Charles 'Charley' M. Steinberg (1932 September 17, 1999) was an immunobiologist and permanent member of the Basel Institute for Immunology. He was a former student of

Max Delbrück Max Ludwig Henning Delbrück (; September 4, 1906 – March 9, 1981) was a German–American biophysicist who participated in launching the molecular biology research program in the late 1930s. He stimulated physical science, physical scientist ...

. Notably he hosted

Richard Feynman Richard Phillips Feynman (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of t ...

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...

when Feynman studied

molecular biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

, leading Feynman to remark that Charlie was “...the smartest guy I know”. He was instrumental in the discovery of

V(D)J recombination V(D)J recombination (variable–diversity–joining rearrangement) is the mechanism of somatic recombination that occurs only in developing lymphocytes during the early stages of T and B cell maturation. It results in the highly diverse repertoire ...

, bacteriophage genetics as part of the phage group and co-discoverer of the amber mutant of the

T4 bacteriophage Escherichia virus T4 is a species of bacteriophages that infect ''Escherichia coli'' bacteria. It is a double-stranded DNA virus in the subfamily '' Tevenvirinae'' of the family '' Straboviridae''. T4 is capable of undergoing only a lytic li ...

that led to the recognition of stop codons. The amber mutants discovered by Charles Steinberg in collaboration with Richard H. Epstein provided a unique opportunity to study the function of virtually all the

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

s 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.Edgar B. The genome of bacteriophage T4: an archeological dig. Genetics. 2004 Oct;168(2):575-82. Review. No abstract available. 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

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

s employed in

DNA replication In molecular biology, DNA replication is the biological process of producing two identical replicas of DNA from one original DNA molecule. DNA replication occurs in all life, living organisms, acting as the most essential part of heredity, biolog ...

DNA repair DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell (biology), cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. A weakened capacity for DNA repair is a risk factor for the development of cancer. DNA is cons ...

genetic recombination Genetic recombination (also known as genetic reshuffling) is the exchange of genetic material between different organisms which leads to production of offspring with combinations of traits that differ from those found in either parent. In eukaryot ...

and the assembly of

virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are ...

es from their molecular components.

References

1932 births 1999 deaths American immunologists 20th-century American biologists Place of birth missing {{US-biologist-stub

See also

References