Heterotrophic CO2-Fixation, Mentors, and Students: The Wood-Werkman Reactions

Journal of the History of Biology

Volumn 30, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 91-120

  Singleton Jr , Rivers ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; BIOCHEMISTRY; BIOLOGY; HISTORY; PERSONNEL; UNITED STATES;

BIOCHEMISTRY; BIOLOGY; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; RESEARCH PERSONNEL; UNITED STATES;

EID: 0031086592     PISSN: 00225010     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1023/a:1004270612446     Document Type: Article

References (110)

1. J. Steinbeck, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights, ed. C. Horton (New York: Noonday Press, 1993), p. 136.
2. D. L. Hull, Science as a Process (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988), p. 18.
3. Ibid., p. 27.
4. Ibid., p. 114.
5. P. Kitcher, The advancement of Science: Science without Legend, Objectivity without Illusions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 59.
6. J. Maienschein, "Why Collaborate?" J. Hist. Biol., 26 (1993), 167.
7. I intend the notion "student" here in its most generic sense to include undergraduate research assistants, graduate students, and postdoctoral associates.
8. A. Kornberg, For the Love of Enzymes: The Odyssey of a Biochemist (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989), p. 301.
9. J. S. Fruton, Contrasts in Scientific Style (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1990), p. 2.
10. C. Eaborn, "Henry Gilman," Biograph. Mem. F.R.S., 36 (1990), 155.
11. H. A. Krebs and F. A. Lipmann, "Dahlem in the Late Nineteen Twenties," in Lipmann Symposium: Energy, Regulation and Biosynthesis in Molecular Biology, ed. D. Richter (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1974), p. 11.
12. Fruton, Scientific Style (above, n. 9), p. 2.
13. The notion of "social pressures" can have two meanings for science: there are pressures that arise from the peculiar context, practice, and structure of science itself; and there are also broader pressures, such as the historical time within which a science develops, that arise from society at large.
14. R. W. Brown, "Chester Hamlin Werkman, 1893-1962," Biog. Mem. Nat. Acad. Sci., 44 (1974), 335.
15. Official publication, Iowa State College of Agricultural and Mechanical Arts, "The Graduate College," Annual Courses, Summer Quarter 1932, p. 5.
16. Kluyver, Archives, Technical University of Delft, Delft, The Netherlands.
17. R. Singleton, Jr., "Harland Goff Wood: An American Biochemist," in Comprehensive Biochemistry: History of Biochemistry, vol. 40, ed. G. Semenza and R. Jaenicke (Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, in press).
18. In stating the reaction in this fashion, I am taking some liberties with the initial report by Wood and Werkman. In their paper, they speculated about the nature of the various reactants and products involved in the reaction. Reaction 1 is an attempt to summarize the basic factual evidence of their report.
19. E. S. G. Barron, 'Mechanisms of Carbohydrate Metabolism: An Essay on Comparative Biochemistry," in Advances in Enzymology, vol. 3, ed. F. F. Nord and C. H. Werkman (New York: Interscience, 1943), p. 169.
20. 2 Fixation in Heterotrophs. Gluconeogenesis," in A History of Biochemistry, pt. 5, vol. 33a of Comprehensive Biochemistry, ed. M. Florkin and E. H. Stotz (Amsterdam: Elsevier Scientific Publishing, 1979), pp. 109-140; C. H. Werkman and H. G. Wood, "Heterotrophic Assimilation of Carbon Dioxide," in Advances in Enzymology, vol. 2, ed. F. F. Nord and C. H. Werkman (New York: Interscience, 1942), pp. 135-182; C. H. Werkman and H. G. Wood, "On the Metabolism of Bacteria," Bot. Rev., 8 (1942), 1-68.
