Wolfgang Beermann

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Wolfgang Wilhelm Walter Beermann (born April 6, 1921 in Hanover ; † January 18, 2000 in Tübingen ) was a German biologist ( geneticist ).

Life

Beermann studied, interrupted by military service and imprisonment, at the University of Göttingen . As a doctoral student with Hans Bauer , a student of the geneticist Alfred Kühn , he worked at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Biology in Wilhelmshaven; In 1951 he submitted his dissertation to the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences in Göttingen. After completing his doctorate, Beermann went to the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, with Torbjörn Caspersson, for a year . He then went to the Biological Faculty of the University of Marburg to study developmental biologist Friedrich Seidel , also a former student of Kühn's. From 1958 he headed the "Beermann Department" as director at the Max Planck Institute for Biology in Tübingen. He demonstrated the localized activation of genes in which individual transverse disks (bands) of the polytene chromosomes result in loosened "puffs" [pʌfs]. The largest puffs are the Balbiani rings after the nucleolus . The evidence of active genes was provided by the incorporation of radioactively labeled uridine , which generates a specific RNA pattern at the puffed areas of the giant chromosomes. This result served as an early argument for the hypothesis that each transverse slice contained a gene in multiple copies. No less spectacular, with radioactively labeled thymidine, was the experimental evidence that giant chromosomes develop through the replication of parental DNA strands (chromatids) . This not only confirmed the polytenia hypothesis morphologically.

Beermann was visiting professor in Berkeley (1962/63) and in Tallahassee (Florida, 1967/68). He was a member of the Genetics Society of America (GSA) and the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO); In 1972 he was admitted to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 1975 to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of the USA. Many international contacts arose after Beermann replaced Hans Bauer as editor of the magazine Chromosoma in 1964. Many guest scientists and leading chromosome researchers came to his Tübingen institute.

Sigrid Beermann, his wife who died early, also achieved basic cytogenetic results. She showed that copepods exclude large parts of the germline genome from the cell nuclei of their body tissues - a process known as diminution .

Awards

Publications

  • Chromomer constancy and specific modification of the chromosome structure in the development and organ differentiation of Chironomus tentans. In: Chromosoma. 5/1952, pp. 139-198.
  • Female heterogamy in copepods. In: Chromosoma. 6/1954, pp. 381-396.
  • Sex determination and evolution of the genetic Y chromosomes in Chironomus. In: Biological Zentralblatt. 74/1955, pp. 525-544.
  • Nuclear differentiation and functional morphology of chromosomes. In: Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology. 21/1956, pp. 217-232.
  • The nucleolus as a vital component of the cell nucleus. In: Chromosoma. 11/1960, pp. 263-296.
  • Giant chromosomes. In the series: Protoplasmatologi a. Springer, Vienna 1962. ISBN 978-3-211-80611-1
  • Control of differentiation at the chromosomal level. In: Journal of Experimental Zoology. 157/1964, pp. 49-62.
  • Effect of α-amanitine on puffing and intranuclear RNA synthesis in Chironomus salivary glands. In: Chromosoma. 34/1971, pp. 152-167.
  • Chromomeres and genes. In: W. Beermann (ed.): Results and problems of cell differentiation, 4: Developmental studies on giant chromosomes. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg 1972, pp. 1-33.
  • Directed changes in the pattern of Balbiani ring puffing in Chironomus: effects of a sugar treatment. In: Chromosoma. 41/1973, pp. 297-326.
  • W. Beermann, GF Bahr: The submicroscopic structure of Balbiani-ring. In: Experimental Cell Research . 6/1954, pp. 195-201.
  • W. Beermann, Claus Pelling: H3-thymidine labeling of individual chromatids in giant chromosomes. In: Chromosoma. 16/1965, pp. 1-21.
  • AS Mukherjee, W. Beermann: Synthesis of ribonucleic acid by the X-chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster and the problem of dosage compensation. In: Nature . 207/1965, pp. 785-786.
  • Claus Pelling, W. Beermann: Diversity and variation of the nucleolar organizing regions in chironomids. In: National Cancer Inst. Monogr. 23/1966, pp. 393-409.
  • Laura Arcos-Terán, W. Beermann: Changes of DNA replication behavior associated with intragenic changes of the white region in Drosophila melanogaster. In: Chromosoma. 25/1968, pp. 377-391.
  • Theodore R. Wright, W. Beermann, JL Marsh, CP Bishop, R. Steward, BC Black, AD Tomsett, EY Wright: The genetics of dopa decarboxylase in Drosophila melanogaster. IV: The genetics and cytology of the 37B10-37D1 region. In: Chromosoma. 83/1981, pp. 45-58.
  • Carles Rovira, W. Beermann, J.-E. Edström: A repetitive DNA sequence associated with the centromeres of Chironomus pallidivittatus. In: Nucleic Acids Research . 21/1993, pp. 1775-1781.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Beermann Wolfgang: Development and fine structure of the giant chromosomes of Chironomus tentans Fabr. Dissertation December 22, 1951, University of Göttingen 1951.
  2. ↑ Claus Pelling: Chromosomal synthesis of ribonucleic acid as shown by the incorporation of uridine labeled with tritium. In: Nature. 184/1959, pp. 655-656.
  3. ^ V. Sorsa, MM Green, W. Beermann: Cytogenetic fine structure and chromosomal localization of the white gene in Drosophila melanogaster. In: Nature New Biology. 245/1973, pp. 34-37.
  4. ^ BH Judd: Genes and chromosomes: A puzzle in three dimensions. In: Genetics. 150/1998, pp. 1-9.
  5. ↑ Wolfgang Beermann, Claus Pelling: H3 thymidine labeling of individual chromatids in giant chromosomes. In: Chromosoma. 16/1965, pp. 1-21.
  6. ↑ Hans Bauer, Wolfgang Beermann: The Polytänie der Riesenchromosomen. In: Chromosoma. 4/1952, pp. 630-648.
  7. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter B. (PDF; 1.2 MB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Retrieved on August 16, 2018 .
  8. ^ Ulrich Grossbach: Wolfgang Beermann (1921–2000): The man and his science. In: Genetics. 155/2000, pp. 1487-1491.
  9. ^ Sigrid Beermann: The diminution of heterochromatic chromosomal segments in Cyclops (Crustacea, Copepoda). In: Chromosoma. 60/1977, pp. 297-344.
personal data
SURNAME Beermann, Wolfgang
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Beermann, Wolfgang Wilhelm Walter (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German biologist (geneticist)
DATE OF BIRTH April 6, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanover
DATE OF DEATH January 18, 2000
Place of death Tübingen