John F. Atkins
Born
Dunmanway, Ireland
NationalityIrish
Alma materTrinity College, Dublin (Ireland)
Known forRecoding, RNA World, Genetic Code
AwardsRoyal Irish Academy Gold Medal Award in 2007[1]
Scientific career
FieldsMolecular genetics, RNA biology
InstitutionsUniversity College Cork (Ireland), University of Utah, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

John Atkins is a research professor at University College Cork and a member of the Royal Irish Academy since 2003.[2][3] Atkins was the first Irish national to be elected as a member of the EMBO Organization.[4] In 2002 Science Foundation Ireland appointed Atkins as its first Director of Biotechnology.[4] Atkins is also an honorary Professor of Genetics at his alma mater Trinity College, Dublin.[5]

Research

Shortly after Crick and Brenner established the triplet nature of genetic decoding John Atkins showed that mRNA molecules are not always translated in a triplet manner.[6] Since then Atkins focused on aspects of the genetic decoding that are in defiance of the standard genetic code – phenomena collectively described as Recoding.[7][8] Recoding challenges the generality of the genetic decoding and encompasses phenomena such as programmed ribosomal frameshifting that violates triplet character of the genetic readout. Proteinogenic amino acids that are not part of the genetic code, e.g. the 21st amino acid selenocysteine and the 22nd amino acid pyrrolysine are also subjects of Recoding.[9] John Atkins is an active proponent of the RNA World hypothesis and is an editor of The RNA World and RNA Worlds books.[10][11][12] His research activities include a search for modern protein-free RNA-based life forms.[13] In 2013 John Atkins organized installation of Charles Jencks sculpture ?What is Life? in Irish National Botanic Gardens.[14] In 2021 a family of RNA bacteriophages Atkinsviridae was named in recognition of his involvement in the discovery of Bacteriophage MS2 lysin protein.[15]

References

  1. ↑ "Royal Irish Academy | About | Grants & Awards | past". www.ria.ie. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  2. ↑ "SFI attracts leading bioscientist from US - Innovation | siliconrepublic.com - Ireland's Technology News Service". Siliconrepublic.com. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  3. ↑ "Royal Irish Academy | About | Membership | Members List". Archived from the original on 1 January 2013. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 August 2007. Retrieved 3 November 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ↑ "Staff - Genetics - Trinity College Dublin". Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
  6. ↑ Riyasaty S, Atkins JF. External suppression of a frameshift mutant in salmonella. J Mol Biol. 1968 Jun 28;34(3):541–57. PMID 4938557
  7. ↑ Atkins, John F.; Gesteland, Raymond F.Recoding: Expansion of Decoding Rules Enriches Gene Expression. Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-89381-5
  8. ↑ "Tiny gene discovered hiding in a major family of plant viruses". www.hpj.com. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  9. ↑ John F. Atkins and Ray Gesteland (2002). "The 22nd Amino Acid". Science 296 (5572): 1409–1410. doi:10.1126/science.1073339. PMID 12029118
  10. ↑ Gesteland, Raymond F.; Cech, Thomas; Atkins, John F. (2006). The RNA world: the nature of modern RNA suggests a prebiotic RNA world. Plainview, N.Y: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. ISBN 0-87969-739-3.
  11. ↑ Atkins, John F.; Gesteland, Raymond F.; Cech, Thomas. (2011). RNA Worlds: From Life’s Origins to Diversity in Gene Regulation. Plainview, N.Y: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. ISBN 978-0-879699-46-8.
  12. ↑ Reville, William (3 November 2011). "The great mysteries of life are biochemical". Irishtimes.com. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  13. ↑ Ledford H. Life-changing experiments: The biological Higgs. Nature 483, 528–530 (29 March 2012) doi:10.1038/483528a
  14. ↑ "WHAT IS LIFE - DNA and Dublin Schrodinger James Watson, francis Crick, Maurice Wilkinson, Rosalind Franklin, Charles Jencks". Whatislife.ie. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  15. ↑ Julie Callanan, Stephen R. Stockdale, Evelien M. Adriaenssens, Jens H. Kuhn, Janis Rumnieks, Mark J. Pallen, Andrey N. Shkoporov, Lorraine A. Draper, R. Paul Ross, Colin Hill (2021). "Leviviricetes: expanding and restructuring the taxonomy of bacteria-infecting single-stranded RNA viruses." MICROBIAL GENOMICS doi:10.1099/mgen.0.000686
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