Harold Edwin Umbarger
Harold Edwin Umbarger (17 July 1921, Shelby, Ohio – 15 November 1999, Carmel, Indiana) was an American bacteriologist and biochemist.
Biography[]
H. Edwin Umbarger grew up in Mansfield, Ohio and graduated from Mansfield Senior High School in 1939. At Ohio University he graduated with a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1943 and a master's degree in zoology in 1944. For two years from 1944 to 1946 he served in the U.S. Navy as a hospital corpsman.[1] In 1945 he served aboard the USS Rescue.[2] In 1950 he received a Ph.D. in bacteriology from Harvard University.[1] His doctoral thesis, supervised by ,[3] is entitled Studies on the Interactions Involved in the Biosynthetic Mechanisms of Isoleucine and Valine in Escherichia Coli.[4] From 1950 to 1959 Umbarger did research at Harvard.[1] From 1957 to 1960 he was an assistant professor of bacteriology and Immunology at Harvard Medical School,[5] but he was untenured. For the academic year 1959-1960, on leave of absence from Harvard, he worked at several laboratories in England. From 1960 to 1964 he held the appointment of Staff Investigator at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.[5] At Purdue University he was appointed in 1964 a full professor and in 1970 Wright Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences. He held that professorship until his retirement.[1]
Umbarger was a leading expert on biosynthesis of amino acids in bacteria. He is perhaps best known as the co-discoverer, with Edward A. Adelberg in 1953, of feedback inhibition in enzymology.[2][6]
H(arold) Edwin Umbarger had a major role in defining the pathways that living organisms employ to produce branched-chain amino acids (L-leucine, L-isoleucine, and L-valine), which are required in all proteins. He also played a pivotal role in identifying the biochemical mechanisms that bacterial and yeast cells use to modulate the synthesis of these amino acids in order to match their utilization in protein synthesis.[1]
While he was still a student, Umbarger married Merle Gladys Abele (1922–1993). They had three daughters. In 1995 he married his second wife.[5]
Awards and honors[]
- 1963 — Guggenheim Fellowship.[7]
- 1971 — Elected a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[8]
- 1975 — Rosenstiel Award, jointly with Arthur B. Pardee (for independent research).[9]
- 1976 — Elected a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.[1]
- 1999 — Establishment of H. Edwin Umbarger Distinguished Professorship of Genetics at Purdue University. The first holder of the professorship was Jeffrey Bennetzen,[10] succeeded (in 2012) by Stanton B. Galvin.
Selected publications[]
- Umbarger, H. E. (1956). "Evidence for a Negative-Feedback Mechanism in the Biosynthesis of Isoleucine". Science. 123 (3202): 848. Bibcode:1956Sci...123..848U. doi:10.1126/science.123.3202.848. PMID 13324101.
- Umbarger, H. E.; Brown, B. (1957). "Threonine deamination in Escherichia coli II. Evidence for two L-threonine deaminases". Journal of Bacteriology. 73 (1): 105–112. doi:10.1128/JB.73.1.105-112.1957. PMC 289754. PMID 13405870.
- Umbarger, H. E. (1961). "Feedback Control by Endproduct Inhibition". Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology. 26: 301–312. doi:10.1101/SQB.1961.026.01.036. PMID 13923752.
- Freundlich, M.; Burns, R. O.; Umbarger, H. E. (1962). "Control of Isoleucine, Valine, and Leucine Biosynthesis, I. Multi-Valent Repression". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 48 (10): 1804–1808. Bibcode:1962PNAS...48.1804F. doi:10.1073/pnas.48.10.1804. PMC 221043. PMID 13959618.
- Umbarger, H. E. (1964). "Intracellular Regulatory Mechanisms: Regulation in multicellular forms may be an elaboration upon the pattern evolved in microorganisms". Science. 145 (3633): 674–679. doi:10.1126/science.145.3633.674. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 17754663. S2CID 22768508.
- Cortese, R.; Landsberg, R.; Vonder Haar, R. A.; Umbarger, H. E.; Ames, B. N. (1974). "Pleiotropy of hisT Mutants Blocked in Pseudouridine Synthesis in tRNA: Leucine and Isoleucine-Valine Operons". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 71 (5): 1857–1861. Bibcode:1974PNAS...71.1857C. doi:10.1073/pnas.71.5.1857. PMC 388341. PMID 4151955.
- McCorkle, G. M.; Leathers, T. D.; Umbarger, H. E. (1978). "Physical organization of the ilvEDAC genes of Escherichia coli strain K-12". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 75 (1): 89–93. Bibcode:1978PNAS...75...89M. doi:10.1073/pnas.75.1.89. PMC 411189. PMID 343113.
- Umbarger, H. E. (1978). "Amino Acid Biosynthesis and its Regulation". Annual Review of Biochemistry. 47: 533–606. doi:10.1146/annurev.bi.47.070178.002533. PMID 354503.
- Nargang, F. E.; Subrahmanyam, C. S.; Umbarger, H. E. (1980). "Nucleotide sequence of ilvGEDA operon attenuator region of Escherichia coli". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 77 (4): 1823–1827. Bibcode:1980PNAS...77.1823N. doi:10.1073/pnas.77.4.1823. PMC 348600. PMID 6990415.
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Neidhardt, Frederick C. (2014). "H. Edwin Umbarger 1921–1995" (PDF). Biographical Memoirs. National Academy of Science.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Kresge, Nicole; Simoni, Robert D.; Hill, Robert L. (December 30, 2005). "H. Edwin Umbarger's Contributions to the Discovery of Feedback Inhibition" (PDF). Journal of Biological Chemistry. 280 (52): e49–e50.
- ^ "Harold Edwin Umbarger". Microtree (academictree.org).
- ^ "Harvard University. Report of the President of Harvard College and reports of departments".
- ^ Jump up to: a b c "Obituary. H. Edwin Umbarger (availaber at roots web.com)". Mansfield News Journal. 17 November 1999.
- ^ Adelberg, Edward A.; Umbarger, H. Edwin (1953). "Isoleucine and valine metabolism in Escherichia coli. V. α-ketoisovaleric acid accumulation". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 205 (1): 475–482.
- ^ "Harold Edwin Umbarger". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
- ^ "Book of Members 1780–present, Chapter U" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org).
- ^ "Past Winners – Rosenstiel Award – Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center – Brandeis University". brandeis.edu.
- ^ "Purdue trustees confirm four distinguished professors". Purdue News (purdue.edu). July 9, 1999.
- American biochemists
- American bacteriologists
- Ohio University alumni
- Harvard University alumni
- Purdue University faculty
- Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
- 1921 births
- 1999 deaths