136 TIBS 12- Aprd 1987

Obituaries

from egg yolk, contained 10% phos- Fritz Lipmann (1.899-1986): phate by weight Lfpmann speculated ~hat phosvltln might contain a high- an appreciation energy storage form of phosphate (P~N), but he identified it as phosphoserine Fritz lapmann, one of the most influen- tute for (now the Max Planck which was not energy-nch m tial biochemists of the 20th century, died Institute) in Berlin Even though When Ltpmann first elucidated the aged 87 on 24 July 1986 in Poughkeepsie. Meyerhof was a Nobel Laureate, he was chemical properties of phosphorylated New York, alter a short illness Since unable to sponsor a PhD student, Carl serme residues in the 1930s, no one could 1969, he had been professor emeritus at Neuberg In Berlin served as Lipmann's predict the importance that they have The , although he nominal graduate professor After being assumed today Lipmann moved to preferred toomlt 'emeritus' Best known awarded his PhD Lipmann retained Albert Fischer's laboratory at the for introducmg the concept o[ high with Meyerhof's group, where he studied Biological Institute of the Carlsberg energy or energy nch bonds in Foundation in Copenhagen in 1932. and , which he denoted ~th the remained there until 1939, where he 'squiggle', as in ~P, he was the first scien- stud~ed the Pasteur effect (inhibition of tist to enunciate the pnnclple that ATP glucose consumption by oxygen) in fib- serves as the common currency of energy roblasts m tissue culture Prior to the exchange in metabolism Dr Lipmann advent of antibiotics, this methodology received the Nobel Pnze for was fraught with difficulty and not as or Medlone in 1953 for the discovery and commonly used as it is today An interest identification of coenzyme A m the Pasteur effect prompted him to the study of the mechanism of pyruvate Early training and sclentdic work oxidation, thereby leading him to the dis- Fritz Lipr~ann was born m covery of acetyl phosphate, an energy- Koenfgsberg, , in 1899 (the city nch and activated form of phosphate (or is now Russian and known as Kahnm- acetate), in Lactobacdlus delbruecku grad) After completing his high school This work served as the background for studies in 1917, he studied medicine in his formulauon of the concept of the high Koenig~berg, and Berlin He energy bond and prompted the line of recalled that his scholastic achievements work which eventually led to the discov- both in school and at the university were ery of coenzyme A only average His medical studies were LIpmann moved to Cornell University interrupted for about a year in 1918when School of Medicine in 1939, where he he served as a military medical assistant worked in Vincent Du Vigneaud's and gained considerable expenence in department in the laboratory of Dean what would now be termed emergency Burk (a former colleague in the medicine Lipmann commented in later Meyerhof laboratory) He compared the years that he was told by a sergeant that phosphate ester chemistry with Karl composition of amino acids with the n- he would never amount to anything His Lohmann The properties of hydrolysis configuration m tumongemc and normal earl) work in was done as a of phosphate compounds by 1 ~ HCI tissue and found no difference LIpmann medical student under the tutelage of were important In quantltating and collaborated with Rolhn D Hotchklss at Peter Rona (an early associate of Leonor characterizing ATP, creatme phosphate the nearby Rockefeller Institute to show Michaelts) in Berlin The resulting work and various sugar phosphates OttoWar- that the polypeptlde antibiotics gramlcl- on colloid chemistry was used for his MD burg's group was located at the same din S and tyrocldme contained amino thesis and became the subJect for his first institute, and Hans A Krebs was there acids of the ~configuratlon The first paper, published In Btochenuscbe Zeit- with Warburg at the same tzme volume of Advances in Enzymoiogy shn.~ in 1924 In 192.3 he received a three- Meyerhof accompanied by Lipmann, (1941) ~,,,talned Lipmann's famous month [ellowslup to work with Ernst moved his Institute to in r~vlew m which he discussed the role of Laquer in the Department of Pharmacol- 1930 Lipmann wrote that the time he the high energy bonds of ATP, creatme ogy in Amsterdam It was there that he spent with Meyerhof laid the founda- phosphate and phosphoenolpyruvate in performed his first biochemical research, tions for all that he was to accomplish on metabolism In his autobiography he which prompted him to continue his his own descnbed how he 'stepped into a hor- studies in the biochemical sciences He Dr Lipmann took advantage of a net's nest' by using 'bond energy' to obtained his MD from the University of Rockefeller Foundation fellowship and express the potential energy denvable Berlin in 1924 and pursued a PhD in spent a year with P A Levene at The from a bond instead of the generally Chemistry, which he received Rockefeller Institute for Medical Re- accepted meaning of energy expended to m 1927 under the tutelage of Hans search (now Rockefeller University) in form a bond He also introduced the Meerweln in Koenlgsberg and Otto New York in 1931 Levene had just term 'group transfer potential' in this Meyerhof at the Kaiser-Wilhelm [nsti- demonstrated that phosvltln, isolated article as an alternative to high energy ~1 ILM7Elu.~lcr Puhhcatt~m~ Camhndg~ tFt'lh- ~hT~TP~P2IKI TIBS 12 - Aprd 1987 i 37 bond and group activation In retro- with Krebs, he had already begun look- tyrosme sulfatton m transformed cells spect, the conflicts surrounding the ter- ing toward other problems minology forced everyone to address the In contrast to the redirect routes and Scientific style issues and may have accelerated the blind alleys which finally led to the dis- Llpmann was interested in pnnclples adoption of the concept covery of coenzyme A, the elucidation of of life's processes and worked with the the nature of actwe carbamate as car- most appropnate systems to address Later scientific work bamoyl phosphate in 1955 came in a very specific questions He tned to idenufy Lipmann took a position as a direct and straightforward fashion important problems and work toward Research Chemist tn the Department of In 1957 Dr Lipmann moved to The their solution Some research inevitably Surgery at the Massachusetts General Rockefeller University as professor led into blind alleys and many results Hospital in Boston m 1941 Up untd this where he worked on vanous aspects of were not of great importance He pre- time he had done most of his own expen- nbosomal protein synthesis for 15 years ferred, moreover, to work in areas which mental work vath some collaboration, He was greatly interested m the were not overcrowded with other mvesU- moreover, he was the sole author on 35 mechanism of amino acid activation by gators After the discovery of coenzyme of the 47 full papers he had then pub- adenylatlon and the subsequent forma- A, for example, he left the field to let lashed In 1941, he supervised his first tion of charged transfer RNA This others do the "mopping up' He minuted full-time technician (L Constance Tut- mechamsnt with the involvement of the work on cyclic AMP in the late 1960s, tie), who was to be co-author on several pyroph,~sphate split, parallels acetate soon thought that this area was becom- subsequent pubhcattons Dunng 1942- and fatty acid actwatnon and this may ing overcrowded, and subsequently 1943 he was joined by H A Barker, have been part of the basis for his attrac- devoted much less of his energy to this who was on sabbatical leave from the tion toward this problem The resolution research Umverslty of Cahfomm This oegan the of bacterial elongation factors into Tu One of h,s favonte expressions was era of the discovery of active acetate as a and Ts (unstable and stable) and G was "What is the mechanism 'y' He mapped denvatlve of coenzyme A (coenzyme of a formidable problem The properties out general areas of research and direc- acetylauon), resulting m our present and mechanisms associated with the tions In later years he rarely des,gned a awareness that coenzyme A plays a cen- elongation factors also attracted his protocol, and left this task to the mem- tral role in the metabolism of all attention Francois Chapevllle, working bers of his laboratory When progress organisms m Ltpmann's laboratory, prepared was being made, he wanted to be kept The number of students and postdoc- [14Clalamne-tRNAC- by reduction of informed and continued to be excited toral fellows assocmted with Ltpmann [t4C]cysteine-tRNAC- In collaborative and stimulated by the results When a increased greatly dunng this work expenments w~th , it project was not going well, he freely Nathan O Kaplan was the first postdoc- was demonstrated that the alanyl denva- offered his suggestions for trying new toral associate to joan him and G David tire was incorporated into hemoglobin in approaches It was generally up to post- Novelh was his first graduate student postt|ons corresponding to cysteme This doctoral associates or graduate students Earl R Stadtman, a graduate student proved that the adaptor RNA was the to write the papers He might make a few with H A Barker, soon joined the lab- important component in the placement changes, or he might completely re-write oratory as a postdoctoral fellow Other of amino acids in the polypeptide chain the manuscript He spent considerable laboratories played an