21. 2 Fixation in Heterotrophs. Gluconeogenesis," in A History of Biochemistry, pt. 5, vol. 33a of Comprehensive Biochemistry, ed. M. Florkin and E. H. Stotz (Amsterdam: Elsevier Scientific Publishing, 1979), pp. 109-140; C. H. Werkman and H. G. Wood, "Heterotrophic Assimilation of Carbon Dioxide," in Advances in Enzymology, vol. 2, ed. F. F. Nord and C. H. Werkman (New York: Interscience, 1942), pp. 135-182; C. H. Werkman and H. G. Wood, "On the Metabolism of Bacteria," Bot. Rev., 8 (1942), 1-68.
22. 2 Fixation in Heterotrophs. Gluconeogenesis," in A History of Biochemistry, pt. 5, vol. 33a of Comprehensive Biochemistry, ed. M. Florkin and E. H. Stotz (Amsterdam: Elsevier Scientific Publishing, 1979), pp. 109-140; C. H. Werkman and H. G. Wood, "Heterotrophic Assimilation of Carbon Dioxide," in Advances in Enzymology, vol. 2, ed. F. F. Nord and C. H. Werkman (New York: Interscience, 1942), pp. 135-182; C. H. Werkman and H. G. Wood, "On the Metabolism of Bacteria," Bot. Rev., 8 (1942), 1-68.
23. C. B. van Niel, "The Biochemistry of Bacteria," Ann. Rev. Biochem., 6 (1937), 608.
24. H. G. Wood, "My Life and Carbon Dioxide Fixation," in The Molecular Basis of Biological Transport, ed. J. F. Woessner, Jr., and F. Huijing (New York: Academic Press, 1972), p. 7.
25. Kitcher, Advancement of Science (above, n. 5), p. 31.
26. For further information on the fermentation balance technique, see A. C. Neish, Analytical Methods for Bacterial Fermentations, 2nd ed. (Report No. 46-8-3) (Saskatoon: National Research Council of Canada, 1952).
27. H. G. Wood, "The Physiology of the Propionic Acid Bacteria," Ph.D. diss., Iowa State College, 1934, p. 100.
28. H. G. Wood, "Then and Now," Ann. Rev. Biochem., 54 (1985), 7.
29. J. J. Bohning, "Harland G. Wood," unpub. interview, Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry, 1990, p. 11; Wood, "My Life" (above, n. 22), p. 5; Wood, "Then and Now" (above, n. 26), p. 8.
30. J. J. Bohning, "Harland G. Wood," unpub. interview, Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry, 1990, p. 11; Wood, "My Life" (above, n. 22), p. 5; Wood, "Then and Now" (above, n. 26), p. 8.
31. J. J. Bohning, "Harland G. Wood," unpub. interview, Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry, 1990, p. 11; Wood, "My Life" (above, n. 22), p. 5; Wood, "Then and Now" (above, n. 26), p. 8.
32. 2-fixation, which may well have "primed" Wood to think about such a possibility to explain his anomalous data.
33. Wood, "My Life" (above, n. 22), p. 5 (emphasis added).
34. Bohning, "Harland G. Wood" (above, n. 27), p. 11.
35. See, for example, Table 1 in Wood, "My Life" (above, n. 22), p. 6.
36. H. G. Wood, "Trailing the Propionic Acid Bacteria," in Reflection on Biochemistry in Honor of Severo Ochoa, ed. A. Kornberg, B. L. Horecker, L. Cornudella, and J. Oro (New York: Pergamon Press, 1976), pp. 105-115.
37. Wood, "My Life" (above, n. 22), p. 5.
38. Ibid., p. 6.
39. 2 by the Propionic Acid Bacteria in the Dissimilation of Glycerol," J. Bacter., 30 (1935), 332.
40. Wood, "Then and Now" (above, n. 26), p. 8.
41. 2 in the Dissimilation of Glycerol by the Propionic Acid Bacteria," Biochem. J., 30 (1936), 48-53.
42. For example, Wood's widow notes that the $50 monthly income the family received, they spent almost $34 on rent; to make financial ends meet, Wood tended the furnace of the apartment building in which they lived: Interview with Mildred D. Wood, Cleveland, Ohio, December 29, 1993.
43. Wood, "My Life" (above, n. 22), p. 6.
44. Wood, "Then and Now" (above, n. 26), p. 9.
45. All of Wood's appointments are documented in Annual Budgets for Iowa State College, State of Iowa Board of Regents Minutes, Archives, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
46. Wood, "My Life" (above, n. 22), p. 7.
47. Wood, "Then and Now" (above, n. 26), p. 9 (emphasis added).
48. Bohning, "Harland G. Wood" (above, n. 27), p. 22.
49. I thank David Hull for bringing this point to my attention.
50. Wood, "Then and Now" (above, n. 26), p. 13.
