Charles M. Steinberg

Charles M. Steinberg
Born	1932
Died	(1999-09-17)17 September 1999 (aged about 67)
Known for	Discovery of the amber-mutant of T4 bacteriophage
Scientific career
Fields	Immunobiology
Institutions	Basel Institute for Immunology

Charles 'Charley' M. Steinberg (1932 – September 17, 1999) was an immunobiologist and permanent member of the Basel Institute for Immunology.[1][2][3][4] He was a former student of Max Delbrück. Notably he hosted Richard Feynman at Caltech when Feynman studied molecular biology,[5] leading Feynman to remark that Charlie was “...the smartest guy I know”. He was instrumental in the discovery of V(D)J recombination,[6] bacteriophage genetics as part of the phage group and co-discoverer of the amber-mutant of the T4 bacteriophage[7][8] that led to the recognition of stop codons.

The amber mutants discovered by Charles Steinberg in collaboration with Richard Epstein provided a unique opportunity to study the function of virtually all the genes of phage T4 that are required for growth of the phage under laboratory conditions. The circumstances under which the amber mutants were discovered was described by Edgar in a retrospective article.[9] Soon after their discovery, the phage amber mutants, initially characterized by Steinberg and Epstein, were made available to many other investigators. These mutants were used to obtain important insights into fundamental aspects of biology. The amber mutants contributed to our understanding of the functions and interactions of the proteins employed in DNA replication, DNA repair, genetic recombination and the assembly of viruses from their molecular components.

See also

• Frank Stahl
• Suppressor mutation

References

1. von Borstel, Jack; Cairns, John (1999). "Charles M. Steinberg (1932–99)". Nature. 402 (6760): 368. doi:10.1038/46457. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 10586871.
2. Wu, Gillian E.; Lindahl, Kirsten Fischer (2001-03-01). "Memories of a Mentor: Charley Steinberg". Genetics. 157 (3): 927–932. doi:10.1093/genetics/157.3.927. ISSN 0016-6731. PMC 1461577. PMID 11238383.
3. Pasquier, Louis Du (2000-05-01). "Charley Steinberg 1932–1999". Immunogenetics. 51 (6): 395–397. doi:10.1007/s002510050637. ISSN 1432-1211. PMID 10896502. S2CID 19864341.
4. Lefkovits, I. (2017-11-23). History of the Basel Institute for Immunology: Compiled and narrated by Ivan Lefkovits. S. Karger AG. doi:10.1159/isbn.978-3-318-05935-9. ISBN 9783318059342.
5. Edgar, R. S.; Feynman, R. P.; Klein, S.; Lielausis, I.; Steinberg, C. M. (1962). "Mapping Experiments with R Mutants of Bacteriophage T4d". Genetics. 47 (2): 179–186. doi:10.1093/genetics/47.2.179. ISSN 0016-6731. PMC 1210321. PMID 13889186.
6. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1987". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2019-09-28.
7. Stahl, F. W. (1995-10-01). "The amber mutants of phage T4". Genetics. 141 (2): 439–442. doi:10.1093/genetics/141.2.439. ISSN 0016-6731. PMC 1206745. PMID 8647382.
8. "How nonsense mutations got their names". Archived from the original on 2023-03-07.
9. Edgar B. The genome of bacteriophage T4: an archeological dig. Genetics. 2004 Oct;168(2):575-82. Review. No abstract available. PMID 15514035