Paul Lindner (1861 – 1945) was a German chemist and microbiologist, best known for discovering the fission yeast ''

Schizosaccharomyces pombe ''Schizosaccharomyces pombe'', also called "fission yeast", is a species of yeast used in traditional brewing and as a model organism in molecular and cell biology. It is a unicellular eukaryote, whose cells are rod-shaped. Cells typically measur ...

''.

Biography and career

Lindner was born in 1861 in Giesmannsdorf near the Neisse River, part of

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located ...

. He was a chemist, biologist, and microbiologist. While conducting research, he served as a professor at the

Agricultural University of Berlin The Agricultural University of Berlin (german: Landwirtschaftliche Hochschule Berlin) was an agricultural university in Berlin, Germany. Established in 1881, it was closed in 1934, and incorporated as a faculty into the Humboldt University of Ber ...

's Institute of Fermentation and Starch Production. In 1893, Lindner discovered the ''

'' (''S. pombe'') species of yeast by isolating it from samples of Bantu beer, a type of East African

millet beer Millet beer, also known as Bantu beer, malwa, pombe "Tchouk" or opaque beer, is an alcoholic beverage made from malted millet that is common throughout Africa. Its production process varies across regions and in the southern parts of Africa ...

. The beer had been sent to Germany in 1890 by Major

Hermann von Wissmann Hermann von Wissmann may refer to: * Hermann Wissmann (1853–1905), German explorer and administrator in Africa ** ''Hermann von Wissmann'' (steamship), a German steamer ** Hermann von Wissmann (ship, 1940), became in 1950 the Belgian Kamina * He ...

, and upon arrival, it was prepared as a pure culture (only the one strain being present). Lindner named the strain after the Swahili word for beer, "pombe". The original isolate strain Lindner identified in 1893 was

homothallic Homothallic refers to the possession, within a single organism, of the resources to reproduce sexually; i.e., having male and female reproductive structures on the same thallus. The opposite sexual functions are performed by different cells of a si ...

, and it consisted of both + and – mating type cells. This strain featured cells that could undergo pair-wise mating to create asci with four

ascospore An ascus (; ) is the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi. Each ascus usually contains eight ascospores (or octad), produced by meiosis followed, in most species, by a mitotic cell division. However, asci in some genera or ...

s (asci is the plural word for an ascus, the sexual spore-bearing cell produced in ascomycete fungi). Lindner's first published description of ''S. pombe'' was titled "Schizosaccharomyces pombe sp. nov., a New Ferment." Released in 1893, in the tenth volume of the German brewery weekly ''Wochenschrift für Brauerei'', the article described Lindner's lab's methods, results, and observations. It focused on the work of one of Lindner's employees, Ziedler, and how he purified a pure form of the yeast by using acidified beer

wort Wort () is the liquid extracted from the mashing process during the brewing of beer or whisky. Wort contains the sugars, the most important being maltose and maltotriose, that will be fermented by the brewing yeast to produce alcohol. Wort ...

. Lindner described ''S. pombe'' as "thoroughly peculiar" and called it a "fission yeast" due to its lack of asexual reproduction through

budding Budding or blastogenesis is a type of asexual reproduction in which a new organism develops from an outgrowth or bud due to cell division at one particular site. For example, the small bulb-like projection coming out from the yeast cell is know ...

. Lindner's report also included a drawing of their observations with a microscope. The text of the original article was later translated from German into English by translator Ted Crump. In 1907, Lindner discovered ''

Endomyces fibuliger ''Endomyces'' is a genus of fungi in the family Dipodascaceae The Dipodascaceae are a family of yeasts in the order Saccharomycetales. According to the 2007 Outline of Ascomycota, the family contains four genera; however, the placement of ''Spo ...

,'' a filamentous and ascopore-forming yeast that he observed to generate

septate In biology, a septum (Latin for ''something that encloses''; plural septa) is a wall, dividing a cavity or structure into smaller ones. A cavity or structure divided in this way may be referred to as septate. Examples Human anatomy * Interatr ...

hyphae A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one or ...

(hyphae that possess a septa that divides their cells) with many branches in addition to undergoing budding. He died on 4 January 1945, in Donaueschingen.

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lindner, Paul German microbiologists 1861 births 1944 deaths