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John Robert "Red" Raper (1911–1974) was an American
mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans, including as a source for tinder, traditional medicine, food, and entheogens, as w ...
who studied genetic control of sexuality in fungi, mating type compatibility, fungal genetics, and taught at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
among other places.


Biography

John Robert Raper was born October 3, 1911, to William Franklin and Julia Salina (Crouse) Raper on a tobacco farm in Davidson County, just outside
Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in ...
. He was the youngest of 8 children. He was called "Red" because of his hair color. His brother
Kenneth Kenneth is an English given name and surname. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and '' Cináed''. The modern Gaelic form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from ...
was also a mycologist. Beyond mycology and genetics, Red loved music and was an avid
trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...
player. He contributed to the
Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. Th ...
n community brass choirs around his childhood home and later to the
North Carolina Symphony The North Carolina Symphony (NCS) is an American orchestra based in Raleigh, North Carolina, with sixty-six full-time musicians. The orchestra performs in Meymandi Concert Hall and performs occasionally with the Carolina Ballet and the Opera Com ...
. He was noted for his talent as a photographer and artist, regularly illustrating his own and others scientific publications. Raper graduated in 1933 from the
University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sys ...
at Chapel Hill with an A.B. in Botany. In 1936 he got an M.A., his thesis done under supervision of
William Chambers Coker William Chambers Coker (October 24, 1872 – June 26, 1953) was an American botanist and mycologist. Biography He was born at Hartsville, South Carolina on October 24, 1872. He graduated from South Carolina College in 1894 and took postgradu ...
and John Nathaniel Couch, and titled "Heterothallism and sterility in '' Achlya'' and observations on the cytology of ''Achlya bisexualis''". In 1939 Raper got M.A. and a Ph.D. at Harvard University working with William H. Weston, then moved to the
California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
as a postdoc to work with A. J. Haagen-Smit. In 1936 Raper married Ruth Scholz. They had a son, William, and divorced in 1948. Later, he married Carlene Marie; they had two children, Jonathan and Linda Carlene. He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1974.


Scientific interests

Raper was a pioneer in the study of fungal sexual genetics. He studied mating systems in filamentous heterotrophs, beginning with the aquatic genus Achlya. Once thought to be fungi because of their filamentous growth form and nutritional habits, Achlya and other water molds are now known to belong to the Kingdom
Chromalveolata Chromalveolata was a eukaryote supergroup present in a major classification of 2005, then regarded as one of the six major groups within the eukaryotes. It was a refinement of the kingdom Chromista, first proposed by Thomas Cavalier-Smith in ...
. Red and Carlene (Cardy), later studied the genetic control of sexual reproduction in the gilled mushroom
Schizophyllum commune ''Schizophyllum commune'' is a species of fungus in the genus '' Schizophyllum''. The mushroom resembles undulating waves of tightly packed corals or loose Chinese fan. "Gillies" or "split gills" vary from creamy yellow to pale white in colour. T ...
. Red realized early on there were fungi that differed in aspects of compatibility and attributed these to what he called incompatibility factors A and B, further differentiating α and β in each. Some fungi have two mating types, termed bipolar, and others including some Red worked on, have thousands of mating types due to a more complicated mating type determination system. These two extreme strategies are thought to be involved with manipulating the chance of out versus self-crossing as evolutionary strategies. He and Cardy studied the events preceding
karyogamy Karyogamy is the final step in the process of fusing together two haploid eukaryotic cells, and refers specifically to the fusion of the two nuclei. Before karyogamy, each haploid cell has one complete copy of the organism's genome. In order for ...
, including the transition from monokaryotic to
dikaryotic The dikaryon is a nuclear feature which is unique to certain fungi. (The green alga '' Derbesia'' had been long considered an exception, until the heterokaryotic hypothesis was challenged by later studies.) Compatible cell-types can fuse cytoplasms ...
. Much of Red’s work has spawned many research questions about sex in fungi addressed more recently using model organisms like
Saccharomyces cerevisiae ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae'' () (brewer's yeast or baker's yeast) is a species of yeast (single-celled fungus microorganisms). The species has been instrumental in winemaking, baking, and brewing since ancient times. It is believed to have been o ...
,
Cryptococcus gattii ''Cryptococcus gattii'', formerly known as ''Cryptococcus neoformans'' var. ''gattii'', is an encapsulated yeast found primarily in tropical and subtropical climates. Its teleomorph is ''Filobasidiella bacillispora'', a filamentous fungus belong ...
, and
Candida albicans ''Candida albicans'' is an opportunistic pathogenic yeast that is a common member of the human gut flora. It can also survive outside the human body. It is detected in the gastrointestinal tract and mouth in 40–60% of healthy adults. It is usua ...
. His research laid the foundation for the current knowledge body about somatic and sexual compatibility in fungi. Through the influence of Red's work, it is now understood that mating-type identity is determined by regions of the genome called mating type or MAT loci. These loci contain protein-coding regions for
G protein-coupled receptors G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), also known as seven-(pass)-transmembrane domain receptors, 7TM receptors, heptahelical receptors, serpentine receptors, and G protein-linked receptors (GPLR), form a large group of evolutionarily-related p ...
that sense ligands with varying specificity and signal through
Mitogen-activated protein kinase A mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK or MAP kinase) is a type of protein kinase that is specific to the amino acids serine and threonine (i.e., a serine/threonine-specific protein kinase). MAPKs are involved in directing cellular responses ...
cascades, as well as peptide
pheromones A pheromone () is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting like hormones outside the body of the secreting individual, to affect the behavi ...
and
transcription factors In molecular biology, a transcription factor (TF) (or sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a protein that controls the rate of transcription of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, by binding to a specific DNA sequence. The f ...
involved in mate sensation, selection and reproduction.


