Charles Yanofsky
Charles Yanofsky | |
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| Born | April 17, 1925 Palo Alto, California |
| Alma mater | City College of New York Yale University (Ph.D, 1951) |
| Known for | data supporting one gene-one enzyme hypothesis, mechanism of suppression, attenuation of expression of bacterial operons |
| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Genetics microbiology |
| Institutions | Stanford University |
| Website | profiles |
Charles Yanofsky (April 17, 1925[1] – March 16, 2018) was an American geneticist on the faculty of Stanford University who contributed to the establishment of the one gene-one enzyme hypothesis and discovered attenuation, a riboswitch mechanism in which messenger RNA changes shape in response to a small molecule and thus alters its binding ability for the regulatory region of a gene or operon.
Education and early life
Charles Yanofsky was born on April 17, 1925, in New York.[2] He was one of the earliest graduates of the Bronx High School of Science,[3] then studied at the City College of New York and completed his degree in biochemistry in spite of having had his education interrupted by military service in World War II including participation in the Battle of the Bulge.[2] In 1948, having returned and completed college, he took up graduate work towards his master's degree and PhD, both granted by Yale University.[2] He pursued postdoctoral work at Yale for a time, completing work started during his PhD training.[3]
Career and research
Yanofsky joined the Case Western Reserve Medical School faculty in 1954.
His laboratory also revealed how controlled alterations in RNA shapes allow RNA to serve as a regulatory molecule in both bacterial and animal cells. His graduate student Iwona Stroynowski and Mitzi Kuroda discovered the process of attenuation of expression based on regulated binding ability of the five-prime untranslated region of the messenger RNA for the bacterial tryptophan operon. They had thus discovered the first regulatory riboswitch,[6] although that terminology was not used until later. Yanofsky and his other collaborators then extended this work showing how mRNAs responded allosterically to a small molecule signal by changing shape and therefore changing ability to bind to the regulatory region of each operon. They showed that this mechanism applied to other amino acid biosynthesis and degradation operons of bacteria and to animal cell genes.[7]
In 1980, Yanofsky and other Stanford scientists founded DNAX, a Palo Alto–based research institute subsequently acquired by Schering-Plough.[3]
Yanofsky died in Palo Alto, California. At the time of death, he was the Morris Herzstein Professor of Biology and Molecular Biology (Emeritus) in the Department of Biology at Stanford University.[2]
Personal life
Charles Yanofsky's first wife Carol died of breast cancer in 1990.[2] He was survived by his second wife, Edna, and three sons.[2]
Awards and honors
Charles Yanofsky received the
Major Publications
- Yanofsky, Charles (2007), "RNA-based regulation of genes of tryptophan synthesis and degradation, in bacteria", RNA, vol. 13, no. 8 (published August 2007), pp. 1141–54, PMID 17601995
- Yanofsky, Charles (2005), "The Favorable Features of Tryptophan Synthase for Proving Beadle and Tatum's One Gene–One Enzyme Hypothesis", PMID 15731515
- Yanofsky, Charles (2004), "The different roles of tryptophan transfer RNA in regulating trp operon expression in E. coli versus B. subtilis", Trends Genet., vol. 20, no. 8 (published August 2004), pp. 367–74, PMID 15262409
- Yanofsky, C (2000), "Transcription Attenuation: Once Viewed as a Novel Regulatory Strategy", J. Bacteriol., vol. 182, no. 1 (published January 2000), pp. 1–8, PMID 10613855
- Yanofsky, C; Konan, K V; Sarsero, J P (1996), "Some novel transcription attenuation mechanisms used by bacteria", Biochimie, vol. 78, no. 11–12, pp. 1017–24, PMID 9150880
- Yanofsky, C (1988), "Transcription attenuation", J. Biol. Chem., vol. 263, no. 2 (published January 15, 1988), pp. 609–12, PMID 3275656
- Yanofsky, C; Platt, T; Crawford, I P; Nichols, B P; Christie, GE; Horowitz, H; Vancleemput, M; Wu, AM (1981), "The complete nucleotide sequence of the tryptophan operon of Escherichia coli", Nucleic Acids Res., vol. 9, no. 24 (published December 21, 1981), pp. 6647–68, PMID 7038627
- Yanofsky, C (1981), "Attenuation in the control of expression of bacterial operons", S2CID 4364204
- Yanofsky, C (1971), "Tryptophan biosynthesis in Escherichia coli. Genetic determination of the proteins involved", PMID 4940311
- Yanofsky, C (1967), "Gene structure and protein structure", Harvey Lect., vol. 61, pp. 145–68, PMID 5338072
References
- ISBN 9781857430226.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Stanford geneticist Charles Yanofsky dies at 92". Stanford University. March 16, 2018. Retrieved September 1, 2018.
- ^ a b c d "Charles Yanofsky to receive National Medal of Science at White House ceremony March 14". Stanford University. February 23, 2005. Retrieved September 2, 2018.
- PMID 14124325.
- PMID 16591468.
- ^ wona Stroynowski, Magda von Cleemput and Charles Yanofsky (1982)”Superattenuation in the tryptophan operon of Serratia marcescens” Nature 298: 38-41.
- ^ C. Yanofsky (2007) “RNA based regulation of genes of tryptophan synthesis and degradation in bacteria” RNA 13:1141-1154.
- ^ "Nonsense and suppressor mutations". Lasker Foundation. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
- ^ "Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on January 12, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
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