James Frederick Bonner (September 1, 1910 – September 13, 1996) was an American

molecular biologist Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

, National Academies Press:James Frederick Bonner, By Frank B. Salisbury
/ref>
/ref> a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

, notable for discoveries in

plant biochemistry Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Closely related fields include plant morphology (structure of plants), plant ecology (interactions with the environment), phytochemistry (bio ...

. Bonner invented a better way to collect

natural rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

from trees.Los Angeles Times:James F. Bonner; Improved Citrus Harvesting Methods,September 21, 1996
/ref> As result of his invention Malaysia nearly doubled its production of natural rubber. Bonner was instrumental in the invention of a method of

mechanical harvesting Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

of oranges. One of his most notable discoveries was finding how histones control gene activity. Bonner was professor and professor emeritus of biology at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

Career

Bonner was born in

Ansley, Nebraska Ansley is a village in Custer County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 441 at the 2010 census. History Ansley got its start in the year 1886, following construction of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad through the territory. ...

in 1910. He graduated from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

in 1931 with B.A. degree in chemistry and mathematics. He received the Ph.D. in biology at

in 1934. Bonner spent the year after his PhD in Europe on a National Research Council fellowship at Utrecht, Leiden and ETH in Zurich. He was a postdoctoral fellow at California Institute of Technology after his return from Europe, then joined the faculty in 1936.

Plant Physiology

Early in his career, he invented a method for collecting rubber tree exudate (natural rubber) that greatly improved the efficiency of the process. He also invented a mechanical method for harvesting oranges. He studied the timing of processes in plants.

Histones

In the dawn of molecular biology in the 1960s, his interest turned to

gene expression Gene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product that enables it to produce end products, protein or non-coding RNA, and ultimately affect a phenotype, as the final effect. The ...

, in particular the regulation of production of

RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) are nucleic acids. Along with lipids, proteins, and carbohydra ...

from genes. Experiments in his laboratory in collaboration with his postdoctoral fellow Ru Chih C. HuangJames F. Bonner. (1994)"Chapters from my life" ''Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol'' 45:1-23. showed that

histone In biology, histones are highly basic proteins abundant in lysine and arginine residues that are found in eukaryotic cell nuclei. They act as spools around which DNA winds to create structural units called nucleosomes. Nucleosomes in turn are wr ...

, a protein associated with the genes, shuts off gene activity. If the histone fraction is extracted from isolated

chromatin Chromatin is a complex of DNA and protein found in eukaryotic cells. The primary function is to package long DNA molecules into more compact, denser structures. This prevents the strands from becoming tangled and also plays important roles in r ...

, more RNA is made whereas if histone is added back, the transcription of RNA is greatly decreased. In the course of these experiments, Huang and Bonner discovered DNA-dependent RNA polymerase, but Bonner noted in a biographical article that several other groups discovered the enzyme simultaneously. They decided to focus on regulation rather than simply RNA production. Bonner continued to work on histones, establishing methods reproducibly to isolate each type of histone, along with graduate student Douglas Fambrough. Eventually they purified individual histones from pea plants and from calf thymus and showed, in collaboration with Emil Smith at UCLA, that the amino acid compositions and sequences of the same type of histone (histone H4) isolated from these widely disparate organisms were virtually identical. Bonner wrote over 500 scientific papers on all aspects of plant physiology as well as 10 textbooks. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1950 in the field of Plant Biology, the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 1960, and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1966. James F. Bonner died on September 13, 1996.

References

External links

National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonner, James F. 1910 births 1996 deaths American biologists California Institute of Technology faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences University of Utah alumni California Institute of Technology alumni People from Custer County, Nebraska Plant physiologists American molecular biologists 20th-century American inventors 20th-century biologists Members of the American Philosophical Society