Lucien Claude Marie Julien Cuénot (; 21 October 1866 – 7 January 1951) was a French biologist. In the first half of the 20th century,
Mendelism
Mendelian inheritance (also known as Mendelism) is a type of biological inheritance following the principles originally proposed by Gregor Mendel in 1865 and 1866, re-discovered in 1900 by Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns, and later popularize ...
was not a popular subject among French biologists. Cuénot defied popular opinion and shirked the “pseudo-sciences” as he called them. Upon the rediscovery of Mendel's work by
Correns,
De Vries
De Vries is one of the most common Dutch surnames. It indicates a geographical origin: "Vriesland" is an old spelling of the Dutch province of Friesland (Frisia). Hence, "de Vries" means "the Frisian". The name has been modified to "DeVries", "deV ...
, and
Tschermak, Cuénot proved that Mendelism applied to animals as well as plants.
Cuénot's experiments
Cuénot spent two years working on mice and came to the conclusion that three “mnemons” (genes) are responsible for the production of one “chromogen” or
pigment and two “distases”
enzymes
Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. ...
. The pigment (if present) is acted upon by the enzymes to produce black or yellow colour. If no pigment is present the result is an
albino
Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albino.
Varied use and interpretation of the term ...
mouse. Cuénot studied the offspring of various crosses between mice and concluded that these “mnemons” or
genes were inherited in a Mendelian fashion.
Subsequently, Cuénot was the first person to describe
multiple allelism at a genetic
locus
Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to:
Entertainment
* Locus (comics), a Marvel Comics mutant villainess, a member of the Mutant Liberation Front
* ''Locus'' (magazine), science fiction and fantasy magazine
** ''Locus Award' ...
.
He also described a lethal
mutation in the mouse agouti locus at a time when such a mutation was unheard of.
Recognition
There is some argument over the degree of recognition of Cuénot's pioneering work in his own day, and up until the present.
Some scientists who were famous in Cuénot's day such as
William Bateson
William Bateson (8 August 1861 – 8 February 1926) was an English biologist who was the first person to use the term genetics to describe the study of heredity, and the chief populariser of the ideas of Gregor Mendel following their rediscover ...
, the man credited the "one gene one enzyme" hypothesis never recognized Cuénot's discovery that certain traits arose due to the presence or absence of an enzyme. Bateson did receive a letter from
Charles Chamberlain Hurst in which he was urged to "read and digest the new Cuénot", work which explained some results in the field of mouse genetics, results which had been confusing for Bateson.
Other scientists who were well known in Cuénot's own day and still into the present day, such as
Clarence Little
Clarence Cook Little (October 6, 1888 – December 22, 1971) was an American genetics, cancer, and tobacco researcher and academic administrator, as well as a eugenicist.
Early life
C. C. Little was born in Brookline, Massachusetts and atte ...
and
Sewall Wright, and
William E. Castle did credit Cuénot with pioneering work in genetics.
For example,
Clarence Little
Clarence Cook Little (October 6, 1888 – December 22, 1971) was an American genetics, cancer, and tobacco researcher and academic administrator, as well as a eugenicist.
Early life
C. C. Little was born in Brookline, Massachusetts and atte ...
and
William E. Castle did credit Cuénot with the discovery of the first lethal mutation.
The mouse geneticist
Clarence Little
Clarence Cook Little (October 6, 1888 – December 22, 1971) was an American genetics, cancer, and tobacco researcher and academic administrator, as well as a eugenicist.
Early life
C. C. Little was born in Brookline, Massachusetts and atte ...
credited Cuénot with the idea and first evidence for
multiple allelism, and recognizing that the inheritance of white spotting in the mouse did not breed true.
The mouse and population geneticist
Sewall Wright credited Cuénot with the discovery of multiple alleles and the one-gene one-enzyme hypothesis.
When writing Cuénot's obituary in 1951,
Richard Goldschmidt
Richard Benedict Goldschmidt (April 12, 1878 – April 24, 1958) was a German-born American geneticist. He is considered the first to attempt to integrate genetics, development, and evolution. He pioneered understanding of reaction norms, gen ...
credits Cuénot with the gene controlling enzyme hypothesis:
John Cairns as recently as 2003 credited Lucien Cuénot with the one-gene one-enzyme hypothesis.
The entry on "
Albino
Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albino.
Varied use and interpretation of the term ...
" in the
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (11th, 1911) does fully appreciate Cuénot's work on the relationship between determinants (genes) and ferments (enzymes):
Cuénot's studies on mice were cut short when German troops invaded the town of
Nancy, where he kept his mouse colony. After the
First World War he never returned to his studies on mice and moved on to designing a theory of evolution, halfway between ''en vogue'' French
Lamarckism and
Darwinism.
Selected publications
*''L'Adaptation'' (1925)
*''Le Transformisme''
ith_Élie_Gagnebin,_Louis_Marius_Vialleton.html" ;"title="Louis_Marius_Vialleton.html" ;"title="ith Élie Gagnebin, Louis Marius Vialleton">ith Élie Gagnebin, Louis Marius Vialleton">Louis_Marius_Vialleton.html" ;"title="ith Élie Gagnebin, Louis Marius Vialleton">ith Élie Gagnebin, Louis Marius Vialleton(1927)
*''La Genèse des espèces animals'' (1932)
*''Variation et mutation en bactériologie'' (1932)
References
Further reading
*Denis Buican, "Mendelism in France and the Work of Lucien Cuénot", ''Scientia'', 1982, LXXVI, 117, 1-4, 129-137.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuenot, Lucien
1866 births
1951 deaths
French geneticists