Signal transduction: Evolution of an idea

In general there is no set of observations conceivable which can give enough information about the past of a system to give complete information as to its future: Norbert Wiener. Think simplicity; then discard it: Alfred North WhiteheadThe Nobel Lecture given on December 8, 1994 by Professor Martin Rodbell and published inLes Prix Nobel 1994, printed by Norstedts Tryckeri, republished here with the permission of the Nobel Foundation, copyright holder.     

Synthetic DNA and Biology

Most of the significant work has been summarized in a number of reviews and articles. In these there was, of necessity, a good deal of simplification and omission of detail .... With the passage of time, even 1 find myself accepting such simplified accounts.The Nobel lecture given on December 8, 1993 by Dr. M. Smith and published in Les Prix Nobel 1993, printed by Norstedts Tryckeri, Stockholm, Sweden 1994, republished here with the permission of the Nobel Foundation, the copyright holder.     

Elementary steps in synaptic transmission revealed by currents through single ion channels

An account is presented of how the molecular basis of synaptic transmission at peripheral and central synapses is elucidated by combining patch clamp and recombinant DNA techniques.Nobel lecture given on December 9, 1991, by Dr B. Sakmann and published inLes Prix Nobel 1991, Printed by Norstedts Tryckeri, Stockholm, Sweden, 1992, republished here with the permission of the Nobel Foundation, the copyright holder.     

The Photosynthetic Reaction Centre from the Purple Bacterium Rhodopseudomonas viridis

We first describe the history and methods of membrane protein crystallization, and show how the structure of the photosynthetic reaction centre from the purple bacterium Rhodopseudomonas viridis was solved. The structure of this membrane protein complex is correlated with its function as a light-driven electron pump across the photosynthetic membrane. Finally we draw conclusions on the structure of the photosystem II reaction centre from plants and discuss the aspects of membrane protein structure.Published in Les Prix Nobel–The Nobel Prizes 1988 (Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, 1989) and republished here with the permission of the Nobel Foundation the copyright holders.     

The photosynthetic reaction centre from the purple bacteriumRhodopseudomonas viridis

We first describe the history and methods of membrane protein crystallization, and show how the structure of the photosynthetic reaction centre from the purple bacteriumRhodopseudomonas viridis was solved. The structure of this membrane protein complex is correlated with its function as a light-driven electron pump across the photosynthetic membrane. Finally we draw conclusions on the structure of the photosystem II reaction centre from plants and discuss the aspects of membrane protein structure.Published inLes Prix Nobel—The Nobel Prizes 1988 (Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, 1989) and republished here with the permission of the Nobel Foundation the copyright holders.     

The purine path to chemotherapy

Antimetabolites of purine metabolism have found a use as anti-leukaemic, antiprotozoal and antiviral drugs, in immunosuppression and transplantation, and in gout and hyperuricemia. Their mechanisms of action are reviewed.Nobel Lecture given on December 8, 1988; by Dr Gertrude B. Elion and published inLes Prix Nobel 1988, printed in Sweden by Norstedts Tryckeri, Stockholm, Sweden, 1989, republished here with the permission of the Nobel Foundation, the copyright holder.     

Enzymatic cleavage of RNA by RNA

The discovery and characterization of the catalytic RNA subunit of the enzyme ribonuclease P ofEscherichia coli is described.Nobel lecture given on December 8, 1989, by Professor Sidney Altman, and published in LES PRIX NOBEL 1989, printed in Sweden by Norstedts Tryckeri, Stockholm, Sweden, 1990, republished here with the permission of the Nobel Foundation, the copyright holder.     

Why so few?

Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their struggles and momentous discoveries (1998). S. Bertsch McGrayne. Carol Publishing Group, 448 pp. $19.95 paper ISBN 0806520256.     

