American microbiologist
Norton David Zinder (November 7, 1928 – February 3, 2012)[ 1] was an American biologist famous for his discovery of genetic transduction . Zinder was born in New York City , received his A.B. from Columbia University in 1947, Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1952, and became a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1969. He led a lab at Rockefeller University until shortly before his death.[ 2]
In 1966 he was awarded the NAS Award in Molecular Biology from the National Academy of Sciences.[ 3]
Genetic transduction and RNA bacteriophage
Working as a graduate student with Joshua Lederberg ,[ 4] [ 5] [ 6] Zinder discovered that a bacteriophage [ 7] can carry genes from one bacterium to another. Initial experiments were carried out using Salmonella . Zinder and Lederberg named this process of genetic exchange transduction .
Later, Zinder discovered the first bacteriophage that contained RNA as its genetic material. At that time, Harvey Lodish (now of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research ) worked in his lab.[ 8]
Norton Zinder died in 2012 of pneumonia after a long illness.[ 9]
References
^ Lodish, H. ; Fedoroff, N. (2012). "Norton Zinder (1928-2012)" . Science . 335 (6074): 1316. Bibcode :2012Sci...335.1316L . doi :10.1126/science.1220682 . PMID 22422973 . S2CID 45292962 .
^ "Norton Zinder" . Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory . Retrieved 2021-06-24 .
^ "NAS Award in Molecular Biology" . National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 27 February 2011 .
^ Lederberg, J.; Zinder, N. (1948). "Concentration of biochemical mutants of bacteria with penicillin". Journal of the American Chemical Society . 70 (12): 4267– 4268. doi :10.1021/ja01192a521 . PMID 18105993 .
^ Lederberg, J. ; Lederberg, E. M.; Zinder, N. D. ; Lively, E. R. (1951). "Recombination analysis of bacterial heredity". Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology . 16 : 413– 443. doi :10.1101/sqb.1951.016.01.030 . PMID 14942753 .
^ Zinder, N. D. ; Lederberg, J. (1952). "Genetic Exchange in Salmonella" . Journal of Bacteriology . 64 (5): 679– 699. doi :10.1128/JB.64.5.679-699.1952 . PMC 169409 . PMID 12999698 .
^ Kresge, N.; Simoni, R. D.; Hill, R. L. (2011). "The Molecular Genetics of Bacteriophage: The Work of Norton Zinder" . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 286 (25): e4 – e5 . doi :10.1074/jbc.o111.000244 . PMC 3121416 . PMID 21830328 .
^ Lodish, H. F.; Zinder, N. D. (1966). "Replication of the RNA of Bacteriophage f2". Science . 152 (3720): 372– 377. Bibcode :1966Sci...152..372L . doi :10.1126/science.152.3720.372 . PMID 17775172 . S2CID 32831602 .
^ Nicolas Wade: Norton D. Zinder, Researcher in Molecular Biology, Dies at 83 . In: The New York Times. February 7, 2012.
Further reading
International National Academics Other