Explaining the GENE-ius discovery of the “one gene - one enzyme” hypothesis

Genetic control of biochemical reactions in Neurospora. Beadle GW, Tatum EL. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1941 Nov 15;27(11):499-506. doi: 10.1073/pnas.27.11.499.
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What are genes? Whilst the answer may be obvious to you, it wasn’t so clear in the 20th century. Several important events that took place in this era shaped the world we live in today: the Spanish flu, World Wars, technological and genetic advances, just to name a few. One such genetic advance was George Beadle and Edward Tatum’s study on genes. These masterminds worked day and night to crack the code to genes. Even though their knowledge about the genome was very limited, they worked with what they had to uncover many mysteries. Beadle and Tatum might not have discovered every secret there is to the gene mystery, but their theories and findings have provided a strong foundation for many future scientists to base their studies on - one such theory being the “one gene-one enzyme” hypothesis. They were able to understand the concepts of mutations and growth in different conditions. A truly surprising finding was the fact that the irradiated Neurospora crassa spores could not grow in the minimal medium despite normally being a prototroph. Observing the bread mold growth in minimal conditions, helps understand the life cycle and the mechanisms of such fungi. Fungus as we all know, has a short life span but grows rapidly, understanding its mechanisms can help scientists and researchers get a general idea on how to prevent such growth. However, the major finding of their study lies in the fact that genes coded for proteins that were required for Neurospora to survive. In other words, a gene mutation caused the need for a single molecule. This was the biggest piece of evidence in their experiment that supported the “one gene- one enzyme” hypothesis.
As hard as it was for Beadle and Tatum to get a Nobel Prize for their findings, it was even harder to say Neurospora. Now, I could dump a whole bunch more scientific jargon on you, expecting you to understand everything, but where is the fun in that? Watch this GENE-ius video to make bread mold feel valued!
Creator: Sharol Antony
References:
Beadle GW, Tatum EL. Genetic control of biochemical reactions in Neurospora. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1941a;27(11):499-506.
Beadle GW, Tatum EL. Genetic control of developmental reactions in Neurospora. Am Nat. 1941b;75(757):107-116.
Horowitz NH, Bonner D, Mitchell HK, Tatum EL, Beadle GW. Genetic control of biochemical reactions in Neurospora. Am Nat. 1945;79(783):304-317.
Horowitz NH, Leupold U. Some recent studies bearing on the one gene one enzyme hypothesis. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1951:16:65-74.
Mirkes PE. Role of the carbon source in the activation of ribonucleic acid synthesis during the germination of Neurospora crassa conidia. Exp Mycol. 1977;1(4):271-279.
Sturtevant AH, Beadle GW. An introduction to genetics. Philadelphia: Saunders; 1939.
Tatum EL. X-ray induced mutant strains of Escherichia coli. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1945;31(8):215-219.
Turner GE, Weiss RL. Developmental expression of two forms of arginase in Neurospora crassa. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2006;1760(6):848-857.