低氧诱导因子-1：细胞适应氧供应改变的关键蛋白

2019年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖授予威廉·凯林(William Kaelin Jr)、彼得·拉特克里夫爵士(Sir Peter Ratcliffe)和格雷格·赛门扎(Gregg Semenza),以表彰他们在细胞感知和适应缺氧机制上做出的重要贡献.低氧诱导因子-1 (hypoxiainducible factor-1,HIF-1)在细胞适应氧供应改变中起关键作用,可作为转录因子改变基因表达,通过提高机体携氧能力、增加血液供应、改变代谢方式等途径来适应缺氧环境.而HIF-1的功能也受到各种机制调控:泛素化-蛋白酶体途径降解和转录因子活性抑制. HIF-1与抑癌蛋白(protein von Hippel-Lindau,pVHL)、脯氨酸羟化酶(proline hydroxylase,PHD)、HIF抑制因子(factor inhibiting HIF,FIH)等构成了严密有序的调节网络.本文总结了3位诺贝尔奖获得者的研究成果,并结合最新的研究进展,系统阐述了HIF-1表达量调节机制和HIF-1介导的细胞适应缺氧环境机制.     

Scientific research at the Laboratoire Arago (Banyuls, France) in the twentieth Century: Edouard Chatton, the "master", and André Lwoff, the "pupil"

Edouard Chatton (1883–1947) began his scientific career in the Pasteur Institute, where he made several important discoveries regarding pathogenic protists (trypanosomids, Plasmodium, toxoplasms, Leishmania). In 1908 he married a "Banyulencque", Marie Herre; from 1920, he focused his research on marine protists. He finished his career as Professor at the Sorbonne (Paris) and director of the Laboratoire Arago in Banyuls-sur-mer, where he died in 1947. André Lwoff (1902–1994) lived several scientific lives in addition to his artistic and family life. But it is the study of protists that filled his first life after he encountered the exceptional Master who was Chatton. Lwoff's father was a psychiatrist and his mother an artist sculptor. He became a Doctor of Medicine in 1927 and then a Doctor of Sciences in 1932, his thesis dealing with biochemical aspects of protozoa nutrition. He met Chatton in 1921 and – until Chatton's death – their meetings, first in Roscoff and then in Banyuls-sur-mer, were numerous and their collaboration very close. Their monograph on apostome ciliates was one of the peaks of this collaboration. In 1938, Lwoff was made director of the Microbial Physiology Department at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, where he began a new life devoted to bacteria, and then to viruses, before pursuing his career as director of the Cancer Research Institute in Villejuif (France). Lwoff was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965. He died in Banyuls in 1994. "Master" and "pupil" had in common perseverance in their scientific work, conception and observation, a critical sense and rigor but also a great artistic sensibility that painting and drawing in the exceptional surroundings of Banyuls-sur-mer had fulfilled. Electronic Publication     

The seasonal dynamics of Copidodiaptomus numidicus (Gurney, 1909) and Thermocyclops dybowskii (Lande, 1890) in Castelo-do-Bode Reservoir

We investigated the population dynamics of Copidodiaptomus numidicus (Copepoda: Calanoida) and Thermocyclops dybowskii (Copepoda: Cyclopoida) in Castelo-do-Bode Reservoir (Portugal). Both species in the reservoir were regulated mainly by food availability during the summers of 1993 and 1994. C. numidicus was always more abundant than T. dybowskii in the reservoir. C. numidicus produced two generations during the sampling period of both years whereas T. dybowskii produced two and three generations in 1993 and 1994, respectively. Because of high temperatures and low rainfall in 1994, the reservoir was more eutrophic than in 1993. Higher clutch size and a higher percentage of ovigerous females suggest that both species were benefiting from better feeding conditions in 1994. Despite this, population growth was reduced in 1994 relatively to 1993. Vertebrate predation and predation by copepods seem to have been minor factors in explaining this decline. However, the presence of Mesostoma sp. in the reservoir may have contributed to the reduction of both copepod populations during specific periods in 1994 although the calanoid was more affected than the cyclopoid by this predation.     

Dynamics of Daphnia hyalina × galeata in Castelo-do-Bode Reservoir: The effect of food availability and flatworm predation

Daphnia hyalina × galeata in Castelo-do-Bode Reservoir was regulated mainly by food availability during the summers of 1993 and 1994. Because of high temperatures and low rainfall in 1994, the reservoir was, apparently, more eutrophic relatively to 1993. Higher chlorophyll-a concentrations and higher clutch size in 1994 suggest that Daphnia population benefited from better feeding conditions in 1994. The analysis of the contributions from fecundity and adult proportion to birth rate variation suggest that vertebrate predation and predation by copepods were negligible factors as population organisers. A general decrease in the abundance of large crustaceans during the periods of high density of typhloplanid flatworms, in both years, points to the importance of flatworm predation on zooplankton. A decrease in the number of individuals in all Daphnia size classes was observed during the periods of flatworms population increase.     

器官发育和程序性细胞死亡中的基因调控——2002年诺贝尔生理学和医学奖工作介绍

2002年的诺贝尔生理学和医学奖授予了在器官发育和程序性细胞死亡研究领域中做出奠基性贡献的三位英美科学家．他们建立了线虫实验模型,完成了其细胞谱图的绘制,而且系统深入地研究了线虫的器官发育和程序性细胞死亡中的基因规则,并在高等哺乳动物中发现了相关的功能基因．这些研究对认识发育过程和揭示人类重大疾病的发病机理具有重要的理论价值和现实意义．     

Nuclear magnetic resonance Fourier transform spectroscopy

The development and current status of Fourier transform spectroscopy is described.Nobel Lecture given on December 9, 1991 by Professor R. Ernst and published in Les Prix Nobel 1991, printed in Sweden by Norstedts Tryckeri, Stockholm, Sweden, 1992, republished here with the permission of the Nobel Foundation, the copyright holder.     

人类辅助生殖技术研究的里程碑——2010年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖解读

试管婴儿技术是现代医学治疗不育症的人类辅助生殖技术之一．试管婴儿技术的发展,打破了人类繁衍的自然方式和过程,是生殖医学领域的一场革命,对生命医学的发展产生了重大影响．为此,在试管婴儿技术研究中做出开创性贡献的英国科学家罗伯特·爱德华兹,荣获2010年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖．     

The fish diet of black-browed albatrossDiomedea melanophris and grey-headed albatrossD. Chrysostoma at South Georgia

 The fish component of the diet of black-browed and grey-headed albatrosses at South Georgia was investigated by intercepting 155 meals from adults arriving to feed chicks during February 1986 and 1994. Fish represented 30% and 72% by mass of the diet of black-browed albatrosses and 14% and 60% by mass of the diet of grey-headed albatrosses in 1986 and 1994 respectively. We determined the identity and quantified the contribution (by numbers, size and mass) of fish species mainly by using otoliths (54 representing 9 taxa and 57 representing 17 taxa in black-browed and grey-headed albatross samples respectively). For black-browed albatrosses in 1986 the main fish prey was Patagonotothen guntheri (77% of otoliths, 51% of estimated fish biomass) and a single large specimen of Icichthys australis (40% estimated biomass), whereas in 1994 Pseudochaenichthys georgianus was the main fish prey (57% of estimated biomass) with Magnisudis prionosa (30%) and Champsocephalus gunnari (12%) also making substantial contributions. Grey-headed albatross samples from 1986 were dominated by southern lampreys (40% by number, 79% of estimated biomass), lanternfish (32% of numbers, 9% by mass) and Patagonotothen guntheri (11% by mass); in 1994 Champsocephalus gunnari (42% by numbers, 24% by mass), Magnisudis prionosa (13% by number, 36% by mass), Muraenolepis microps (90% by number), Pseudochaenichthys georgianus (15% by mass) and lanternfish (18% by number but only 1% by mass) were the main prey. The importance of Patagonotothen guntheri to both species in 1986 and its absence in 1994 probably reflect albatrosses obtaining it from the commercial fishery, which was active in 1986 but closed in 1994. Otherwise the fish diet of black-browed albatrosses is dominated by krill-feeding fish, characteristic of the waters of the South Georgia shelf. In contrast, the grey-headed albatross diet comprises deeper water mesopelagic species, especially lanternfish, which reflect its affinity for the Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone and associated oceanic upwellings. Received: 28 June 1995 / Accepted: 8 October 1995     