51. All analysis of Werkman's publications is based on the extensive bibliography included in Brown, "Chester Hamlin Werkman" (above, n. 14).
52. H. G. Wood, C. A. Brewer, M. N. Mickelson, and C. H. Werkman, "A Macro-respirometer for the Study of the Anaerobic Metabolism of Microorganisms," Enzymologia, 8 (1940), 314-317.
53. F. L. Holmes, "Manometers, Tissue Slices, and Intermediary Metaboism," in The Right Tools for the Job in Twentieth-Century Life Sciences: Materials, Techniques, Instruments, Models, and Work Organization, ed. A. Clarke and J. Jujimura (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992), pp. 151-171.
54. Although many scientific instruments were commercially available during this time, a hallmark of a skilled investigator was the ability to construct equipment necessary for research investigation; see Clarke and Fujimura, Right Tools for the Job. Like many of his contemporaries trained in chemistry, Wood was apparently a skilled glass worker. George Kalnitsky has remarked on Wood's skill at constructing the specialized flasks necessary for the modified Warburg apparatus. Kalnitsky further noted that Wood was one of the few people in the laboratory who could make the glass bulbs necessary for the construction of glass electrodes of pH measurement (G. Kalnitsky, letter to the author, October 1993).
55. 2 by the Propionic Acid Bacteria," Biochem. J., 32 (1938), 1262-1271.
56. Bisulfite reacts with carbonyl groups in organic compounds to form stable complexes. If such compounds are intermediates in a metabolic pathway, the addition of bisulfite will inhibit the pathway and cause accumulation of the carbonyl-containing compound. Neuberg used the technique to great advantage in sorting out metabolic intermediates in yeast fermentations.
57. 2" (above, n. 51); H. G. Wood, R. W. Stone, and C. H. Werkman, "The Intermediate Metabolism of the Propionic Acid Bacteria," Biochem. J., 31 (1937), 349-359.
58. 2" (above, n. 51); H. G. Wood, R. W. Stone, and C. H. Werkman, "The Intermediate Metabolism of the Propionic Acid Bacteria," Biochem. J., 31 (1937), 349-359.
59. A. I. Virtanen and A. Karström, "Über die Propionsäuregärung, III," Acta Chem. Fennica, Ser. B, 7 (1931), 17.
60. W. Bechtel, "Biochemistry: A Cross-disciplinary Endeavor That Discovered a Distinctive Domain," in Integrating Scientific Disciplines, ed. idem (Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff, 1986), pp. 77-100; idem, "The Nature of Scientific Integration," in ibid., pp. 3-51.
61. W. Bechtel, "Biochemistry: A Cross-disciplinary Endeavor That Discovered a Distinctive Domain," in Integrating Scientific Disciplines, ed. idem (Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff, 1986), pp. 77-100; idem, "The Nature of Scientific Integration," in ibid., pp. 3-51.
62. 2 to Succinic Acid Formation," ibid., pp. 129-138.
63. 2 to Succinic Acid Formation," ibid., pp. 129-138.
64. 2-Fixing Enzyme from Propionic Acid Bacteria," J. Biol. Chem., 237 (1962), 3044-3051.
65. 2-Fixing Enzyme from Propionic Acid Bacteria," J. Biol. Chem., 237 (1962), 3044-3051.
66. For excellent contemporary summaries of this evidence, see Werkman and Wood, "Heterotrophic Assimilation" and "On the Metabolism of Bacteria" (both in n. 20, above).
67. Wood, "My Life" (above, n. 22), p. 8.
68. 2-fixation did not come from the Wood-Werkman laboratory.
69. Bohning, "Harland G. Wood" (above, n. 27), p. 12; Wood, "My Life" (above, n. 22), p. 7; Wood, "Then and Now" (above, n. 26), p. 8.
70. Bohning, "Harland G. Wood" (above, n. 27), p. 12; Wood, "My Life" (above, n. 22), p. 7; Wood, "Then and Now" (above, n. 26), p. 8.
71. Bohning, "Harland G. Wood" (above, n. 27), p. 12; Wood, "My Life" (above, n. 22), p. 7; Wood, "Then and Now" (above, n. 26), p. 8.
72. C. H. Werkman, "Bacterial Dissimilation of Carbohydrates," Bacter. Rev., 3 (1939), 190 (emphasis added).
73. Hull, Science as a Process (above, n. 2), p. 361.
