A Profile of Professor Akira Tsugita (1928‒2007)

抄録

This study searches to explore the contribution of Japanese scientist Akira Tsugita to the research in molecular biology and his determination to develop a career in Europe. In the mid twentieth century, together with Fraenkel-Conrat, and in line with Sangerʼs experiment on insulin, Tsugita determined the number of nucleotides per amino acid in the tobacco mosaic virus DNA, noting three amino acid differences. A triplet code was assumed. As a consequence, in 1961 Tsugita began his unusual Japanese‒European liaison with his attendance to the Fifth International Congress of Biochemistry in Moscow. By 1966, he defined the mechanism of frameshift mutations and the structure of the T4 phage genome working at Streisingerʼs laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor. This provided him with the opportunity of leaving for Cambridge, England, where he discussed the structure of T4 phage acridine dye mutants with Sydney Brenner. Tsugita moved to Europe, as a visiting Lecturer on leave of absence from the Osaka University at the University of Basel (1972‒78) at first, and then as part of the staff of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg (1978‒1985), to establish and promote standards in DNA sequencing.