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Charles David Allis

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Charles David Allis (March 22, 1951 – January 8, 2023) was an American molecular biologist, and the Joy and Jack Fishman Professor at the Rockefeller University. He was also the Head of the Laboratory of Chromatin Biology and Epigenetics, and a professor at the Tri-Institutional MD–PhD Program (the other two institutions being the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medicine).[4]

Charles David Allis
Born(1951-03-22)March 22, 1951[2]
Cincinnati, Ohio
DiedJanuary 8, 2023(2023-01-08) (aged 71)[2]
Seattle, Washington[3]
EducationUniversity of Cincinnati (BSc)
Indiana University (MSc, PhD)
Known forResearch of histone modifications
AwardsCanada Gairdner International Award
Japan Prize
Grand Prix Charles-Leopold Mayer
Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
Gruber Prize in Genetics
Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
Albany Medical Center Prize
Scientific career
FieldsEpigenetics
InstitutionsRockefeller University
University of Virginia
University of Rochester
Baylor College of Medicine
ThesisIsolation and characterization of pole cells and polar granules from embryos of Drosophila melanogaster (1978)
Doctoral advisorAnthony Mahowald[1]

Early life and education

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Allis was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. His father was a city planner and his mother an elementary school teacher.[5] He entered the University of Cincinnati in 1969, majoring in biology. He had his first experience of basic research in his senior (or fourth) year of Bachelor of Science. The experience attracted him to research, and he went to Indiana University Bloomington for graduate studies.[6] He graduated with an MSc in 1975 and a PhD three years later, under the supervision of Anthony Mahowald.[4][6]

Career

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Allis undertook a postdoctoral fellowship in the University of Rochester after obtaining his PhD.[6] In 1981, he joined the Baylor College of Medicine as an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Department of Cell Biology, and was promoted to associate professor in 1986 and full professor in 1989.[4] He joined the Department of Biology at Syracuse University College of Arts and Sciences in 1990.[7]

Allis returned to the University of Rochester in 1995, and became the Marie Curran Wilson and Joseph Chamberlain Wilson Professor of Biology two years later.[8] In 1998, Allis went to the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.[9] He joined the Rockefeller University in 2003 as the Joy and Jack Fishman Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Chromatin Biology and Epigenetics.[4]

Allis had been treated for cancer.[3] He died January 8, 2023, at a hospital in Seattle, Washington.[3]

Research

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Scholia has a profile for Charles David Allis (Q1064064).

Allis was known for his research of histone modifications and their relation to chromatin structure. He started working on Tetrahymena, a ciliated unicellular eukaryote. Tetrahymena is an ideal candidate to study histone acetylation due to its dual nucleus. It has a larger macronucleus that is transcriptionally active and somatic, and a smaller micronucleus that is transcriptionally silent and germline.[10] Chromatin biology at the time was not a popular topic; nor was the use of ciliated organisms.[6]

In 1996, his group isolated the histone acetyltransferase p55 from Tetrahymena, an enzyme that acetylates histones, and found the enzyme was homologous to Gcn5p, a known transcriptional co-activator in yeast.[11][12] This was the first time that histone acetyltransferases were connected to DNA transcription activation,[13] verifying Vincent Allfrey's hypothesis in the 1960s that histone acetylation regulates transcription.[14][15]

Following this seminal report, Allis continued studying histone acetylation, discovering more histone acetyltransferases, including TAF1 (part of the transcription factor TFIID needed to initiate transcription).[16] Allis also branched off to researching histone phosphorylation and histone methylation. He linked histone phosphorylation to mitosis and mitogen stimulation,[17][18] and established a synergistic relationship between histone phosphorylation and acetylation.[19] He also determined the role of methylation at lysine 9 of histone H3,[20] identified SET domain-containing proteins as histone methyltransferase,[21] and found that histone ubiquitylation regulates histone methylation.[22]

In 2000, Allis and Brian Strahl proposed the "histone code hypothesis", which states that DNA transcription is largely regulated by histone modifications.[23] Later, Allis (together with Thomas Jenuwein) explicitly associated the histone code with epigenetics,[24] and recognized the clinical significance of histone modifications, especially in cancers.[25][26]

In more recent years, his attention turned to "oncohistones", which are histones with mutations that distort normal histone modifications, leading to cancers.[27][28]

Honors and awards

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Allis was a member of Phi Beta Kappa when he graduated from the University of Cincinnati.[8]

The C. David Allis Mentorship Fund for Young Scientists at the Rockefeller University was established in his honor.[46][47]

