Seymour Benzer

American geneticist

Seymour Benzer (October 15, 1921 – November 30, 2007) was an American physicist, biologist and geneticist. He was of Jewish descent.[2]

Seymour Benzer
Seymour Benzer with a Drosophila model, 1974
Born(1921-10-15)October 15, 1921
DiedNovember 30, 2007(2007-11-30) (aged 86)
NationalityUnited States
Alma materBrooklyn College
Purdue University
Known formolecular and behavioral biology
AwardsHarvey Prize (1977)
Wolf Prize in Medicine (1991)
Fellow of the Royal Society[1]
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics, molecular biology, behavioral genetics, chronobiology, neurogenetics
InstitutionsPurdue University
California Institute of Technology
ThesisPhotoelectric Effects in Germanium (1947)
InfluencesRoger Wolcott Sperry, Max Delbrück, Salvador Luria, Alfred Sturtevant
InfluencedRichard Feynman, Francis Crick, Sydney Brenner

His career began during the molecular biology revolution of the 1950s, and he eventually rose to prominence in the fields of molecular and behavioral genetics. He led a genetics research lab at Purdue University and at the California Institute of Technology.[3][4]

Benzer made fundamental discoveries in two quite different fields of genetics. He got his PhD in solid-state physics, but soon switched to genetics after he read Erwin Schrödinger's book What is Life?

Phage genetics change

At Purdue University, Benzer developed the "T4 rII system", a new genetic technique. This used recombination in T4 bacteriophage rII mutants to map the inside structure of genes.[5] Benzer realized that by generating many r mutants and recording the recombination frequency between different r strains, he could make a detailed map of the gene, much as Alfred Sturtevant had done for chromosomes.[6]

Taking advantage of the enormous number of recombinants that could be analyzed in the rII mutant system, Benzer was eventually able to map over 2400 rII mutations. The data he collected provided the first evidence that the gene is not an indivisible entity, as previously believed, and that genes were linear.[5] Based on his rII data, Benzer also proposed distinct classes of mutations including deletions, point mutations, missense mutations, and nonsense mutations.[7][8]

Behavioral genetics change

Benzer was one of the first scientists in the field of behavioral genetics. As the field began to emerge in the 1960s and 70s, Benzer found himself in scientific opposition to another of the field's leading researchers, Jerry Hirsch.

Hirsch believed that behaviors were so complex they could not be explained as the action of single genes, Benzer thought behaviors might be directed by single genes. Both researchers tried their ideas out on Drosophila. Hirsch artificially selected for behaviors of interest over many generations, while Benzer used methods to isolate mutants for a particular behavior.[9] Benzer and Hirsch's competing philosophies developed behavioral genetics, and helped it become a legitimate area of study in the scientific community.[6]

Honors and awards (selection) change

He was a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society and the French Academy of Sciences.

References change

  1. Greenspan R.J. 2012. Seymour Benzer. 15 October 1921 -- 30 November 2007. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. [1]
  2. Oralhistories.library.caltech.edu
  3. Greenspan R.J. 2008. Seymour Benzer (1921–2007). Current Biology 18 (3): R106–R110.
  4. Carl Zimmer (8 December 2007). "Seymour Benzer, geneticist, is dead at 86". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-02-18.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Benzer S. 1961. On the topography of the genetic fine structure. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 47 (3): 403–415. [2]
  6. 6.0 6.1 Weiner, Jonathan 1999. Time, love, memory: a great biologist and his quest for the origins of behavior. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-679-44435-1
  7. CalTech Oral Histories: Interview with Seymour Benzer. [3] p47 onwards
  8. Holmes F.L. & Summers W.C. 2006. Reconceiving the gene: Seymour Benzer's adventures in phage genetics. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-11078-2
  9. Tully T. 1996. Discovery of genes involved with learning and memory: An experimental synthesis of Hirschian and Benzerian perspectives. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 93 (24): 13460–13467. [4]
  10. "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
  11. The Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize Committee (2007). "The Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize for Biology Or Biochemistry". Columbia University Medical Center. Retrieved 2008-02-18.
  12. "Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 16 February 2011.