Norman Henry Giles (August 6, 1915 – October 16, 2006) was an American microbial geneticist who studied mutations of '' Neurospora crassa''. Norman H. Giles was a pioneer in

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

research. He was a member of the Botany Department at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

starting as an Instructor in Botany and rising to Professor of Biology (1951-1961). He then became Professor of Genetics (1961-1972). In 1972 Giles accepted a professorship at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

where he established an active program in genetics that in 1980 became the Department of Genetics. He retired in 1986. Giles made important scientific contributions in the areas of intragenic complementation,

gene conversion Gene conversion is the process by which one DNA sequence replaces a homologous sequence such that the sequences become identical after the conversion event. Gene conversion can be either allelic, meaning that one allele of the same gene replaces a ...

and analysis of gene clusters. His early work on intragenic complementation led to the insight that complementation between

allelic An allele (, ; ; modern formation from Greek ἄλλος ''állos'', "other") is a variation of the same sequence of nucleotides at the same place on a long DNA molecule, as described in leading textbooks on genetics and evolution. ::"The chro ...

mutant In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It ...

s is of widespread occurrence and likely involves interactions occurring in the

cytoplasm In cell biology, the cytoplasm is all of the material within a eukaryotic cell, enclosed by the cell membrane, except for the cell nucleus. The material inside the nucleus and contained within the nuclear membrane is termed the nucleoplasm. The ...

between defective gene products, that is between polypeptides. This early insight led to numerous further studies of intragenic complementation that amplified this initial insight (see for exampleCRICK FH, ORGEL LE. THE THEORY OF INTER-ALLELIC COMPLEMENTATION. J Mol Biol. 1964 Jan;8:161-5. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(64)80156-x. PMID: 14149958).

Notable papers

* 1940: "The effects of fast neutrons on the chromosomes of Tradescantia". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 26:567-575. * 1948: With E. Z. Lederberg, "Induced reversions of biochemical mutants in Neurospora crassa". Am. J. Bot. 35:150-157. * 1950: With H. P. Riley, "Studies on the mechanism of oxygen effect on the radiosensitivity of Tradescantia chromosomes". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 36:337-344. * 1950: With A. V. Beatty, "The effect of x-irradiation in oxygen and in hydrogen at normal and positive pressures on chromosome aberration frequency in Tradescantia microspores". Science 112:643-645. * 1951: "Studies on the mechanism of reversion in biochemical mutants of Neurospora crassa". Cold Spring Harb. Sym. 16:283-313. * 1956: "Forward and back mutation at specific loci in Neurospora". Brookhaven Sym. Biol. 8:103-125. * 1957: With C. W. H. Partridge and N. J. Nelson, "The genetic control of adenylosuccinase in Neurospora crassa". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 43:305-317. * 1957: With E. H. Y. Chu, "A study of primate chromosome complements". Am. Nat. 91:273-282. * 1958: With M. E. Case, "Evidence from tetrad analyses for both normal and aberrant recombination between allelic mutants in Neurospora crassa". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 44:378-390.

Footnotes

References

* Biographical Memoirs: V. 91, the National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2009, pp. 136–151. (also available at http://www.genetics.uga.edu/pdf/giles_NAS_obit.pdf ) American geneticists 1915 births 2006 deaths Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Harvard University alumni Emory University alumni American microbiologists Yale University faculty University of Georgia faculty {{US-scientist-stub