Theodor Otto Diener

Theodor Otto Diener
Diener at the Agricultural Research Service
Born(1921-02-28)28 February 1921
Zurich, Switzerland
Died28 March 2023(2023-03-28) (aged 102)
Beltsville, Maryland, U.S.
Alma materSwiss Federal Institute of Technology (Dr. sc. ETH 1946)
Known forDiscovery of viroids
Spouses
  • Shirley Baumann
    ​
    (divorced)​
  • Sybil Fox
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1968; died 2012)​
Children3
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsPlant pathology
Institutions

Theodor Otto Diener (28 February 1921 – 28 March 2023) was a Swiss-American plant pathologist who discovered viroids in 1971,[1] recognized by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses as a new order of subviral agents. He discovered that the potato spindle tuber disease is not caused by a virus, unexpectedly, but a short strand of RNA without protein capsid, which he termed viroid. He received the Wolf Prize in Agriculture, the highest in the field.[2]

Biography

Diener was born in Zurich, Switzerland on 28 February 1921.[3][4] He served as aircraft mechanic for the Swiss Air Force in World War II[5] He attended ETH Zurich, from which he graduated with Dr. sc. ETH degree in 1946.[6] After graduation, he worked as research assistant at Swiss Federal Experiment Station for Viticulture and Horticulture in Wadenswil, Zurich,[6] where on the first day, he discovered the first occurrence of a rust fungus on a cherry tree (Puccinia cerasi on the leaves) in more than 100 years.[7]

In 1949, he emigrated to the United States, where, after a brief tenure at Rhode Island State College, he accepted a position as assistant plant pathologist at Washington State University's outlying Irrigation Experiment Station in Prosser, Washington,[6] where he showed that pipecolic acid (an unusual amino acid) accumulates only in peach leaves with X-disease phytoplasma symptoms[8] and that pipecolic acid causes X-disease phytoplasma symptoms.[9]

Diener was married to Shirley Baumann and had three sons before they divorced. Diener was then married to Sybil Fox from 1968 until her death in 2012.[10] Diener died at his home in Beltsville, Maryland on 28 March 2023 at the age of 102.[10]

Diener published 2 books on viroids, 120 peer-reviewed articles, 53 chapters in books, and lectured on viroids worldwide.

Viroid

In 1959, Diener joined the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service Pioneering Laboratory for Plant Virology at the Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Maryland,[6] where he investigated the cause of the potato spindle tuber disease. This led to the unexpected discovery of the causative agent, a small RNA molecule, eighty times smaller than the smallest known viruses, for which he proposed the term viroid.[11][12] Later, viroids were characterized as single stranded covalently closed circular RNA molecules occurring as highly base-paired rod-like structures.[13] Viroids, together with viroid-like satellite RNAs have been officially endorsed by the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses as a new order of subviral agents,[14] which, in its 2014 publication, and as of 2024, encompassed Pospiviroid, Hostuviroid, Cocadviroid, Apscaviroid, Coleviroid genera of the Pospiviroidae family and Avsunviroid, Pelamoviroid, Elaviroid genera of the Avsunviroidae family.[15]

In 1989, Diener hypothesized that the unique properties of viroids make them more plausible candidates as "living relics" of a hypothetical, precellular RNA world than are introns or other RNAs then considered as such.[16] In 2016, Diener reevaluated his hypothesis, both reviewers agreed that Diener's hypothesis was still valid, but alternative hypotheses positing a more recent origin of viroids from cellular RNAs should also be considered.[17]

Awards and honors

References

  1. ^ Washington Post obituary
  2. ^ Wolf Prize in Agriculture - 1987
  3. ^ Lebensdaten nach American Men and Women of Science, Thomson Gale 2004
  4. ^ Who's who in Frontiers of Science and Technology. Marquis Who's Who. 1985. ISBN 978-0-8379-5702-9.
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ a b c d Independent Academia
  7. ^ Diener, T.O. (1949) Ein Rostpilz auf Kirschenblättern. Schweriz. Zeitschr. f. Obst-und Weinbau. 58:228-230.
  8. ^ Diener, T.O., Dekker, C.A. (1954) Isolation and identification of L-pipecolic acid from Western-X-diseased peach leaves. Phytopathology: 44:643-645.
  9. ^ Diener, T.O., and Weaver, M.L. (1957) On the significance of proline and pipecolic acid accumulation in Western-X-diseased peach leaves. Phytopathology: 47:8 ISBN 978-1-47872253-3.
  10. ^ a b Langer, Emily (14 April 2023). "Theodor Diener, scientist who discovered the tiny viroid, dies at 102". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  11. ^ Diener TO (1971). "Potato spindle tuber "virus". IV. A replicating, low molecular weight RNA". Virology. 45 (2): 411–28. doi:10.1016/0042-6822(71)90342-4. PMID 5095900.
  12. ^ Diener TO (1972). "Potato spindle tuber viroid. 8. Correlation of infectivity with a UV-absorbing component and thermal denaturation properties of the RNA". Virology. 50 (2): 606–9. doi:10.1016/0042-6822(72)90412-6. PMID 4636118.
  13. ^ Sänger HL, Klotz G, Riesner D, Gross HJ, Kleinschmidt AK (1976). "Viroids are single-stranded covalently closed circular RNA molecules existing as highly base-paired rod-like structures". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 73 (11): 3852–6. Bibcode:1976PNAS...73.3852S. doi:10.1073/pnas.73.11.3852. PMC 431239. PMID 1069269.
  14. ^ King, A.M.Q., Adams. M.J., Carstens, E.B., Lefkovitz, E.J. et al. (2012) Virus Taxonomy . Elsevier Academic Press, PP. 1221-1259, TN: 949565
  15. ^ Di Serio F, Flores R, Verhoeven JT, Li SF, Pallás V, Randles JW, Sano T, Vidalakis G, Owens RA (2014). "Current status of viroid taxonomy". Archives of Virology. 159 (12): 3467–78. doi:10.1007/s00705-014-2200-6. hdl:10251/66438. PMID 25216773.
  16. ^ Diener TO (1989). "Circular RNAs: relics of precellular evolution?". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 86 (23): 9370–4. Bibcode:1989PNAS...86.9370D. doi:10.1073/pnas.86.23.9370. PMC 298497. PMID 2480600.
  17. ^ Diener TO (2016). "Viroids: "living fossils" of primordial RNAs?". Biology Direct. 11 (1): 15. doi:10.1186/s13062-016-0116-7. PMC 4807594. PMID 27016066.
  18. ^ Ruth Allen Award
  19. ^ National Academy of Sciences (U.S.) (1885). Report of the National Academy of Sciences. National Academies. pp. 57–. NAP:12071.
  20. ^ Wolf Prize in Agriculture - 1987
  21. ^ The President's National Medal of Science
  22. ^ E.C. Stakman Award
  23. ^ Agricultural Research Service
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.