Diter vonWettstein
College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences
A plant molecular biologist and geneticist, Diter vonWettstein's contributions are:
- The molecular-genetic analysis of chlorophyll synthesis and the discovery that plants unlike humans synthesize the universal precursor of porphyrins "5-aminolevulinic acid" from glutamic acid.
- Identification of the three proteins that are required for insertion of the magnesium into the chlorophyll molecule were another landmark of these studies.
- Clarification of the function of the special structure "called the synaptonemal complex" in chromosome pairing and chiasma formation during meiosis.This achievement was recognized by his election to the National Academy of Sciences.
Professor vonWettstein participated in the sequencing of the yeast genome and bred new strains of brewers yeast and malting barleys by metabolic engineering. This was possible by clarifying the concerned metabolic pathways and using relevant mutations to change them. The elite barley cultivar Radiant, released by the WSU Reearch Foundation, lacks the flower color-related compound proanthocyanidin in the grain and promises to substantially reduce beer production costs by eliminating the need for a clarification process. Professor
VonWettstein's newest work uses cloned genes inserted by genetic transformation into the barley genome. It aims at cost effective production of pharmaceuticals, fibers, livestock feed, and plastics by using solar energy instead of fossil fuel.
Biography
Diter vonWettstein holds the Robert Nilan Distinguished Professorship in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and the School of Molecular Biosciences. He earned Ph.D.s at the University of Tübingen, Germany, in biology/ biochemistry in 1953 and the University of Stockholm, Sweden, in genetics the same year. He earned a D.Sc. at the University of Stockholm, Sweden, in 1957 in genetics. Dr. vonWettstein has co-authored three publications in high impact journals (Proceeding of National Academy of Sciences, Plant Physiology, Biochemistry). In 2003, he presented the EMBO plenary lecture at the XIIth International Congress on Genes, Gene Families, and Isozymes to be held at the Free University in Berlin, Germany.
Awards and Honors
- 1981 Foreign Associate, National Academy of Sciences USA
- Member, Royal Danish Academy of Sciences
- Member, Royal Physiographic Society at Lund
- Member, European Molecular Biology Organization
- Member, Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher, Leopoldina
- Member, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
- Member, Academy of Technical Sciences, Copenhagen
- Member, Academia Europaea
- Associe du Académie Royale des Sciences de Belgique
- Corresponding Member, Austrian Academy of Sciences
- Corresponding Member, Nordrhein-Westf.Akademie der Wissenschaften
- Gregor Mendel Medal, Leopoldina
- Mothes Memorial Gold Medal, Leopoldina
- Dr. agro.h.c. Agricultural University, Copenhagen
Diter vonWettstein's work in plant genetics has been
internationally recognized for breakthroughs in
genetically modifying barley for brewing processes and
disease resistance.