Remembering fungal genetics legends

The passing of two members of the fungal genetics community has saddened many of us but also brought smiles in remembering all the wonderful things they brought to the community. So sending this out to ask you to take some time to remember Rowland Davis  and Hans Van Etten who have passed away in the past month. Rowland Davis, an eminent figure in the fungal genetics community, died on 18 July at his home in California. Rowland was 81 years old. He made many contributions to the community as a researcher, as an editor and reviewer, as a mentor, and as a valuable source of wise counsel, always delivered with intellect and humor. As a graduate student at Harvard University he developed an interest in microbial genetics and began to work with Neurospora. As a postdoc at Caltech with Herschel Mitchell he started his lifelong involvement in biochemical genetics. His early years as a Professor were at the University of Michigan (1960-1975). He subsequently moved to the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the University of California, Irvine and became Emeritus in 2005. Rowland’s graduate research focused on heterokaryosis. As a young assistant professor he began to investigate the pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway, discovering that the pyr-3 gene encoded two catalytic activities – one of the first examples of “one gene, two enzymes.” He then went on to show that carbamyl phosphate, required for two different metabolic pathways, was synthesiz...
Source: Fungal Genomes and Comparative Genomics - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Tags: news Hans Van Etten Rowland Davis Source Type: blogs