Records

of the

Genetics Society of America

Number Seventeen

PUBLISHED BY THE SECRETARY-TREASURER
M. R, Irwin, Department of Genetics
The University of Wisconsin
Madison 6, Wisconsin
1948
14

and celery. He died in the Memorial Hospital at Ithaca on December
8, 1947.

As an administrator, Emerson's frankness, honesty and modesty
paved the way for fruitful cooperation with the departments of Botany,
Yegetable Crops and Plant Pathology, so that Cornell came to be known
as an international center of plant research, Largely as a result of
such cooperative functional research, Emerson was elected to be the
first Graduate Dean of Cornell University from the Agricultural fac-
ulty, anevent which did much tointegrate relations between that faculty
and the one in Liberal Arts. Emerson served as Graduate Dean from
1925 to 1931, He wasalso faculty representative on the Board of
Trustees of Cornell University in 1925-28.

Emerson was on the National Research Council in 1925-26. Hewas
a member of the National Academy of Sciences, American Society of
Naturalists (President, 1923), Genetics Society of America (Presi-
dent, 1933), American Society of Horticultural Science, and he was
starred in the American Men of Science. He was also a member of
Sigma Xi, Phi Beta Kappa and Gamma Alpha. In 1923-24, he was a
member of the collecting party for miaize germplasm in South America,
sponsored by the U.S.D.A., in cooperation with Cornell University, and
in 1935 he went to Yucatan for the Carnegie. Foundation (archeology)
to survey the food crops and agriculture of the Mayan peoples.

Dr. Emerson enjoyed a happy, wholesome married life with his
family. He was married to Harriet Hardin of Lincoln, Nebraska, in
1898. Two daughters (Thera and Myra) and two sons (Sterling and
Eugene) were born, all now living fruitful, competent careers, The
Emerson home was ever open to graduate students and friends, with
an easy, informal atmosphere. Emerson's hobbies of bowling anddeer
hunting were pursued with an energy equal to that devoted to his sci-
ence. He possessed a tremendous reserve of physical and nervous
energy. This, with his personal enthusiasm and drive for research,
made him a natural teacher of renown. — E. W. Lindstrom,

 

LEON JACOB COLE
June 1, 1877 - February 17, 1948

Leon Jacob Cole was a pioneer in the application of genetics to the
problems of animal and plant breeding. His youthful ambition was to
become a naturalist; and he later acquired an extensive formal train-
ing in zoology. Fate, however, directed himintoagricultural science,
The effectiveness of his long service in this field rested in a major
degree on his interest in and knowledge of living thingsin general and
the scholarly habits of mind he formed as a highly perceptive student
of classical biology. In Cole's early days the basic sciences, aside
from chemistry and perhaps physics, had received little recognition
in the agricultural colleges, Cole was one of the able American
15

scientists by whose personal efforts biology was brought into organic
relation with the work of these institutions,

Cole was born June 1, 1877 at Allegany, New York, and died at
Madison, Wisconsin, February 17, 1948. He entered the University of
Michigan in 1898 with advanced standing from Michigan Agricultural
College and graduated in 1901 after specializing in zoology and botany.
After serving for a year at Michigan as a graduate assistant in zool-
ogy, he entered Harvard University, which awarded him the Ph.D. de-
gree in 1906, While still a student at Michigan, he was selected as a
member of the Harriman Alaskan Expedition of 1899, an experience
which deepened his interest in the natural sciences, His formal train-
ing was further supplemented by a summer's work at the Bermuda
Biological Station in 1903, a zoological expedition to Yucatan in 1904
and a short stay at the Tortugas station in 1906. The other summers
between 1901 and 1906 were spent at Woods Hole, Massachusetts,
working on a biological survey for the U. S, Bureau of Fisheries,

Cole was fortunate in the personal associations he formed as a
student. These included Professor W. J. Beal at Michigan Agricul-
tural College, Jacob Reighard, Frank R, Lillie, H. S. Jennings, S. J.
Holmes and Raymond Pear! at the University of Michigan. He studied
for the doctorate at Harvard under E, L. Mark, and made the ac-
quaintances at that institution of G, H. Parker, who exerted a lasting
influence upon him, and of W, E, Castle, under whose guidance his
first knowledge of genetics was gained.

The transition from biological to agriculture research began in
1907 when Cole was appointed Chief of the Division of Animal Breed-
ing and Pathology at the Rhode Island Experiment Station. Although
studies on inheritance and reproduction in the pigeon which were to.
become a principal interest in later years were begun at this time,
his chief research at Rhode Island dealt with a serious and wide-
spread disease in turkeys known as “blackhead.” In 1908 Cole became
instructor in zoology at Yale University, but continued for another
year to collaborate in the work which he had begun at Rhode Island.
H. L. Russell, under whose leadership the University of Wisconsin
had entered upon a policy of “digging deeper the foundation on which
the practical courses of agricultural colleges were built,” persuaded
Cole in 1910 to join the staff of the College of Agriculture to organize
a new department of instruction and research first called “Experi-
mental Breeding,” but later this was changed to “Genetics.” Cole
served at Wisconsin for 37 years. He took leave in 1923-24 to serve
temporarily as Chief, Division of Animal Husbandry, Bureau of Ani-
mal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, and spent the summer
of 1930 as research professor at Western Reserve University.

Recognizing the implications of the new science for the improve-
ment of domesticated animals and cultivated plants, Cole set as his
principal objective at Wisconsin the training of graduate students in
applied genetics. He was notably successful in imparting to them
something of his own idealism, breadth of biological interest, and
 

16

faith in scientific rather than empirical methods. The effectiveness of
his efforts is attested by the numerous men who studied with him who
now occupy positions of leadership, particularly in livestock and poul-
try improvement. Animal breeding, long straight-jacketed by tradi-
tion, was witnessing the advent of a generationof investigators who
were being guided into new areas of thinking and practice bya rapidly
growing body of genetic principles. Cole led in this movement.

Cole's early researches ranged over a wide field including orni-
thology, animal behavior and animal pathology. Followinga collecting
trip to Yucatan in 1904, he aided in monographing the birds, reptiles,
amphibians and fishes of that country. Several papers were published
on classification of the Pycnogonida; and he made an extensive study
of the German carp in the United States. In 1909 he organized the
American Bird Banding Association. His chief genetic interest became
centered in pigeons and doves and led to numerous publications on
color inheritances, dnatomical and phynological defects, sex ratios,
sex intergrades, species relationships, milk secretign, and egg lay-
ing. His latest work at Wisconsin was concerned with the genetics of
ranch-bred mink and foxes.

Cole gave generously of his time to scientific organizations and to
the cause of science at large. He was vice-president in 1917 of the
American Society of Naturalists, president of the Wisconsin Academy
of Arts and Sciences from 1924 to 1927, vice-president in 1940 of
Section F of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,
and also in 1940, president of the Genetics Society of America. He
served on the advisory committee established in connection with the
Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau and as collaborator for ge-
netics with the Division of Bee Culture of the Bureau of Entomology
and Plant Quarantine. For several years he was chairmanof a Nation-
al Advisory Committee of the Institute of American Poultry Industries.
From 1935 to the time of his death he was a member of the editorial
board of Genetics, and served for many years on the advisory Com-~
mittee and later on the Council of the American Genetic Association.

In formal recognition of his achievements in teaching and research
in animal breeding the American Society of Animal Productionin 1939
presented his portrait to the Saddle and Sirloin Club in Chicago. He
was awarded the Honorary Doctorate of Science bythe Michigan State
College of Agriculture and Applied Science. The Czechoslovakian
Academy of Agriculture made him a corresponding member.

One finds it impossible to portray adequately Cole's work and influ-
ence. Hewasanexceedingly generous and kind manwith a deep interest
in people as persons. His contributions are now important elements
in the activities of a wide circle of students and associates in whom
he awakened new scientific interests,

Cole is survived by his wife, Margaret Belcher Goodenow, whom
he married in 1906, and a daughter, Mrs. Margaret Husting. A son,
Edward G. Cole, died May 25, 1948. —R. A. Brink.
48
inactivation of single genetic determinants.

MARSHAK, A., New York University, New York, N. Y.: The genetic
significance of a nuclear precursor to desoxyribonucleic and ribonu~
cleic acids, — Isolated nuclei incubated at 37°C without added enzyme
release nucleic acid but do not do so at 0° to 2°C. When the animal
from which the nuclei are isolated is given P this nucleic acid has a
specific activity 13 times greater than that of the RNA of the larger
cytoplasmic particles (mitochondria) and 9 times greater than that of
the smaller particles (microsomes), It is also greater than that of the
phospholipids and the phosphate esters. Since the proportion of P 7
held by the nucleus as compared with the rest of the cell remains
practically constant from 2 hours to 5 days after administration, the
high specific activity cannot be due to accumulation but to rapid turn-
over of the nucleic acid involved. The fraction extracted from the nu-
cleus by methods for obtaining RNA has a specific activity approaching
that of the nucleic acid in question and may therefore be similar or
identical with it, but both differ from the RNA of the cytoplasm,

In both mitotic and non-mitotic cells the P™ appears first in this
fraction. In mitotic cells it is subsequently accumulated in DNA while
in non-mitotic cells it passes into the RNA of the cytoplasm. Because
the nuclear nucleoprotein contributes to the formation of both the hith-
erto known nucleic acids by transferring constituents at least as com-
plex as nucleic acids, and because it has properties in common with
both, it is considered to be their precursor.

These findings indicate that plasmagenes and other cytoplasmic
constituents containing nucleic acid cannot be independent of nuclear
activity. They also predict that cells will be found containing no DNA.
A strain of bacteria with no DNA has been isolated, Asterias eggs
show no detectible amounts of DNA in the meiotic stages and through
the 2 cell stage of the embryo.

 

MARTIN, A. JR., J. N. DENT, and L. JOSEPH, University of Pitts-
burgh, Pittsburgh, Penna.: Effects of Beta-rays on Habrobracon ju-
giandis. — A technique for exposing Habrobracon juglandis females to
Beta-rays has been developed and utilized. Wild-type females exposed
to dried radioactive phosphorous produce abnormal progeny with a fre-
quency of approximately 25 percent, while untreated females produce
abnormalities at the rate of about 5 percent. Some of the abnormali-
ties in the test material have proved to be mutations, while none of the
abnormalities in the controls have been transmitted to their offspring.
Frequency of abnormalities does not vary appreciably between progeny
of treated virgins and non-virgins. Abnormalities occurring most fre-
quently are those of the wings, antennae, and feet in that order. Mu-
tations of wings and antennae have been checked through three gener-
ations. Reduplication of the right primary wing breeds true but with
varying degrees of penetrance, even to the point of everlapping with
wild-type. Wrinkled wings (primary and secondary) and drooping
62

series of experiments using the same technique and substituting bar-
bituric acid, chemically similar to the pyrimidines, for RNA in the
medium described previously, it was found that this substance, when
present in concentrations of 1 mg./ml. or 0.1 mg./ml. delayed pupa-
tion of wild type flies to 20 to 50 percent longer than flies grown on
the control medium with RNA. As with benzimidazole, vestigial flies
were inhibited to a lesstr degree than were wild flies, Barbituric acid
in a concentration of 1 mg./ml. produced a 20 percent increase in the
egg-pupa time of vestigial flies. This delay was partially overcome
by the addition of RNA 1 mg./m1. but not by the addition of adenine

1 mg./ml. Since the previous experiments had shown that adenine is
an almost complete substitute for RNA, the fact that RNA but not ad-
enine overcame the growth inhibition of barbituric acid suggests that
the latter inhibits because it is a structural analogue of the pyrimid-
ines and that the inhibition is reduced by the pyrimidines present in _
the RNA.

WALLBRUNN, HENRY M., University of Chicago, Chicago, III.:
Genetics of Betta splendens I. — The color of the Siamese fighting fish
is due to ‘pigments in melanophores, erythrophores, and xanthophores,
and to light refracted by crystals in guanophores. In my stock I have
found no xanthophores. Three colors of guanophores corresponding to
the two homozygous and heterozygous cases occur. I have named the
locus G; GGgiving steel-blue; gp, green; and the heterozygote, Gg,
blue. The_G locus determines the color produced by guanophores, but
their distribution is determined by at least two other loci. Locus a,
and locus_s determine the extent of guanophore distribution on the fins
and body, respectively. The aa fish have solid blue, steel-blue, or
green fins because of the great density of guanophores which overlie
the ever-present erythrophores and often-present melanophores. AA
fish have large, pure red fin areas with guanophores in restricted but
definite areas, Aa fish are either identical with or very similar to
AA. Exact determination has been impossible up to the present, be-
cause of complications due to the S gene which has a slight effect on
the fin guanophores as well as on the body. The s locus proved to be
more easily worked out in fish with no melanophores which are homo-,
zygous c; ssce fish have a sparse body covering of guanophores, SScc
have a much denser covering of guanophores and also an uneven
clumping of them so that some scales and spots in the fins are darker
than surrounding areas. Sscc fish have a more even color distribution
but approach SS more closely than ss,

 

 

WATSON, J. D., Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana: Inacti-
vating mutations produced by X-rays in bacteriophages, — Luria re-
ported in 1947 that reactivation by multiple infection, such as he
discovered for ultraviolet inactivated bacteriophages, could not be
detected after X-ray inactivation. In reinvestigating this problem, we
found that X-rays, besides inactivating phage, also suppress the ability
63

"of phage to infect bacteria, one “adsorption suppressing” hit occurring
on the average for every three inactivating hits. Because of this,
_reactivation is difficult to detect by the multiple-infection technique.
| We tested for it by infecting individual bacteria with one particle Tart
‘inactivated by X-rays and one particle T2r inactivated by ultraviolet.
_A significant proportion of these bacteria liberate a mixture of active
Tart and active T2r, which proves that X-rayed phage can participate
in genetic recombination and reactivation. Similar conclusion was
reached by infecting bacteria with one active particle T2rt and one
X-rayed particle T2r, Finally, reactivation was also detected by
‘mixed infection with one particle each of X-ray inactivated T2rt and
T2r. Quantitatively, we found that for equal numbers of inactivating
_hits, the contribution of an X-ray inactivated particle to reactivation
is lower than that of an ultraviolet inactivated one. The relative con-
tribution of X-ray and ultraviolet inactivated particles is constant in
all types of experiments listed above. This result is considered as
evidence that one X-ray hit produces on the average more lethal mu-
tations than one ultraviolet hit, thus giving the first experimental evi-
dence for an actual difference in the spatial domain within which the
genetic effects of one hit of each type can be exerted,

WHITING, P. W., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.:
Simultaneous (?) mutations in an inbred stock of Habrobracon. —In
December 1944 three changes were noted in a closely inbred stock
(sex alleles xa/xb) which had been under observation for over three
years and in which wild,type and orange eye color and the female-
sterile traits glass and sex-linked fused were being maintained. (1)
A minus modifier appeared changing fused to semifused, midway be+
tween wild type and fused in the male, weakly fertile in the female,
This modifier proves to be linked in the orange group. (2) There was
a sudden drop in fecundity of the females. Records of 40 with normal
life span showed nine sterile, 10 with less than 10 progeny each and
only 7 with over 30. After further breeding normal fecundity was re-
covered, (3) There was a marked increase in ratio of diploid males
to females, - 23:24 (95.8 percent relative viability) inone “large” fra-
ternity, Twelve small fraternities totalled 42:63 (66.7 percent). As
fecundity was recovered, the ratio of diploid males to females dropped,
40 fraternities showing 693:1735 (39.9 percent). Subsequent seléction
showed 15 with 239:412 (58.0 percent) and unselected material showed
41 with 219:674 (32.5 percent), Culture temperature tests with this
material proved inconclusive. At 29°C, 14 fraternities showed 90:235
(38.3 percent relative viability); at 22°C. 15 showed 84:20! (41.8 per-
cent); at 32°C. 14 showed 276:780 (35.4 percent). Counts within the
stock previous té the mutation had shown only 19:1292 (1.5 percent).

WHITTINGHILL, MAURICE, Department of Zoology, University of
North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N. C.: The effects of methyl-bis(b-chlo-
roethyl)jamine upon recombination values in Drosophila melanogaster. —