Motoo Kimura
Motoo Kimura Foreign Member of the Royal Society[1] | |
---|---|
Scientific career | |
Fields | |
Institutions | National Institute of Genetics |
Thesis | Stochastic Processes in Population Genetics (1956) |
Doctoral advisor | James F. Crow |
Other academic advisors |
Motoo Kimura (木村 資生, Kimura Motō) (November 13, 1924 – November 13, 1994) was a Japanese biologist best known for introducing the neutral theory of molecular evolution in 1968.[2][3] He became one of the most influential theoretical population geneticists. He is remembered in genetics for his innovative use of diffusion equations to calculate the probability of fixation of beneficial, deleterious, or neutral alleles.[4] Combining theoretical population genetics with molecular evolution data, he also developed the neutral theory of molecular evolution in which genetic drift is the main force changing allele frequencies.[5] James F. Crow, himself a renowned population geneticist, considered Kimura to be one of the two greatest evolutionary geneticists, along with Gustave Malécot, after the great trio of the modern synthesis, Ronald Fisher, J. B. S. Haldane, and Sewall Wright.[6]
Life and work
Kimura was born on November 13, 1924, in
Due to
In 1949, Kimura joined the
Kimura soon found Iowa State College too restricting; he moved to the University of Wisconsin to work on stochastic models with
His accomplishments at Wisconsin included a general model for genetic drift, which could accommodate multiple alleles, selection, migration, and mutations, as well as some work based on
Kimura worked on a wide spectrum of theoretical population genetics problems, many of them in collaboration with
1968 marked a turning point in Kimura's career. In that year he introduced the neutral theory of molecular evolution, the idea that, at the molecular level, the large majority of genetic change is neutral with respect to natural selection—making genetic drift a primary factor in evolution.[12][13] The field of molecular biology was expanding rapidly, and there was growing tension between advocates of the expanding reductionist field and scientists in organismal biology, the traditional domain of evolution. The neutral theory was immediately controversial, receiving support from many molecular biologists and attracting opposition from many evolutionary biologists.[14][12]
Kimura spent the rest of his life developing and defending the neutral theory. As James Crow put it, "much of Kimura's early work turned out to be
Though difficult to test against alternative selection-centered hypotheses, the neutral theory has become part of modern approaches to molecular evolution.[16][17]
In 1992, Kimura received the
Kimura suffered from progressive weakening caused by
Honors
- 1959 – Genetics Society of Japan Prize[6]
- 1965 – Weldon Memorial Prize, Oxford[6]
- 1968 – Japan Academy Prize[6]
- 1973 – Foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA
- 1976 – Person of Cultural Merit
- 1976 – Order of Culture[6]
- 1982 – Member of the Japan Academy
- 1986 – Chevalier de l'Ordre Nationale de Merite[6]
- 1986 – Asahi Prize[6]
- 1987 – National Academy of Sciences in evolutionary biology[21]
- 1988 – International Prize for Biology
- 1992 – Darwin Medal[1][22]
- 1993 – Foreign member of Royal Society
See also
References
- ^ S2CID 44725944.
- S2CID 4161261.
- PMID 7476119.
- PMID 8813021.
- PMID 8813019.
- ^ PMID 7635277.
- ^ S2CID 685416. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
- ISBN 0-387-96277-8.
- PMID 275857.
- ^ Kimura Motoo, Shūdan Idengaku gairon, Baifūkan, Tokyo 1960
- ^ Kimura, M (1961). "Some calculations on the mutation load". Jpn. J. Genet. 36: 179–190.
- ^ ISSN 0066-4162. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-521-23109-1.
- ^ PMID 18652542. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
- ^ Kimura, Motoo (1988). Seibutsu shinka wo kangaeru (My views on evolution) (in Japanese). Iwanami Shoten.
- ^ Nei, Masatoshi (1987). Molecular Evolutionary Genetics. Columbia University Press.
- PMID 8813018.
- ^ "Motoo Kimura; Japanese Geneticist, 70". The New York Times. November 16, 1994.
- S2CID 29545568.
- ^ Brenner's Encyclopedia of Genetics, 2nd Edition[1]
- ^ "John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on 29 December 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
- ^ Royal Society: archived record