Paul Berg (1926–2023)

Paul Berg was the first researcher to incorporate the DNA of one species into the genetic material of another. In doing so, he invented one of the most powerful tools in modern biology and laid the foundation for a biotechnology industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars and designed cures for many human ailments. This alone would have been enough to establish Berg’s prominence — he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980 — but he also warned about the possible risks of “recombinant” research. He is also remembered for addressing the concerns of the public and leading the development of consensus on research. Responsible use of technology. He died on his February 15th at the age of 96.

Berg was raised and educated in New York City and attended Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn. This was the alma mater of another Nobel laureate. Biochemist Arthur Kornberg, who later became Berg’s longtime mentor. Berg’s undergraduate education in biochemistry at Pennsylvania State University in his Park was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II, during which he served in the US Navy. Unfortunately, his passionate desire to become a Navy pilot never materialized.

Berg studied biochemistry in 1948 at what is now Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He works with Kornberg. There, he attracted international attention by reporting the role of a novel intermediate molecule in fatty acid metabolism. After gaining a faculty position, he discovered transfer RNA. Escherichia colishowed that amino acids are activated prior to binding to transfer RNA for assembly into proteins.

Interview with Paul Berg

In 1959, Berg moved with Kornberg to Stanford University in California. Becoming interested in further exploring gene function, he spent his year on a sabbatical at the Salk Institute in San Diego, California, with virologist and cancer biologist Renato Dulbecco. This has led Berg to retool the Stanford lab to work with animal cells that host polyoma his viruses, such as the DNA virus SV40, which can cause cancer. He pursued techniques that allowed him to study viral gene expression in prokaryotes such as: Escherichia coliand prokaryotic gene expression in animal cells.

To do this, he devised a cumbersome and tricky strategy for generating DNA molecules containing DNA from multiple species: recombinant DNA. This involved using enzymes he cut open the circular genome of the SV40 virus and from his DNA in the bacterium he excised a fragment containing the three genes. Escherichia coli, The free ends of both molecules are then aligned and recombined as a single circle of DNA.

The idea was to use the modified SV40 as a viral vector to carry ‘foreign’ genetic material into animal cells.However, as soon as he started his experiments, the SV40 gene Escherichia coli and other common human gut bacteria may increase cancer risk in humans. Now requires a moratorium on all recombinant DNA research.

As rumors spread about what Berg was attempting, elaborate theoretical doom scenarios emerged, including the possibility of the accidental creation of Frankenstein-like monsters and even interference with the evolution of nature. Berg and his colleagues responded by hosting two conferences at his conference center in Asilomar, just south of San Francisco, California. The first letter, held in 1973, prompted Berg to distribute what became known as Berg Letters to several journals. Natureurging members of the scientific community to temporarily suspend experiments involving recombinant DNA. In 1975 the historic 2nd Congress was held Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of recombinant DNA technology.

Arthur Kornberg (1918–2007)

Conscious of the broader public interest, Berg and other organizers invited the press to the 1975 conference and encouraged them to ask questions, but requested that they not submit their reports until after the conference. Conference participants voluntarily agreed to suspend research pending the promulgation of guidelines for the safe use of the new technology. The National Institutes of Health first published his guidelines in 1976, and they have been updated regularly since then. As a result, the very real threat of a complete ban on recombinant DNA research is averted, opening the door to genome sequencing and editing, and expanding the reach of basic research, clinical medicine, drug discovery, and other biotechnologies. Countless advances in applications have become possible.

Berg has spent a great deal of time promoting the safe use of recombinant DNA technology and its development towards clinical applications. In 1980, with Kornberg and American geneticist Charles Yanofsky, he founded the DNAX Institute of Cellular and Molecular Biology in Palo Alto, California. He was also the founding director of Stanford University’s interdisciplinary Beckman Center for Molecular Genetics, which opened in 1985.

Berg is an extraordinary scientist, teacher, mentor and administrator, applying good old-fashioned common sense to controversial public policy issues such as the use of embryonic stem cells in biomedical research. Although he officially closed the institute at the turn of the 21st century, he continued to advise his departments and universities, and acted as a consultant to biotechnology companies. . Academia will miss this early giant of molecular biology and molecular genetics very much.

competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.