Sydney Brenner

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Sydney Brenner

CH FRS FMedSci MAE
Brenner in 2008
Born(1927-01-13)13 January 1927
Germiston, Transvaal, South Africa
Died5 April 2019(2019-04-05) (aged 92)
Singapore
Other namesUncle Syd[11]
Alma mater
Known forGenetics of Caenorhabditis elegans[12][13]
Spouse
May Covitz
​
​
(m. 1952; died 2010)​
[3]
Children3
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsBiology
Institutions
Cyril Hinshelwood[7][8]
Doctoral students
Websitesalk.edu/faculty/brenner.html

Sydney Brenner

roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism for the investigation of developmental biology,[12][16] and founded the Molecular Sciences Institute in Berkeley, California, United States.[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]

Education and early life

Brenner was born in the town of

immigrants. His father, a cobbler, came to South Africa from Lithuania in 1910, and his mother from Riga, Latvia, in 1922. He had one sister, Phyllis.[26][27]

He was educated at Germiston High School[3] and the University of the Witwatersrand. Having joined the university at the age of 15, it was noted during his second year that he would be too young to qualify for the practice of medicine at the conclusion of his six-year medical course, and he was therefore allowed to complete a Bachelor of Science degree in Anatomy and Physiology. During this time he was taught physical chemistry by Joel Mandelstam, microscopy by Alfred Oettle and neurology by Harold Daitz. He also received an introduction to anthropology and paleontology from Raymond Dart and Robert Broom. The histologist Joseph Gillman and director of research in the Anatomy Department persuaded Brenner to continue towards an honours degree and beyond towards an MSc. Brenner accepted though this would mean he would not graduate from medical school and his bursary would be discontinued. He supported himself during this time by working as a laboratory technician. It was during this time, in 1945, that Brenner would publish his first scientific works. His masters thesis was in the field of cytogenetics and publications during this time in the field Brenner would later call Cell Physiology.[26]

In 1946

Wilfred Le Gros Clark invited Brenner to his Department of Anatomy in Oxford, during a visit to South Africa. Brenner was persuaded to finish his medical education instead. Brenner returned to medical school where he failed Medicine, nearly failed Surgery and achieved a First Class in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Six months later Brenner had finished repeating Medicine and Surgery and in 1951 received the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBCh).[26]

Brenner received an

Cyril Hinshelwood.[28]

Career and research

Following his DPhil, Brenner did

Salk Institute in California.[3]

Together with

Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB). According to Beryl Oughton, later Rimmer, they all travelled together in two cars once Dorothy Hodgkin announced to them that they were off to Cambridge to see the model of the structure of DNA.[31]

Brenner made several seminal contributions to the emerging field of

anticodon and the amino acid on a tRNA is the basis for the unidirectional flow of information in coded biological systems. This is commonly known as the central dogma of molecular biology, i.e. information flows from nucleic acid to protein and never from protein to nucleic acid. Following this adaptor insight, Brenner conceived of the concept of messenger RNA during an April 1960 conversation with Crick and François Jacob, and together with Jacob and Matthew Meselson went on to prove its existence later that summer.[33] Then, with Crick, Leslie Barnett, and Richard J. Watts-Tobin, Brenner genetically demonstrated the triplet nature of the code of protein translation through the Crick, Brenner, Barnett, Watts-Tobin et al. experiment of 1961,[34] which discovered frameshift mutations. Brenner collaborating with Sarabhai, Stretton and Bolle in 1964, using amber mutants defective in the bacteriophage T4D major head protein, showed that the nucleotide sequence of the gene is co-linear with the amino acid sequence of the encoded polypeptide chain.[35]

Together with the decoding work of Marshall Warren Nirenberg and others, the discovery of the triplet nature of the genetic code was critical to deciphering the code.[36] Barnett helped set up Sydney Brenner's laboratory in Singapore, many years later.[37][38]

Esther Lederberg, Gunther Stent, Sydney Brenner and Joshua Lederberg pictured in 1965

Brenner, with George Pieczenik,[39] created the first computer matrix analysis of nucleic acids using TRAC, which Brenner continued to use. Crick, Brenner, Klug and Pieczenik returned to their early work on deciphering the genetic code with a pioneering paper on the origin of protein synthesis, where constraints on mRNA and tRNA co-evolved allowing for a five-base interaction with a flip of the anticodon loop, and thereby creating a triplet code translating system without requiring a ribosome. This model requires a partially overlapping code.[40] The published scientific paper is extremely rare in that its collaborators include three authors who independently became Nobel laureates.[41]

