Howard Martin Temin

Temin, Howard Martin 

Born Dec. 10, 1934, in Philadelphia. American virologist. Member of the National Academy of Sciences; fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Temin graduated from Swarthmore College in 1955 and received a Ph.D. in 1959 from the California Institute of Technology. Since 1969 he has been a professor of oncology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Temin’s chief works deal with RNA-containing oncogenic viruses. He advanced the theory of the provirus, which presupposes the transfer of genetic information from RNA to DNA. According to the central tenet of molecular biology, which states that genetic information is transferred in only one direction (DNA → RNA → protein), Temin’s theory is untenable. In 1970, Temin discovered that an ingredient of oncogenic viruses is the enzyme revertase, which ensures reverse transcription; a similar discovery was made independently and simultaneously by the American microbiologist D. Baltimore. Temin thus established that the inclusion of viral genomes in the cell genotype is a universal mechanism of the interaction of oncogenic viruses—both RNA- and DNA-containing—with the cell; this phenomenon causes normal cells to become cancer cells. Temin was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine in 1975 together with D. Baltimore and R. Dulbecco.

WORKS

“RNK napravliaet sintez DNK.” Priroda, 1975, no. 9.
“RNA-dependent DNA Polymerase in Virions of Rous Sarcoma Virus.” Nature, 1970, vol. 226. (With S. Mizutani.)
“Cellular and Molecular Biology of RNA Tumor Viruses, Especially Avian Leukosis-Sarcoma Virus, and Their Relatives.” Advancesin Cancer Research, 1974, vol. 19.

A. F. SITO