Knud Nierhaus

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Knud Hermann Nierhaus (born April 7, 1941 in Bochum ; † April 7, 2016 ) was a German biochemist. He was group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin-Dahlem and an adjunct professor at the TU Berlin . He was considered a leading international expert on ribosomes .

Career

Nierhaus studied medicine in Tübingen and Vienna and then received his doctorate in medicine in Tübingen in 1967. In 1970 he became group leader in Berlin under Heinz-Günter Wittmann . After completing his habilitation in 1976, he was appointed professor at the TU Berlin in 1980. In 1984 he became a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization . After his retirement (2006) he worked in the laboratory of his former student Christian Spahn. He died unexpectedly of a heart attack on his birthday.

He was an adjunct professor at Lomonosov University .

Act

Nierhaus developed the alpha epsilon model (three site model) of the coupling of the t-RNA to the m-RNA in the ribosome during translation . After that there are three places where the t-RNA couples to the ribosome (A, P, E). He found the E position in 1981 (the A and P positions had been known since the 1960s). In 1976, together with F. Dohme, he succeeded in reconstituting the 50S subunit of the ribosome from its constituents in vitro. He also studied the structure and function of ribosome complexes using cryo-electron microscopy and using X-ray structure analysis. In the process, new knowledge about the antibiotic binding sites in the ribosome was obtained.

The Nierhaus group also made important discoveries in connection with the regulation of translation, for example with the discovery of the ribosome assembly factor RsfS (RsfA).

Others

Nierhaus was an amateur pianist.

literature

  • Knud Nierhaus in: Hans Beyer, Wolfgang Walter: Textbook of Organic Chemistry, Volume 46 , Hirzel, 1993

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kürschner Scholars Calendar 2009
  2. ^ Daniel N. Wilson, Christian MT Spahn: Knud Hermann Nierhaus 1941-2016 . In: Nature Structural & Molecular Biology . tape 23 , no. 6 , 2016, ISSN  1545-9985 , p. 503-504 , doi : 10.1038 / nsmb.3239 , PMID 27273634 .
  3. ↑ N. Burkhardt, R. Jünemann, CM Spahn, KH Nierhaus: Ribosomal tRNA binding sites: three-site models of translation. In: Critical Reviews in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Volume 33, Number 2, 1998, pp. 95-149, doi: 10.1080 / 10409239891204189 , PMID 9598294 (review).
  4. ^ HJ Rheinberger, H. Sternbach, KH Nierhaus: Three tRNA binding sites on Escherichia coli ribosomes , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Volume 78, 1981, pp. 5310-5314 (discovery of the E-site)
  5. ↑ F. Dohme, KH Nierhaus: Total reconstitution and assembly of 50 S subunits from Escherichia coli Ribosomes in vitro , J. Mol. Biol., Volume 107, 1976, pp. 585-599
  6. ↑ F. Dohme, K. Nierhaus: Total reconstitution of 50 S subunits from Escherichia coli ribosomes , Methods Enzymol., Volume 59, 1979, pp. 443-449
  7. ↑ Roman Häuser, Markus Pech, Jaroslaw Kijek, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Björn Titz: RsfA (YbeB) proteins are conserved ribosomal silencing factors . In: PLoS genetics . tape 8 , no. 7 , 2012, ISSN  1553-7404 , p. e1002815 , doi : 10.1371 / journal.pgen.1002815 , PMID 22829778 , PMC 3400551 (free full text).
personal data
SURNAME Nierhaus, Knud
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nierhaus, Knud Hermann (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German biochemist
DATE OF BIRTH April 7, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Bochum
DATE OF DEATH April 7, 2016