important role and not the amino acid perse time writing reviews on ,ubjects of his m work on the coenzyme A. Roger hpmann turned his attention to non- interest or invited summanes for vanous Wdhams, Beverley Gmrard and nbosomal polypeptide biosynthesis in books Esmond Snell participated in the iden- the late 1960s and facets of his earlier On the basis of his achievements. tification of pantothemc acid and panth- research returned to the forefront He he was unquestionably a biochemical etheme in the coenzyme first turned his attention to the genius How these achievements were showed that the acetyl group wa~ mechanism of amino acid activation in made, however, differ from the expected attached to the coenzyme as a thnoester gramicidm 5 biosynthesis which also charactenstlcs of a scientist of such stat- forming a high energy bond (previously, Involves the pyrophosphate split of ure To begin wRh. he was either unwd- most thought that the acetyl groups ATP In this system, panthetheme ling or unable to follow a complicated would be covalently linked to one of the serves to transfer the Intermedmtes from argument It was not unusual for him to phosphates of coenzyme A) Pnor to site to site on a multmnzyme complex state that he could not follow the logic of L,pmann's identfficauon of active acetate Panthetheme also forms a part of the a seminar or a personal conversation as acetyl coenzyme A, the mechanism of coenzyme A molecule Gramicidm S When he wanted to undersqand a ~ram of formation of citrate from oxaloacetate as btosynthems exhibited many parallels thought he asked question after quesuon postu!dted by Krebs was only a matter of with both fatty acid and protein biosyn- to get the speaker to make smaller and conjecture The reaction of acetyl co- thesis Subsequent studies focused on smaller steps between an observat,on and conclusion As a result of this much enzyme A with oxaloacetate to ymld cit- the biosynthesis of tyrocidme, linear closer scrutiny. Lipmann might find that rate, first described by m gramiadlns and valmomycm a conclusion was untenable ! believe 1949, represented a final piece of the Ltpmann also worked on other pro- that this constant stnvmg to simplify con- puzzle regarding the citric acid cycle jects over the years These include tnbuted to his success His cunostty and Lipmann was appointed professor of photophosphorylation and photosyn- desire to learn also prompted him to ask Biological Chemistry at Harvard Medi- thesis, protein kmases, muscle contrac- many questions of a general nature, that cal School in 1949 His last work on co- tion, the mechanisms of regulation of might seem elementary for a first year enzyme A involved the discovery of the transcnption and translation m bacterial graduate student This cunosity and ATP-dependent cnrate cleavage enzyme systems, guanosme tetraphosphate enthusiasm never waned After under- with Paul Srere When Lipmann received (magic spot) metabolism, mRNA cap- standing the background of a problem, the m 1953, which he shared ping, tyrosme phosphate in protems and 138 TIBS 12 -Aprd 1087

however, he was often able to make mcl- Although tas thought processes may Autobiographical sire comments or pose questions that have lacked speed, they certmnly pos- LIpmann, F O971) Wandermg5 of a Biochemist, helped to clanfy ideas and concepts sessed undeniable power Wdey-lnter~ence Nearly everyone who came into contact Dr Lipmann had a long career in Lipmann, F (1984) A long hfe m Omes of great upheaval Annu Rev Biochem 53, 1-33 voth tam held high regard for his scien- research Although he did not establish tific mtumon The source of ttas astute- an independent laboratory untd he Commemorative ness, however, might defy or transcend was over 40 years old, more than Kaplan, N O and Kennedy. E P (1966) Current apparent logic 140 graduate students, postdoctoral Aspectsof Bwchenucal Energencs. AcademicPress Lipmann wrote that he lacked the associates, and v~smng faculty per- Richter, D, ed (1974) Lipmann Symposmm ability to make a good impression formed research in las laboratory They Energy. Regula,on and Biosynthesis m Molecular Although he spent considerable time occupy positions over the globe He Biology, Walter de Gruyter preparmg for vinous symposium talks, pnded himself that his best work was Chapevfile. F and Haenm, A-L eds 0980) Con- cepts of Chemical Recognmon m BIol~D,, he was not a gifted speaker He was also accomphshed after the age of 40 agamst Spnnger-Verlag dl at ease m answermg questmns after his the adage that one's best work is per- Ebashl. S ed 0985) Cellular Regulauon and sermnars After contemplating a ques- formed at a young age Of course, he Mahgnant Growth Lipmann Symposmm, Japan tion for several days (or months), he received many honors and awards of tas ScientificSocket,is Pres~ nught formulate a neg line of outstanding actaevements- too many to ROBERT ROSKOSKI JR expenmentat~on which went further mention here I recommend the follow- Depanmem of Biochern~try and Molecular Bmlogy, than any imphcattons that the questioner mg reading list to those who wish to read LSU Medwal Center, might have ongmally bad in mind more about this remarkable man New Orleans LA 70119-2799, USA

IUB TIBS always came first It was Steve Prentis 1951-1987 never quite clear how he managed in the Steve PrenUs, who edited TIBS from early days when his office was a small 1978 until 1984, was lulled in a car crash windowless room above an off-hcence near Cold Spnng Harbor, New York, on He was surrounded by endless cups of the last day of February 1987 The acci- coffee, rapidly filling ash trays and dent occurred after a party to celebrate mountains of unrevlewable biochemical the first issue of Genes and Develop- symposia proceedings Out of this seem- ment, Steve's latest journal mg chaos emerged a magazine that Steve would have been 36 on March consistently informed and entertained an 18th He was born in Coventry, increasing number of the world's England, but moved to biochemists As his contacts widened, when very young and always considered his reputation for sensible fair dealing himself a 'Brummle' He read chemistry. grew, along w~th his sense of what was at Warwick University and was proud of important In biochemistry and molecular the 3rd class degree he obtained in 1972, biology. Much of the expansion of the clmmmg that a survey by the University publication programme of Elsevier Authorities had to be quietly suppressed filling the baleful slot on the front page Cambndge was due to Steve's en- when R proved an almost perfect reverse of TIBS as the publication deadline thusiasm and/or on his direct initiative correlation between undergraduates' loomed, or producing his highly success- In 1983, he started Trends m Btotech- exam performance and success In later ful book, Btotechnology But it is not so nology and in 1985, Trends in Genencs, life Whatever the truth of ttas, there is much as a writer that his friends and col- wtach he endowed with an impressive no question about Steve's later perfor- leagues wdl remember Steve, but as a board of edRonal advisors It was not mances He went from strength to peculiarly successful editor with an easy surprising that his quallUes attracted strength and had shown no signs of slow- style and warm nature J D Watson as he searched for some- ing down when fate so cruelly cut short In 1978, Steve returned to Elsevier, one to take over as Director of Publica- his progress when he was appointed Staff Editor of tions and Head of the Banbury Centre at After a couple of short-hved jobs in TIBS in Cambridge, England Already Cold Spring Harbor, nor surpnsang that industry (one as a technical editor), he a successful journal, Steve's excellent having taken the job, Steve immediately landed a job as a Desk Editor vdth FEBS partnership with the second Editor-m- started a new journal v Letters He had applied for the job only Chief, John Tooze, greatly expanded its • Steve Prentls was unwersally liked and as a means of getting to Amsterdam to recognition and its circulauon On or,e respected, which was the secret of his visit a friend, and his amazement at get- occasion, checking up on an advisory success He was creative, innovative and ttng the job was matched only by that of session he had had with John Tooze, above all a great communicator An ex- his mother 'But Steve, how can you Steve telephoned to clanfy contacts' cellent listener, he consulted widely be- work in publishing~ You can't spell and names and areas of interest John had no fore takmg decisions, but the decisions your handwntmg is temble ' problem until it came to Steve's final were always tas own l-hs humour was m- Steve returned to England in 1976 to query. 'Who is this chap S V Fort69' exhaustible, and his balance between the become an Assistant Editor of the Bre- Tooze racked his brains for a few serious business and the funny side of wer's Guardian, a job with strong appeal moments until the penny dropped things was so well judged that he was for a man who enjoyed his pint vHe must 'Steve' he said, 'You're fired" always fun to work vath, yet he never have cemented his taste for seeing his Steve was the perfect man to deal with caused offence through indlscrehon or words in pnnt as well, for from then on the sometimes competing demands of taking sides He wdl be sorely missed he was always keen to write, whether the grant co-publishers, Elsevier and the .IUDITH HALL and