74. Wood, "My Life" (above, n. 22), p. 8.
75. 2" (above, n. 51), p. 1269.
76. Wood, "My Life" (above, n. 22), p. 8.
77. Brown, "Chester Hamlin Werkman" (above, n. 14), p. 336.
78. Evans, Slotin, "Utilization of Carbon Dioxide" (above, n. 60).
79. Wood, "My Life" (above, n. 22), p. 11.
80. A. E. Clarke and J. H. Fujimura, "What Tools? Which Jobs? Why Right?" in idem, Right Tools for the Job (above, n. 49), p. 7.
81. Werkman and Wood, "Heterotrophic Assimilation" and "Metabolism of Bacteria" (both above, n. 20).
82. Unpub. ms labeled "Rough draft: C. H. Werkman talk to Sigma Xi. 1942," private papers of Robert T. Werkman.
83. Wood, "My Life" (above, n. 22), p. 19.
84. H. A. Barker, "The Chemistry and Metabolism of Bacteria," Ann. Rev. Biochem., 10 (1941), 570 (emphasis added).
85. The Eli Lilly Award, begun in 1936, is annually given by the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) to recognize young investigators (under the age of forty) who are making significant contributions to the science of microbiology. It is, perhaps, the ASM's most prestigious award. Several recipients have later won the Nobel Prize, and numerous recipients have later become members of the National Academy of Sciences.
86. Wood, "Then and Now" (above, n. 26), p. 13.
87. Kalnitsky letter (above, n. 50).
88. Bohning, "Harland G. Wood" (above, n. 27), p. 22.
89. Wood, "Then and Now" (above, n. 26), p. 14.
90. Bohning, "Harland G. Wood" (above, n, 27), p. 18.
91. Ibid., pp. 18, 22.
92. G. Williams, Western Reserve's Experiment in Medical Education and Its Outcome (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980).
93. Singleton, "Harland Goff Wood" (above, n. 17).
94. Wood, "Trailing the Propionic Acid Bacteria" (above, n. 32).
95. Wood, "Then and Now" (above, n. 26), p. 15.
96. Bohning, "Harland G. Wood" (above, n. 27), p. 10.
97. R. W. Brown, "A Tribute to Chester Hamlin Werkman," unpub. comments, May 18, 1963, private papers of Robert T. Werkman.
98. Bohning, "Harland G. Wood" (above, n. 27), p. 10.
99. Mrs. M. F. Utter, letter to the author, June 24, 1993.
100. Kalnitsky letter (above, n. 50).
101. Interview with G. Kalnitsky, Iowa City, July 10, 1994.
102. Eric Fowler, letter to the author, October 1, 1994.
103. While it would be desirable to carry out such an analysis for all of Werkman's students, this is a difficult task. One difficulty rests in the absence of complete bibliographies for all of these individuals. A greater difficulty, however, is that Werkman's students often pursued other, quite varied, careers where publication was not as important. For example, Howard Reynolds (who was in the Werkman laboratory during the same time as Wood) spent much of his professional career working for the USDA and had around seventy-five publications (many of which were internal USDA reports) when he died (pers. comm. from Sandra [Reynolds] Miller); thus, his copublication with Werkman accounts for almost 20 percent of Reynolds' total publications.
104. Calculating the frequency of co-authorship is complicated by the fact that the number of co-authors on an individual paper varies greatly both over time and by practice of individual primary authors. To correct for these variables, the frequency of co-authorship reported in Table 3 was determined as follows. The number of papers involving each co-author was divided by the primary author's total number of publications. This number was then multiplied by the ratio of (total papers)/(total authors) for each primary author and expressed as a percent.
105. Maienschein, "Why Collaborate?" (above, n. 6), p. 174.
106. Fruton, Scientific Style (above, n. 9), p. 2.
107. Maienschein, "Why Collaborate?" p. 176.
108. Kitcher, Advancement of Science (above, n. 5), p. 3.
109. Hull, Science as a Process (above, n. 2), p. 4.
110. Wood, "Then and Now" (above, n. 26), p. 2.