Wolfram Zillig

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Wolfram Zillig (born May 31, 1925 in Trier ; † April 23, 2005 ) was a German molecular biologist . He was one of the founders of molecular genetics .

Life

career

The son of viticulture scientist Hermann Zillig studied chemistry first at the University of Bonn , then at the University of Tübingen with Adolf Butenandt , from which he received his diploma in 1949 and from 1950–1952 a dissertation on the pupation hormone of the real silk moth at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Tübingen wrote with subsequent doctorate . 1952–1954 he worked as a scientific assistant to G. Schramm in the virus research department at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry. 1955–1956 he devoted himself to estrogen research during a research stay at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research in Madison, USA.

From 1956 he was head of a research group at the MPI for Biochemistry, which had moved to Martinsried in 1956 . In 1963 he completed his habilitation at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich and in 1966 became a Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society and in 1972 Director of the Department of Molecular Biology of Gene Effects .

research

At the beginning of his scientific career, Zillig dealt with the tobacco mosaic virus . His research on gene expression, the implementation of genetic information for protein formation, formed the basis for the emerging discipline of molecular genetics. He was able to demonstrate an in vitro protein biosynthesis system on the model organism Escherichia coli by characterizing several components involved.

Another main area of ​​research by Zillig was the archea , for the investigation of which he traveled to volcanic areas and was able to isolate into several thermophilic organisms, which are still being worked on in numerous institutes today. By characterizing, for example, the structure of the RNA polymerases of the archaea, he was able to gain insights into their development and relationship. Among other things, based on the results of his research, Zillig hypothesized that eukaryotes were formed by the fusion of bacteria and archaea.

Memberships and honors

Fonts

  • 1952: About accompanying substances of the puparization hormone in insects. Dissertation University of Tübingen.
  • 1963: Investigations into the biosynthesis of proteins. Munich, Faculty of Natural Sciences. Habilitation thesis dated November 7, 1963.

literature

  • Wolfgang Baumeister : Wolfram Zillig: October 31, 1925–23. April 2005, Emeritus Scientific Member of the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Martinsried , in: Yearbook of the Max Planck Society 2006, self-published by the MPG, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-927579-22-X , pages 93–94 (obituary on Zillig)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Date of birth and career data according to the yearbook of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, 1969 , published by the General Administration of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, Munich 1969, p. 188.
  2. ↑ Member entry of Wolfram Zillig at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on November 12, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Zillig, Wolfram
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German molecular biologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 31, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH trier
DATE OF DEATH April 23, 2005