Donald Crothers
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Donald Morris Crothers
| image = Donald M. Crothers in 2011.jpg
| image_size =
| alt = Donald M. Crothers (18 June 2011)
| caption = Don Crothers, photographed 18 June 2011
| birth_date = {{birth date|1937|01|28|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Fatehgarh, India
| death_date = {{death date and age|2014|03|16|1937|01|28|mf=y}}
| death_place = New Haven, Connecticut
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| residence =
| fields = Chemistry
| workplaces = Yale University
| alma_mater = Yale University
University of Cambridge
UCSD
| thesis_title = The denaturation of helical polynucleotides
| thesis_url =
| thesis_year = 1963
| doctoral_advisor = Bruno Zimm
| academic_advisors =
| doctoral_students =
| notable_students =
| known_for = Nucleic acid structure and function
| author_abbrev_bot =
| author_abbrev_zoo =
| influences =
| influenced =
| awards =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| website =
| footnotes =
| spouse = Leena Kareoja-Crothers
}}
Donald Crothers (January 28,
1937 – March 16, 2014) was a professor of chemistry at Yale University in the United States. He was best known for his
work on nucleic acid structure and function.
Early life and education
Donald Crothers was the son of the late Morris King Crothers[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19831205&id=JA5WAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NeIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2167,1459515 "Ex-legislator Dies In Salem At Age Of 77" Eugene Register-Guardian, December 5, 1983] and Florence Kittredge Crothers.[http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nhregister/obituary.aspx?n=donald-crothers&pid=170298817 Donald Crothers Obituary New Haven Register, March 23, 2014] He graduated summa cum laude from Yale University in 1958 with a B.S. in Chemistry and earned a B.A. from the University of Cambridge in 1960. His study of Chemistry at Clare College, Cambridge was supported by a Mellon Fellowship.{{cite web |url= http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/crothers-donald.pdf |title= Biographical Memoirs: Donald M. Crothers 1937–2014 |last1= Moore |first1= Peter |last2= Eisenberg |first2= David |last3= Kahn |first3= Jason |date= 2018 |website= nasonline.org |publisher= National Academy of Sciences |access-date= 12 January 2019 |quote=}} He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, San Diego, in 1963, working with Bruno Zimm.
As a Yale undergraduate, Crothers worked with Ignacio Tinoco, then a postdoctoral associate, in the laboratory of John Kirkwood.{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1146/annurev.physchem.53.082001.144341| pmid = 11972000| title = Physical Chemistry of Nucleic Acids| journal = Annual Review of Physical Chemistry| volume = 53| pages = 1–15| year = 2002| last1 = Tinoco | first1 = I. | bibcode = 2002ARPC...53....1T| doi-access = free}} Along with Victor Bloomfield, Crothers and Tinoco later co-authored two books, including the 1974 text Physical Chemistry of Nucleic Acids, updated in 2000 as "Nucleic Acids: Structures, Properties, and Functions."
Career
After a postdoctoral fellowship with Manfred Eigen at the Max-Planck-Institut in Göttingen, Germany, he returned to Yale University as a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry in 1964. Professor Crothers was named to an associate professorship in 1968, to a full professorship in 1971, and to the Alfred E. Kemp Professorship in Chemistry in 1985.[https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/07/nyregion/yale-panel-faults-plan-to-cut-costs.html "Yale Panel Faults Plan to Cut Costs"]. New York Times, 7 March 1992. He served four three-year terms as Chairman of the Yale Department of Chemistry (1975-1981; 1994-2000).Newman, Maria. [https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/16/us/after-national-search-yale-picks-its-graduate-dean-to-be-president.html "After National Search, Yale Picks Its Graduate Dean to Be President'."] New York Times, 16 April 1993. At the time of his retirement in 2003, he was Sterling Professor of Chemistry and held a joint appointment in the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, of which he was a founding member.
After retiring from Yale, Crothers worked as a partner and scientific consultant for numerous biotechnology firms.[http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=27530384&privcapId=49701841&previousCapId=24545442&previousTitle=Synthetic%20Genomics,%20Inc. "Company Overview of Excel Venture Management".]{{dead link|date=April 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} Bloomberg Businessweek.
