Shang Fa Yang (; November 10, 1932 – February 12, 2007) was a Taiwanese-American plant scientist and a professor at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

. He was awarded the

Wolf Prize in Agriculture The Wolf Prize in Agriculture is awarded annually by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Chemistry, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics and the Arts. The ...

and elected a member of the US

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 ...

Early life and education

Yang was born in 1932 in Taiwan. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in agricultural chemistry at the

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imperial University and served d ...

. He subsequently moved to the United States and completed his doctoral degree in plant biochemistry from

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

Career

After completing his PhD, he conducted postdoctoral research at the

, New York Medical School, and

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

. He joined the faculty

in 1966.

Yang was known for his research that unlocked the key to prolonging freshness in fruits and flowers. His research focused on how plants produce

ethylene Ethylene (IUPAC name: ethene) is a hydrocarbon which has the formula or . It is a colourless, flammable gas with a faint "sweet and musky" odour when pure. It is the simplest alkene (a hydrocarbon with carbon-carbon double bonds). Ethylene i ...

, which is important in regulating a host of plant functions, ranging from seed germination to fruit ripening. He studied the pathway of ethylene biosynthesis and proved unequivocally the central role of

methionine Methionine (symbol Met or M) () is an essential amino acid in humans. As the precursor of other amino acids such as cysteine and taurine, versatile compounds such as SAM-e, and the important antioxidant glutathione, methionine plays a critical ro ...

as a precursor of ethylene. He discovers that this process is cyclic and therefore receives the name "Yang Cycle". Ethylene represents one of the five major hormones affecting plant development and maturation. He was the first scientist to report S-adenosylmethionine as an intermediate in methionine conversion to ethylene. Then, in 1979, he discovered aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) as an intermediate. His discovery of ACC-synthase opened the way to the understanding of the regulating process of ethylene biosynthesis. Yang died on February 12, 2007 in a Davis hospital from complications of pneumonia.

Awards and honours

Yang received several awards and honours for his research. In 1990, he was inducted into the U.S.

. In 1991, he was awarded the

"for his remarkable contributions to the understanding of the mechanism of biosynthesis, mode of action and applications of the plant hormone, Ethylene." In 1992, he was awarded the American Society of Horticultural Science Outstanding Research Award. Yang has been recognized as a Pioneer Member of the

American Society of Plant Biologists American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Notes

References

IN MEMORIAM - Shang Fa Yang

Plant Scientist Shang Fa Yang Dies

External Links

Kent J. Bradford, "Shang Fa Yang", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2008)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Shang Fa 1932 births 2007 deaths Taiwanese emigrants to the United States National Taiwan University alumni University of California, Davis faculty Utah State University alumni Members of Academia Sinica Wolf Prize in Agriculture laureates Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Taiwanese biologists American biologists Scientists from Tainan 20th-century biologists