Brenner then focused on establishing a free-living roundworm

roundworm mainly because it is simple, is easy to grow in bulk populations, and turned out to be quite convenient for genetic analysis. One of the key methods for identifying important function genes was the screen for roundworms that had some functional defect, such as being uncoordinated, leading to the identification of new sets of proteins, such as the UNC proteins. For this work, he shared the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with H. Robert Horvitz and John Sulston. The title of his Nobel lecture in December 2002, "Nature's Gift to Science", is a homage to this nematode; in it, he considered that having chosen the right organism turned out to be as important as having addressed the right problems to work on.[42] In fact, the C. elegans community has grown rapidly in recent decades with researchers working on a wide spectrum of problems.[43]

Brenner founded the

The Scripps Research Institute,[45] as well as being Professor of Genetics there.[4] A scientific biography of Brenner was written by Errol Friedberg in the US, for publication by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press in 2010.[20]

Known for his penetrating scientific insight and acerbic wit, Brenner, for many years, authored a regular column ("Loose Ends") in the journal Current Biology.[46][47] This column was so popular that "Loose ends from Current Biology", a compilation, was published by Current Biology Ltd.[48] and became a collectors' item. Brenner wrote "A Life in Science",[49] a paperback published by BioMed Central. He is also noted for his generosity with ideas and the great number of students and colleagues his ideas have stimulated.[50][51][52][53]

In 2017, Brenner co-organized a seminal lecture series in Singapore describing ten logarithmic scales of time from the Big Bang to the present, spanning the appearance of multicellular life forms, the evolution of humans, and the emergence of language, culture and technology.[54] Prominent scientists and thinkers, including W. Brian Arthur, Svante Pääbo, Helga Nowotny and Jack Szostak, spoke during the lecture series. In 2018, the lectures were adapted into a popular science book titled Sydney Brenner's 10-on-10: The Chronicles of Evolution, published by Wildtype Books.[55]

Brenner also gave four lectures on the history of molecular biology, its impact on neuroscience and the great scientific questions that lie ahead.[56] The lectures were adapted into the book, In the Spirit of Science: Lectures by Sydney Brenner on DNA, Worms and Brains.[57]

American plan and European plan

The "American plan" and "European plan" were proposed by Sydney Brenner as competing models for the way brain cells determine their neural functions.[17][58][59] According to the European plan (sometimes referred to as the British plan), the function of cells is determined by their genetic lineage. According to the American plan, a cell's function is determined by the function of its neighbours after cell migration. Further research has shown that most species follow some combination of these methods, albeit in varying degrees, to transfer information to new cells.[60][61]

Awards and honours

Brenner received numerous awards and honours, including:[62][63]

Personal life

Brenner was married to May Brenner (née Covitz, subsequently Balkind)[3] from December 1952 until her death in January 2010;[3] their children include Belinda, Carla, Stefan, and his stepson Jonathan Balkind from his wife's first marriage to Marcus Balkind. He lived in Ely, Cambridgeshire.[74][75] He was an atheist.[76]

Brenner died on 5 April 2019, in Singapore, at the age of 92.[11][77][78]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Sydney Brenner EMBO profile". people.embo.org. Heidelberg: European Molecular Biology Organization. Archived from the original on 17 May 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  2. ^ "Louis-Jeantet Prize". Archived from the original on 4 September 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  3. ^
    doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U8635. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  4. ^ a b "Sydney Brenner PhD". scripps.edu. Archived from the original on 2 February 2012.
  5. ^ a b c "Janelia Farm: Sydney Brenner". hhmi.org. Archived from the original on 27 December 2007.
  6. ^ "Research Units | Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University OIST". Oist.jp. 1 February 2016. Archived from the original on 17 May 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  7. S2CID 12385145
    .
  8. ^
    EThOS uk.bl.ethos.672365. Archived
    from the original on 23 October 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  9. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.471132. Archived
    from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  10. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.477040. Archived
    from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  11. ^
    PMID 30988427
    .
  12. ^
    PMID 4366476
    .
  13. PMID 4858229
    .
  14. ^ Wade, Nicholas (5 April 2019). "Sydney Brenner, a Decipherer of the Genetic Code, Is Dead at 92". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  15. S2CID 221399685
    .
  16. PMID 560330
    .
  17. ^ a b The Science Times Book of the Brain 1998. Edited by Nicholas Wade. The Lyons Press
  18. ISBN 0-14-017800-7
    .
  19. S2CID 2715056
    .
  20. ^
    ISBN 0-87969-947-7
    .
  21. PMID 19268875
    .
  22. S2CID 1037231
    .
  23. ^ Sydney Brenner's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  24. ^ "Sydney Brenner publications". Google Scholar. Archived from the original on 18 September 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2008.
  25. ^ "Errol C. Friedberg. Sydney Brenner: A Biography" (PDF). cshlpress.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  26. ^ a b c "Sydney Brenner, Biographical". nobelprize.org. Archived from the original on 23 October 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  27. ^ "Brenner, Sydney (1927– ) World of Microbiology and Immunology". encyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  28. ^ "Dr Sydney Brenner". Exeter College. Archived from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  29. ^ "Sydney Brenner: Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Crick-Jacobs Center". Salk Institute. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  30. ISBN 978-1-84046-940-0