Principal scientific accomplishments
Crothers was a co-inventor of the Zimm–Crothers viscometer.{{Cite journal
| pmid = 16590954
| year = 1962
| last1 = Zimm
| first1 = B. H.
| title = Simplified Rotating Cylinder Viscometer for DNA
| journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
| volume = 48
| issue = 6
| pages = 905–11
| last2 = Crothers
| first2 = D. M.
| pmc = 220878
| doi=10.1073/pnas.48.6.905
| bibcode = 1962PNAS...48..905Z
| doi-access = free
Among the most frequently cited papers from the Crothers lab is a method for the widely used electrophoretic mobility shift assay, better known as a "gel shift" assay, which is used to detect and estimate the affinity of protein-nucleic acid complexes.{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1093/nar/9.23.6505| pmid = 6275366| title = Equilibria and kinetics of lac repressor-operator interactions by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis| journal = Nucleic Acids Research| volume = 9| issue = 23| pages = 6505–25| year = 1981| last1 = Fried | first1 = M. | last2 = Crothers | first2 = D. M. | pmc=327619}} He made many other contributions to areas including the thermodynamics of secondary structure in RNA and DNA, the role of magnesium in RNA tertiary structure, DNA-drug interactions, sequence-directed and protein-induced DNA bending,{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1038/308509a0| pmid = 6323997| title = The locus of sequence-directed and protein-induced DNA bending| journal = Nature| volume = 308| issue = 5959| pages = 509–13| year = 1984| last1 = Wu | first1 = H. M. | last2 = Crothers | first2 = D. M. | bibcode = 1984Natur.308..509W| s2cid = 4338997}}{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1038/320501a0| pmid = 3960133| title = DNA bending at adenine · thymine tracts| journal = Nature| volume = 320| issue = 6062| pages = 501–6| year = 1986| last1 = Koo | first1 = H. S. | last2 = Wu | first2 = H. M. | last3 = Crothers | first3 = D. M. | bibcode = 1986Natur.320..501K| s2cid = 4370805}}{{Cite journal
| pmid = 2185240
| year = 1990
| last1 = Crothers
| first1 = D. M.
| title = Intrinsically bent DNA
| journal = The Journal of Biological Chemistry
| volume = 265
| issue = 13
| pages = 7093–6
| last2 = Haran
| first2 = T. E.
| last3 = Nadeau
| first3 = J. G.
| doi = 10.1016/S0021-9258(19)39080-5
| doi-access = free
}} DNA cyclization kinetics,{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1021/bi00469a027| pmid = 2361140| title = Determination of the extent of DNA bending by an adenine-thymine tract| journal = Biochemistry| volume = 29| issue = 17| pages = 4227–34| year = 1990| last1 = Koo | first1 = H. S. | last2 = Drak | first2 = J. | last3 = Rice | first3 = J. A. | last4 = Crothers | first4 = D. M. }}{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1038/368163a0| pmid = 8139661| title = Detection of localized DNA flexibility| journal = Nature| volume = 368| issue = 6467| pages = 163–6| year = 1994| last1 = Kahn | first1 = J. D. | last2 = Yun | first2 = E. | last3 = Crothers | first3 = D. M. | bibcode = 1994Natur.368..163K| s2cid = 4322970}} RNA folding in riboswitches, protein-RNA structure, mechanisms of transcription, and nucleosome positioning.
Awards and recognition
Professor Crothers was well known for insights into the structure and physical properties of nucleic acids. He won the Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist Award (1981), was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1986), and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (1987). He was awarded the Emily M. Gray Award of the Biophysical Society (2008) for “significant contributions to education through creating rigorous, groundbreaking texts enriching generations of biophysicists,” an award which he shared with David Eisenberg of the University of California, Los Angeles.{{Cite web |url=http://www.biophysics.org/Portals/1/PDFs/Press%20Room/2007/2008%20Award%20Recipients.pdf |title=Biophysical Society Names 2008 Award Recipients |access-date=2014-03-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407094602/http://www.biophysics.org/Portals/1/PDFs/Press%20Room/2007/2008%20Award%20Recipients.pdf |archive-date=2014-04-07 |url-status=dead }} The two co-authored the 1979 text “Physical Chemistry with Applications to the Life Sciences,” which has become a standard textbook in the field.
Personal life
Crothers was married to Leena Kareoja-Crothers, a pianist and musical educator originally from Finland,[https://suzukiassociation.org/events/trainer/leena-kareoja-crothers/ Leena Crothers Suzuki Association of the Americas page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325101942/https://suzukiassociation.org/events/trainer/leena-kareoja-crothers/ |date=2014-03-25 }} for 54 years. They had two daughters and four grandchildren.
Books
- Physical Chemistry of Nucleic Acids (1st Ed) (1974) by Victor A. Bloomfield, Donald M. Crothers, Ignacio Tinoco. Published by Harper and Row ({{ISBN|0060407794}}).
- Physical Chemistry with Applications to the Life Sciences (1st Ed) (1979) by David Eisenberg and Donald Crothers. Published by Benjamin / Cummings Publishing Company ({{ISBN|978-0805324020}}).
- Nucleic Acids: Structures, Properties, and Functions (1st Ed) (2000) by Victor A. Bloomfield, Donald M. Crothers, Ignacio Tinoco. Published by University Science Books ({{ISBN|978-0935702491}}).
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20131213112742/http://www.chem.yale.edu/faculty/crothers.html Academic profile at Yale University]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crothers, Donald}}
Category:Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge
Category:Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Category:Yale University faculty
Category:Yale Department of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry faculty
Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge