Edward Lawrie Tatum (redirected from Ed Tatum)

Tatum, Edward Lawrie 

Born Dec. 14, 1909, in Boulder, Colo. American biochemist and geneticist. Member of the National Academy of Sciences (1952).

Tatum graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1931 and received a doctorate in biochemistry in 1934. He was on the faculty at Stanford University in the years 1937–45 and 1948–56 and at Yale University in the period 1945–48, becoming a professor at Yale in 1946. In 1957 he was appointed a professor at Rockefeller University.

Working with G. Beadle in 1941, Tatum discovered that in fungi of the genus Neurospora, genetic mutation causes the strain to lose its ability to synthesize any amino acid necessary for growth or any vitamin or other growth factor (auxotrophic mutant); in 1945 he discovered the same property in bacteria. In collaboration with J. Lederberg in 1947, Tatum discovered the phenomenon of genetic recombination in bacteria. Together with Beadle, Tatum developed the concept of “one gene-one enzyme,” an idea of fundamental importance to molecular genetics. In 1958 he shared a Nobel Prize with Beadle and Lederberg.

WORKS

“Genetic Control of Biochemical Reactions in Neurospora.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1941, vol. 27. (With G.W. Beadle.)
In Russian translation:
“Istoriia odnogo biologicheskogo issledovaniia.” In I. Gershkovich, Genetika, Moscow, 1968.

IA. A. PARNéS