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Chen Wenxin (23 September 1926 – 7 October 2021) was a Chinese biologist specializing in
soil microorganisms Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by restrict ...
and
bacterial taxonomy Bacterial taxonomy is subfield of taxonomy devoted to the classification of bacteria specimens into taxonomic ranks. Archaeal taxonomy are governed by the same rules. In the scientific classification established by Carl Linnaeus, each species is ...
, and an academician of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...
. Some English-language sources cite her as "Wen Xin Chen" or as "Wen-Xin Chen".


Biography

Chen was born in the town of Zhentou, Liuyang County,
Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...
, on 23 September 1926, to , a classmate of
Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...
at
Hunan First Normal University Hunan First Normal University (), founded in 1903, is a university located in Yuelu District, Changsha, Hunan Province, China. Hunan First Normal University covers a total area of 1346 mu, with more than 420,000 square meters of floor space. T ...
and revolutionary of the
Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
, and Mao Bingqin (). Her father was killed by
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...
in
Changsha Changsha is the capital of Hunan, China. It is the 15th most populous city in China with a population of 10,513,100, the Central China#Cities with urban area over one million in population, third-most populous city in Central China, and the ...
in February 1930 when she was only three. She had two elder sisters. In 1942, she attended National No. 11 High School (now Yueyang No. 1 High School) in
Yueyang Yueyang, formerly known as Yuezhou or Yochow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern shores of Dongting Lake and the Yangtze river in the northeastern corner of Hunan Province in the People's Republic of China. Yueyang has an administrative ...
. After graduating in 1945, she returned to her hometown to teach primary school for two years. In 1948, she enrolled at the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, National Wuhan University (now
Wuhan University Wuhan University (WHU; 武汉大学) is a key comprehensive public university in Wuhan, Hubei, China. It is directly affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Education of China. The un ...
), where she graduated in 1952. In 1954, she was sent to study at the Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy on government scholarships, earning her vice-doctorate degree under the supervision of soviet microbiologist in 1958. Her thesis topic was "Comparative Study on the Physiological Characteristics of Nitrogen-fixing Bacteria with and Without Spores." Chen returned to China in 1959 and taught at Beijing Agricultural University (now
China Agricultural University China Agricultural University (CAU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. The university is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China. It is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. The un ...
). From 1982 to 1983, she was a visiting scholar at
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
. She was elected to the
Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...
in 2001. On 7 October 2021, she died from an illness in
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
, aged 95.


Contributions

Chen established the first modern bacterial molecular classification laboratory in China. She put forward new ideas to deny the traditional concepts of "host specificity" of
rhizobia Rhizobia are diazotrophic bacteria that fix nitrogen after becoming established inside the root nodules of legumes (Fabaceae). To express genes for nitrogen fixation, rhizobia require a plant host; they cannot independently fix nitrogen. I ...
and "interracial race" with plants. She founded the world's largest
rhizobium ''Rhizobium'' is a genus of Gram-negative soil bacteria that fix nitrogen. ''Rhizobium'' species form an endosymbiotic nitrogen-fixing association with roots of (primarily) legumes and other flowering plants. The bacteria colonize plant ce ...
resource database in China, whose number of strains and host plant species ranked first in the world. She established a set of scientific Rhizobium classification, identification technical methods and data processing procedures. She proved the diversity of symbiotic relationship between rhizobia and
legume Legumes are plants in the pea family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consum ...
s, and revealed the great difference in symbiotic effectiveness between near source strains and different varieties of plants, she also put forward new ideas on the evolution of symbiotic mechanism of rhizobia, and found that mixed planting between gramineous plants and legumes can eliminate the obstacle of "nitrogen repression" of rhizobia, and the two interact to produce high yield.


Honours and awards

* 2001 State Natural Science Award (Second Class) for diversity, taxonomy and phylogeny of legume
rhizobia Rhizobia are diazotrophic bacteria that fix nitrogen after becoming established inside the root nodules of legumes (Fabaceae). To express genes for nitrogen fixation, rhizobia require a plant host; they cannot independently fix nitrogen. I ...
resources in China * 2001 Member of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...
The genus
Wenxinia ''Wenxinia'' is a genus of bacteria from the family of Rhodobacteraceae The Rhodobacteraceae are a family of Pseudomonadota in the order Rhodobacterales within the alpha subgroup.See the NCBIbr>webpage on Rhodobacteraceae Data extracted fr ...
was named in her honour.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Wenxin 1926 births 2021 deaths 20th-century Chinese scientists Academic staff of China Agricultural University Chinese women biologists Disease-related deaths in the People's Republic of China Members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering People from Liuyang Scientists from Hunan National Wuhan University alumni