    This book is all about the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge.
  31. ISBN 978-0-87969-798-3
  32. ^ Crick, Francis (1955). "On Degenerate Templates and the Adaptor Hypothesis: A Note for the RNA Tie Club". National Library of Medicine. Archived from the original on 16 August 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  33. PMID 26126273
    .
  34. S2CID 4276146
    .
  35. ^ Sarabhai AS, Stretton AO, Brenner S, Bolle A. Co-linearity of the gene with the polypeptide chain. Nature. 1964 Jan 4;201:13-7. doi: 10.1038/201013a0. PMID 14085558
  36. ^ Goldstein, Bob (30 May 2019). "The Thrill of Defeat: What Francis Crick and Sydney Brenner taught me about being scooped". Nautilus. Archived from the original on 10 December 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  37. ^ Kaplish, L. (19 February 2014). "Uncovering a scientific life in the archives". Wellcome Library blog. Archived from the original on 23 October 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  38. ^ Lloyd-Evans, L. P. M. (January 2005). A Study into the Prospects for Marine Biotechnology Development in the United Kingdom (PDF) (Report). Vol. 2 – Background & Appendices. Foresight Marine Panel Marine Biotechnology Group. p. 237. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 October 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  39. ^ "Letter by Brenner (primary source)" (PDF). rutgers.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 November 2004. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  40. S2CID 42319222
    .
  41. S2CID 27430632
    . Barton (1969), Prelog (1975) and Woodward (1965) all became Nobel winners.
  42. ^ Sydney Brenner on Nobelprize.org Edit this at Wikidata including the Nobel Lecture 8 December 2002 Nature's Gift to Science
  43. PMID 19506024
    .
  44. ^ "Dr. Sydney Brenner | Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University OIST". Oist.jp. 12 January 2010. Archived from the original on 18 December 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  45. ^ Profile Archived 9 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Scripps.edu; accessed 28 July 2016.
  46. ^ "Library: Sydney Brenner's Loose Ends". cell.com. Archived from the original on 6 May 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  47. ISSN 0960-9822
    .
  48. ISBN 1 85922 325 7
  49. ISBN 0-9540278-0-9
  50. ^ Brenner, Sydney. "Coming from Eastern European stock". Archived from the original on 24 September 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2019 – via www.webofstories.com.
  51. ^ "Sydney Brenner interviewed by Alan Macfarlane, 2007-08-23 (film)". alanmacfarlane.com. Archived from the original on 16 April 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2009.
  52. ^ "Genomes Tell Us About the Past: Sydney Brenner". iBiology.org. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  53. ^ "The Sydney Brenner papers". Wellcome Library. 25 October 2016. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  54. ^ "10-on-10: The Chronicles of Evolution". Archived from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  55. ISBN 978-9811187186
    .
  56. ^ "Sydney Brenner's lectures". Archived from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  57. ISBN 978-981-3271-73-9
    .
  58. ISBN 978-0-87893-243-6
    .
  59. ISBN 978-3-642-80308-6. Archived
    from the original on 24 September 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
  60. ISBN 9780465044054. Archived
    from the original on 24 September 2023. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  61. ISBN 9780195125009. Archived
    from the original on 24 September 2023. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  62. ^ "Sydney Brenner CV" (PDF). ETH Zurich. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 November 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  63. NobelPrize.org. Archived
    from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  64. ^ "Sydney Brenner". 9 February 2023. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  65. ^ "Sydney Brenner". Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  66. ^ "All Gairdner Winners". The Canada Gairdner Awards. Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  67. ^ "APS Member History". Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  68. ^ "2002 Nobel Prize". nobelprize.org. Archived from the original on 5 September 2008. Retrieved 28 September 2008.
  69. ^ "Dan David Prize laureate 2002: Sydney Brenner". dandavidprize.org. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2008.
  70. ^ March of Dimes and Richard B. Johnston, Jr., MD Prize in Developmental Biology Awardees (PDF), archived (PDF) from the original on 25 March 2019, retrieved 5 April 2019
  71. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1456.1.2. Archived
    (PDF) from the original on 10 July 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2009.
  72. ^ "Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience". University of the Witwatersrand. Archived from the original on 1 December 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2008.
  73. ^ "There's a New Squid in Town". Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University OIST. 11 December 2019. Archived from the original on 15 February 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  74. ISBN 1859223257
  75. ISBN 0-9540278-0-9
  76. ISBN 9781908977533. Archived
    from the original on 24 September 2023. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  77. ^ Shuzhen, Sim (5 April 2019). "Sydney Brenner, 'father of the worm' and decoder of DNA, dies at 92". asianscientist.com. Archived from the original on 8 May 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  78. ^ "Sydney Brenner (1927–2019)". MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. 5 April 2019. Archived from the original on 6 April 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2019.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sydney Brenner.
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