Scientific history

Raper's interests in fungi began as an undergraduate. He was heavily influenced by his interactions as a Masters student working with mycologist John Crouch at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which r ...
. He then undertook graduate studies with William ‘Cap’ Weston at Harvard, resulting in his PhD in 1939. After Harvard Red left to study plant biology with John Bonner at the
California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
. The collaboration didn’t work out and he ended up studying what he called ‘hormone A’ from Achlya with Dr. A. J. Haagen-Smit. His first brief professor appointment at
Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. * Indiana Univers ...
was interrupted by his call to the
Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
at
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research an ...
in Tennessee where he pioneered studies on the effects of Beta rays on rats. After working at Oak Ridge he took a position at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
where he resumed efforts to determine the numbers and distributions of mating types from globally distributed fungi. One focus of his work was
Schizophyllum commune ''Schizophyllum commune'' is a species of fungus in the genus '' Schizophyllum''. The mushroom resembles undulating waves of tightly packed corals or loose Chinese fan. "Gillies" or "split gills" vary from creamy yellow to pale white in colour. T ...
.Raper, Carlene A., and John R. Raper. "Mutations modifying sexual morphogenesis in Schizophyllum." Genetics 54.5 (1966): 1151. He returned to Harvard in 1954 where he chaired the Department of Biological Sciences and continued his research and mentorship of graduate students.


Awards & distinctions

*Secretary, 1939,
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...
*President, 1956,
Mycological Society of America The Mycological Society of America (MSA) is a learned society that serves as the professional organization of mycologists in the U.S. and Canada. It was founded in 1932. The Society's constitution states that "The purpose of the Society is to promo ...
*
Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
, 1960, Cologne, Germany *
Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...
, 1960, Cologne, Germany *Visiting Professor in Genetics, 1967,
Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public university, public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein ...
*Award of Merit, 1969,
Botanical Society of America The Botanical Society of America (BSA) represents professional and amateur botanists, researchers, educators and students in over 80 countries of the world. It functions as a United States nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership society. History The s ...
*Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences,
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
*Elected to the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...
, 1964


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raper, Red 1911 births 1974 deaths American mycologists Harvard University alumni Harvard University faculty Indiana University faculty Oak Ridge National Laboratory people People from Davidson County, North Carolina University of Chicago faculty University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni