Lynn Dalgarno (born 12 November 1935) is an Australian geneticist known for the discovery of the
Shine–Dalgarno sequence
The Shine–Dalgarno (SD) sequence is, sometimes partially, part of a ribosomal binding site in bacterial and archaeal messenger RNA. It is generally located around 8 bases upstream of the start codon AUG. The RNA sequence helps recruit the ribos ...
with his graduate student,
John Shine
John Shine (born 3 July 1946) is an Australian biochemist and molecular biologist. Shine and Lynn Dalgarno discovered a nucleotide sequence, called the Shine–Dalgarno sequence, necessary for the initiation of protein synthesis. He directe ...
.
Early life and education
The son of Frederick Leslie Roy Dalgarno and Nadine Ilma (née Rankin) Dalgarno, Lynn Dalgarno was born at Berklea Private Hospital,
Caulfield, Victoria
Caulfield is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. C ...
on 13 November 1935.
Dalgarno was awarded a
B.Sc.(Agr.) in 1958, conducting research with
F. J. R. Hird at the Departments of Biochemistry and Agriculture,
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
, and a Ph.D. in 1962, from the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...
(ANU), with a dissertation titled, ''Respiratory metabolism and processes of uptake in a plant tissue'', with research advisor,
L. M. Birt at
The Russell Grimwade School of Biochemistry, University of Melbourne.
Career
In his early career (between 1963 and 1967) Dalgarno conducted research, first at the
Medical Research Council's
National Institute for Medical Research
The National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), was a medical research institute based in Mill Hill, on the outskirts of north London, England. It was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC);
In 2016, the NIMR became part of the new F ...
supported by a University of Melbourne Traveling Scholarship to London (with Edward M. Martin, collaborating with E. Horton, S. L. Liu, T. S. Work, and R. A. Cox);
second, with
François Gros
François Gros (; 24 April 1925 – 18 February 2022) was a French biologist and one of the pioneers of cellular biochemistry in France. His scientific career concerned genes and their role in regulating cellular functions.
Career
François Gro ...
at the
Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique
The Institut de biologie physico-chimique (IBPC) is a research center located in Paris, in the “Curie campus”, in the 5th arrondissement. Administratively it is a research federation (FR550) of the National Center for Scientific Research.
...
on an MRC-CNRS Exchange Scholarship;
and third, a postdoctoral fellowship assisted by a U.S. Public Health Research Grant at
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...
, with Robert L. Sinsheimer.
In 1968 Dalgarno accepted a post at ANU as a Senior Lecturer, and then as a Reader from 1983 until 1996, when he subsequently became a Research Fellow.
His graduate student John Shine said Dalgarno was "a fantastic, enthusiastic lecturer, who was turned on by this molecular biology."
Dalgarno and Shine found the
Shine–Dalgarno sequence
The Shine–Dalgarno (SD) sequence is, sometimes partially, part of a ribosomal binding site in bacterial and archaeal messenger RNA. It is generally located around 8 bases upstream of the start codon AUG. The RNA sequence helps recruit the ribos ...
,
described by ANU as "the beginnings of biotechnology":
One of Dalgarno's colleague wrote,
Selected publications
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References
Further reading
Interview with John Shine"DNA — a three-man ''scoop''"(''
The Double Helix
''The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA'' is an autobiographical account of the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA written by James D. Watson and published in 1968. It has earned both critical ...
'' reviewed by Lynn Dalgarno).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalgarno, Lynn
1935 births
Australian geneticists
Australian National University alumni
University of Melbourne alumni
Living people
20th-century Australian biologists
Academic staff of the Australian National University