Milton P. Gordon

Milton Paul Gordon (1930–July 5, 2005) was an American plant biologist who researched phytoremediation, the ability of plants to absorb and neutralize contaminants, and plant genetic engineering.

Early life and career

Milton Paul Gordon was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1930 to Eastern European immigrants. He had at least one sibling, Gladys. He attended the University of Minnesota and graduated summa cum laude with degrees in chemistry and mathematics. He received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Illinois at the age of 23.[1] Around 1957, Gordon published articles concerning organic chemistry at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center,[2][3] and he published papers on the tobacco mosaic virus working for the Virus Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.[4]

Academic career

In 1959, Gordon joined the University of Washington faculty.[1] Gordon published research with Eugene Nester on the ability of the bacterium agrobacterium tumefaciens to splice DNA into plant cells.[5] They found that A. tumefaciens could insert a growth hormone into plant cells.[6][7] This research contributed to the use of Agrobacterium to modify crops for insect resistance and nutrition.[7]

Gordon published work on phytoremediation, the use of plants to remove contaminants from the environment. In one paper, hybrid poplar trees could be used to remove the toxic chemicals tetrachloroethylene[8] and carbon tetrachloride[9] from the soil.

Gordon was elected to the American Society of Microbiology in 2000. He was an associate editor of the journal Biochemistry for over three decades.[1]

Later years and death

Gordon retired from the University of Washington as professor emeritus in 2003. Gordon died on July 5, 2005 at the age of 75, suffering with multiple system atrophy.[1] The International Phytotechnology Society named the Milton P. Gordon Award for Excellence in Phytoremediation in his honor.[10][11]

Personal life

Gordon was married to Elaine "Sunnie" Gordon. They met at the University of Illinois. Gordon's obituary notes three children, including Peter Gordon.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Skolnik, Sam (August 21, 2005). "Milton P. Gordon: UW professor was a pioneer in plant genetics". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved August 1, 2025.
  2. ^ Scholler, J.; Gordon, M.; Sternberg, S. S. (1956-10-01). "Studies with 5-Bromouracil in Rodents and Dogs". Experimental Biology and Medicine. 93 (1): 124–128. doi:10.3181/00379727-93-22684. ISSN 1535-3702. PMID 13370598.
  3. ^ Gordon, Milton Paul; Magrath, David I.; Brown, George Bosworth (1957-06-01). "The Identification of Phosphorylated Metabolites of 9-β-D-Ribofuranosylpurine1". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 79 (12): 3256–3257. Bibcode:1957JAChS..79.3256G. doi:10.1021/ja01569a070. ISSN 0002-7863.
  4. ^ Gordon, M.P.; Singer, B.; Fraenkel-Conrat, H. (April 1960). "The Terminal Phosphate Groups of Tobacco Mosaic Virus". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 235 (4): 1014–1018. doi:10.1016/S0021-9258(18)69471-2.
  5. ^ Chilton, Mary-Dell; Drummond, Martin H.; Merlo, Donald J.; Sciaky, Daniela; Montoya, Alice L.; Gordon, Milton P.; Nester, Eugene W. (June 1977). "Stable incorporation of plasmid DNA into higher plant cells: the molecular basis of crown gall tumorigenesis". Cell. 11 (2): 263–271. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(77)90043-5. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 890735. S2CID 7533482.
  6. ^ Akiyoshi, D. E.; Klee, H.; Amasino, R. M.; Nester, E. W.; Gordon, M. P. (October 1984). "T-DNA of Agrobacterium tumefaciens encodes an enzyme of cytokinin biosynthesis". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 81 (19): 5994–5998. Bibcode:1984PNAS...81.5994A. doi:10.1073/pnas.81.19.5994. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 391845. PMID 6091129.
  7. ^ a b "UW biochemistry prof Milton P. Gordon dies". Spokesman.com. Associated Press. 2005-08-28. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
  8. ^ Gordon, M.; Choe, N.; Duffy, J.; Ekuan, G.; Heilman, P.; Muiznieks, I.; Ruszaj, M.; Shurtleff, B. B.; Strand, S.; Wilmoth, J.; Newman, L. A. (August 1998). "Phytoremediation of trichloroethylene with hybrid poplars". Environmental Health Perspectives. 106 Suppl 4 (Suppl 4): 1001–1004. Bibcode:1998EnvHP.106S1001G. doi:10.1289/ehp.98106s41001. ISSN 0091-6765. PMC 1533336. PMID 9703485.
  9. ^ Wang, Xiaoping; Dossett, Michael P.; Gordon, Milton P.; Strand, Stuart E. (2004-11-01). "Fate of carbon tetrachloride during phytoremediation with poplar under controlled field conditions". Environmental Science & Technology. 38 (21): 5744–5749. Bibcode:2004EnST...38.5744W. doi:10.1021/es0499187. ISSN 0013-936X. PMID 15575295.
  10. ^ Technology, Missouri University of Science and (2019-09-27). "Joel Burken receives international lifetime achievement award". News and Events. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
  11. ^ York, University of. "York researcher wins international award". University of York. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.