Doubling the CO2 Concentration Enhanced the Activity of Carbohydrate-Metabolism Enzymes,Source Carbohydrate Production,Photoassimilate Transport,and Sink Strength for Opuntia ficus-indica

After exposure to a doubled CO2 concentration of 750 [mu]mol mol-1 air for about 3 months glucose and starch in the chlorenchyma of basal cladodes of Opuntia ficus-indica increased 175 and 57%, respectively, compared with the current CO2 concentration of 370 [mu]mol mol-1, but sucrose content was virtually unaffected. Doubling the CO2 concentration increased the nocturnal malate production in basal cladodes by 75%, inorganic phosphate (Pi) by 32%, soluble starch synthase activity by 30%, and sucrose-Pi synthase activity by 146%, but did not affect the activity of hexokinase. Doubling CO2 accelerated phloem transport of sucrose out of the basal cladodes, resulting in a 73% higher dry weight for the daughter cladodes. Doubling CO2 increased the glucose content in 14-d-old daughter cladodes by 167%, increased nocturnal malate production by 22%, decreased total amino acid content by 61%, and increased soluble starch synthase activity by 30% and sucrose synthase activity by 62%. No downward acclimation of photosynthesis during long-term exposure to elevated CO2 concentrations occurs for O. ficus-indica (M. Cui, P.M. Miller, P.S. Nobel [1993] Plant Physiol 103: 519-524; P.S. Nobel, A.A. Israel [1994] J Exp Bot 45: 295-303), consistent with its higher source capacity and sink strength than under current CO2. These changes apparently do not result in Pi limitation of photosynthesis or suppression of genes governing photosynthesis for this perennial Crassulacean acid metabolism species, as occur for some annual crops.     

Review of monophyly of the Kyphosidae (sensu Nelson, 1994), inferred from the mitochondrial ND2 gene

 Girella, Kyphosus, Scorpis, and some other perciform fishes have been regarded as being related to each other. Nelson (1994) recognized them as the subfamilies under the Kyphosidae, but he did not show any synapomorphic characters uniting them. Johnson and Fritzsche (1989) suggested that the perciform group characterized by RLA pattern 10, namely, Girellidae, Kyphosidae (not of Nelson, 1994), Scorpididae, Microcanthidae, Kuhliidae, Arripidae, Oplegnathidae, Terapontidae, and families of the Stromateoidei, form a monophyletic group. We estimated the phylogenetic relationships of fishes of the group to review monophyly of the Kyphosidae (sensu Nelson, 1994) by partially sequencing the mitochondrially encoded NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 gene. Labracoglossa-Scorpis, Oplegnathus, Kyphosus, Kuhlia, Microcanthus, and Girella constituted a single clade with relatively high reliability values for both the neighbor-joining (NJ) and maximum-likelihood (ML) trees, but the monophyly of Kyphosidae (sensu Nelson, 1994) was not supported. The group characterized by RLA pattern 10 formed a monophyletic group both in the NJ and ML trees here; however, additional basal perciform taxa need to be analyzed to resolve it more clearly. Received: June 27, 2001 / Revised: September 29, 2001 / Accepted: October 28, 2001     

Drugs from emasculated hormones: The principle of syntopic antagonism

This lecture outlines the early stages in the discovery of adrenaline -receptor antagonists and of the histamine H₂-receptor antagonists. It ends with a brief personal view about future research.Published inLes Prix Nobel 1988, printed in Sweden by Norstedts Tryckeri, Stockholm, Sweden, 1989, republished here with the permission of the Nobel Foundation, the Copyright holder.