denied that these were at issue. Watson, she said, had done ‘an excellent
job’. Privately, however, geneticists are convinced that Watson has resigned
over patenting, not over the issue of his personal finances.

By Friday, a spokeswoman for the NIH appeared to support the view that
Healy and Watson had clashed personally. There was ‘no wrongdoing’ on Watson’s
part and ‘no conflict of interest’, the spokeswoman said. Watson’s lawyers
have also issued a statement. It says the scientist had fully disclosed
his holdings, had been ‘entirely candid’ in his dealings with the government,
and had ‘fully complied’ with all the government’s requests. The Special
Counsel for Ethics ‘never reached a determination that Dr Watson’s holdings
created a conflict of interest,’ the statement continued.

Watson’s successor has yet to be decided and researchers this week were
hedging their bets about who would be chosen. Healy is expected ‘to think
and wait awhile’ before making a choice, according to a spokeswoman. In
the short term, Watson will be replaced by Michael Gottesman, chief of the
Laboratory of Cell Biology at the National Cancer Institute.

John Sulston, one of Britain’s key genome researchers from the Medical
Research Council, who was recently invited to join a private gene-sequencing
company in the US, said he regretted Watson’s decision. ‘We’ve found him
extremely supportive and I am sorry that he won’t be in office any more,’
said Sulston.