References

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  1. ^ "Alum C. David Allis wins 2018 Lasker Award". Department of Biology, Indiana University Bloomington. September 11, 2018. Archived from the original on February 1, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Charles David Allis ("Dave")". The Cincinnati Enquirer. January 14, 2023. Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Murphy, Brian (January 21, 2023). "David Allis, researcher who explored 'on-off' switch in genes, dies at 71". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 23, 2023. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d "C. David Allis, Ph.D. (1951-2023)". Rockefeller University. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  5. ^ "C. David Allis". Gruber Foundation. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d Downey, Philip (2006). "Profile of C. David Allis". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (17): 6425–6427. Bibcode:2006PNAS..103.6425D. doi:10.1073/pnas.0602256103. PMC 1458902. PMID 16618930.
  7. ^ Scalese, Sarah (February 4, 2014). "Former SU professor named Japan Prize Laureate". Syracuse University. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  8. ^ a b "C. David Allis Named Wilson Professor of Biology". University of Rochester. July 25, 1997. Archived from the original on October 16, 2019. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
  9. ^ "A Tribute to C. David Allis, PhD — Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics from 1998-2003". University of Virginia School of Medicine. January 24, 2023. Archived from the original on February 11, 2023. Retrieved February 11, 2023.
  10. ^ Goldfarb, David S.; Gorovsky, Martin A. (2009). "Nuclear Dimorphism: Two Peas in a Pod" (PDF). Current Biology. 19 (11): R449–R452. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2009.04.023. PMID 19515351. S2CID 9841779. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 14, 2023. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  11. ^ "2014 Japan Prize Achievement - "Life Science" field" (PDF). Japan Prize. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 15, 2023. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
  12. ^ Brownell, James E.; Zhou, Jianxin; Ranalli, Tamara; Kobayashi, Ryuji; Edmondson, Diane G.; Roth, Sharon Y.; Allis, C. David (1996). "Tetrahymena Histone Acetyltransferase A: A Homolog to Yeast Gcn5p Linking Histone Acetylation to Gene Activation". Cell. 84 (6): 843–851. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(00)81063-6. PMID 8601308.
  13. ^ Allis, C. David (2015). ""Modifying" My Career toward Chromatin Biology". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 290 (26): 15904–15908. doi:10.1074/jbc.X115.663229. PMC 4481195. PMID 25944906.
  14. ^ Allfrey, V. G.; Faulkner, R.; Mirsky, A. E. (1964). "Acetylation and methylation of histones and their possible role in the regulation of rna synthesis". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 51 (5): 786–794. Bibcode:1964PNAS...51..786A. doi:10.1073/pnas.51.5.786. PMC 300163. PMID 14172992.
  15. ^ Allis, C. David (2018). "Pursuing the Secrets of Histone Proteins: An Amazing Journey with a Remarkable Supporting Cast". Cell. 175 (1): 18–21. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2018.08.022. PMID 30217363.
  16. ^ Mizzen, Craig A.; Yang, Xiang-Jiao; Kokubo, Tetsuro; Brownell, James E.; Bannister, Andrew J.; Owen-Hughes, Tom; Workman, Jerry; Wang, Lian; Berger, Shelley L.; Kouzarides, Tony; Nakatani, Yoshihiro; Allis, C. David (1996). "The TAFII250 Subunit of TFIID Has Histone Acetyltransferase Activity" (PDF). Cell. 87 (7): 1261–1270. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(00)81821-8. PMID 8980232. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2019. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  17. ^ Hendzel, Michael J.; Wei, Yi; Mancini, Michael A.; Van Hooser, Aaron; Ranalli, Tamara; Brinkley, B. R.; Bazett-Jones, David P.; Allis, C. David (1997). "Mitosis-specific phosphorylation of histone H3 initiates primarily within pericentromeric heterochromatin during G2 and spreads in an ordered fashion coincident with mitotic chromosome condensation". Chromosoma. 106 (6): 348–360. doi:10.1007/s004120050256. PMID 9362543. S2CID 29723188. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  18. ^ Hsu, Jer-Yuan; Sun, Zu-Wen; Li, Xiumin; Reuben, Melanie; Tatchell, Kelly; Bishop, Douglas K.; Grushcow, Jeremy M.; Brame, Cynthia J.; Caldwell, Jennifer A.; Hunt, Donald F.; Lin, Rueyling; Smith, M. Mitchell; Allis, C. David (2000). "Mitotic Phosphorylation of Histone H3 Is Governed by Ipl1/aurora Kinase and Glc7/PP1 Phosphatase in Budding Yeast and Nematodes". Cell. 102 (3): 279–291. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(00)00034-9. PMID 10975519.
  19. ^ Cheung, Peter; Tanner, Kirk G.; Cheung, Wang L.; Sassone-Corsi, Paolo; Denu, John M.; Allis, C. David (2000). "Synergistic Coupling of Histone H3 Phosphorylation and Acetylation in Response to Epidermal Growth Factor Stimulation". Molecular Cell. 5 (6): 905–915. doi:10.1016/s1097-2765(00)80256-7. PMID 10911985.
  20. ^ Rice, Judd C.; Briggs, Scott D.; Ueberheide, Beatrix; Barber, Cynthia M.; Shabanowitz, Jeffrey; Hunt, Donald F.; Shinkai, Yoichi; Allis, C. David (2003). "Histone Methyltransferases Direct Different Degrees of Methylation to Define Distinct Chromatin Domains". Molecular Cell. 12 (6): 1591–1598. doi:10.1016/s1097-2765(03)00479-9. PMID 14690610.
  21. ^ Strahl, Brian D.; Grant, Patrick A.; Briggs, Scott D.; Sun, Zu-Wen; Bone, James R.; Caldwell, Jennifer A.; Mollah, Sahana; Cook, Richard G.; Shabanowitz, Jeffrey; Hunt, Donald F.; Allis, C. David (2002). "Set2 Is a Nucleosomal Histone H3-Selective Methyltransferase That Mediates Transcriptional Repression". Molecular and Cellular Biology. 22 (5): 1298–1306. doi:10.1128/MCB.22.5.1298-1306.2002. PMC 134702. PMID 11839797.
  22. ^ Sun, Zu-Wen; Allis, C. David (2002). "Ubiquitination of histone H2B regulates H3 methylation and gene silencing in yeast". Nature. 418 (6893): 104–108. Bibcode:2002Natur.418..104S. doi:10.1038/nature00883. PMID 12077605. S2CID 4338471. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  23. ^ Strahl, Brian D.; Allis, C. David (2000). "The language of covalent histone modifications". Nature. 403 (6765): 41–45. Bibcode:2000Natur.403...41S. doi:10.1038/47412. PMID 10638745. S2CID 4418993. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  24. ^ Jenuwein, Thomas; Allis, C. David (2001). "Translating the histone code". Science. 293 (5532): 1074–1080. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.453.900. doi:10.1126/science.1063127. PMID 11498575. S2CID 1883924. Archived from the original on February 20, 2023. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  25. ^ Chi, Ping; Allis, C. David; Wang, Gang Greg (2010). "Covalent histone modifications — miswritten, misinterpreted and mis-erased in human cancers". Nature Reviews Cancer. 10 (7): 457–469. doi:10.1038/nrc2876. PMC 3262678. PMID 20574448.
  26. ^ Dent, Sharon; Grewal, Shiv (2023). "C. David Allis (1951–2023)". Nature. 614 (7948): 409. Bibcode:2023Natur.614..409D. doi:10.1038/d41586-023-00346-0. PMID 36737544. S2CID 256577181.
  27. ^ Nacev, Benjamin A.; Feng, Lijuan; Bagert, John D.; Lemiesz, Agata E.; Gao, JianJiong; Soshnev, Alexey A.; Kundra, Ritika; Schultz, Nikolaus; Muir, Tom W.; Allis, C. David (2019). "The expanding landscape of 'oncohistone' mutations in human cancers". Nature. 567 (7749): 473–478. Bibcode:2019Natur.567..473N. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1038-1. PMC 6512987. PMID 30894748.
  28. ^ Berger, Shelley L. (2023). "C. David Allis (1951–2023)". Science. 379 (6633): 645. Bibcode:2023Sci...379..645B. doi:10.1126/science.adg7738. PMID 36795814. S2CID 256901502.
  29. ^ "C. David Allis". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  30. ^ "2002 Dickson Prize Winner". Dickson Prize. Archived from the original on December 25, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2023.
  31. ^ "Massry Prize Winners ( 1996 – Present )". University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. Archived from the original on December 5, 2022. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
  32. ^ "C. David Allis to Receive the Third Annual Wiley Prize in the Biomedical Sciences". Wiley Foundation. January 27, 2004. Archived from the original on February 5, 2023. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  33. ^ "C. David Allis". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on February 5, 2023. Retrieved February 5, 2023.
  34. ^ "Past A&S Alumni Award Winners (2002-2019)". University of Cincinnati College of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on December 4, 2022. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  35. ^ "C. David Allis". Gairdner Foundation. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  36. ^ "ASBMB–Merck Award". American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Archived from the original on February 6, 2023. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  37. ^ "Past Winners". Brandeis University. Archived from the original on February 6, 2023. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  38. ^ "The 2014 Japan Prize". Japan Prize. Archived from the original on February 2, 2023. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  39. ^ "Lauréat 2014 du prix Charles-Léopold Mayer : C. David Allis" (in French). French Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  40. ^ "C. David Allis". Breakthrough Prize Board. Archived from the original on January 16, 2023. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
  41. ^ "C. David Allis". Gruber Foundation. Archived from the original on February 1, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
  42. ^ "2017 March of Dimes Prize awarded to Dr. C. David Allis for groundbreaking research". March of Dimes. May 8, 2017. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
  43. ^ "2018 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award". Lasker Foundation. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
  44. ^ "C. David Allis, Ph.D." National Academy of Medicine. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  45. ^ "2022 Albany Prize Awarded for Pivotal Discoveries in Gene Regulation" (Press release). Albany Medical College. October 13, 2022. Archived from the original on October 14, 2022. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  46. ^ "Remembering a pioneer of chromatin biology". Rockefeller University. January 14, 2023. Archived from the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  47. ^ "C. David Allis Mentorship Fund for Young Scientists". Rockefeller University. Archived from the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
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