John Woodland Hastings
Encyclopedia
John Woodland “Woody” Hastings, PhD.
, born March 24, 1927 in Maryland, is a leader in the field of photobiology
, especially bioluminescence
, and is one of the founders of the field of circadian biology (the study of circadian rhythms, or the sleep-wake cycle). He is the Paul C. Mangelsdorf Professor
of Natural Science
s and Professor of Molecular
and Cellular Biology
at Harvard University
. He has published over 400 papers and co-edited three books.
Hastings research on bioluminescence has principally focused on bacterial luminescence
(over 150 papers) and dinoflagellates (over 80 papers). In addition to bacteria and dinoflagellates, he, with his students and colleagues, has published papers on the biochemical and molecular mechanisms of light production in fungi, cnidarians, ctenophore
s, polychaetes, insects (fireflies
and dipterans), ostracod
crustaceans, millipedes, tunicates, and fishes with bacterial light organs. His laboratory produced the first evidence for quorum sensing
in bacteria, early evidence of the molecular mechanisms of circadian clock regulation in organisms (first using dinoflagellate luminescence and then expanded to other cell
ular protein
s), and some of the initial studies of energy
transfer in green fluorescent protein
s (GFP) in cnidarian luminescence.
, at age 10 he joined the choir at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and attended the choir's in-house boarding school, visiting his family during vacations. Hastings moved to Lenox School in Lenox, Massachusetts
in 1941 to complete his secondary education and was interested in literature, physica, mathematics, ice hockey
and basketball.
(Princeton, NJ) in 1948 in the laboratory of E. Newton Harvey, the world leader of luminescence studies at the time, and focused on the role of oxygen in the luminescence of bacteria, fireflies, ostracod crustaceans and fungi. He received his PhD in 1951.
1951-1953: He then joined the lab of William D. McElroy, another student of Harvey’s, at Johns Hopkins University
(Baltimore, MD) where he discovered both the stimulatory effects of coenzyme A
and gating control by oxygen
of firefly luminescence, and that flavin
is a substrate in bacterial luminescence.
1953-1957: In 1953 he joined the faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences at Northwestern University
(Evanston, IL). In 1954 he began a long collaboration with Beatrice Sweeney, who was then at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
(La Jolla, CA), in elucidating the cellular and biochemical mechanisms of luminescence in the unicellular dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum (formerly Gonyaulax polyedra). A byproduct of this initial research was their discovery of circadian control of the luminescence.
1957-1966: Hastings next took a faculty position in the Biochemistry Division of the Chemistry Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (Urbana, IL) where he continued his focus on dinoflagellate and bacterial luminescence and dinoflagellate circadian rhythms.
1966–present: Hastings joined the faculty of Harvard University as Professor of Biology in 1966 and where he remains as an emeritus professor. During this period he continued and expanded his studies of circadian rhythms in dinoflagellates and luminescence in bacteria, dinoflagellates and other organisms. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2003 and received the Farrell Prize in Sleep Medicine for his work on circadian rhythms in 2006.
For over 50 years he has also had an affiliation with the Marine Biological Laboratory
in Woods Hole, MA. He was the director of the Physiology
Course there from 1962-.1966, and served as a trustee from 1966-1970.
reaction, the determination of gene
regulation of the luciferases, but also the first evidence for quorum
sensing, a form of bacterial communication. In quorum sensing (initially termed autoinduction), the bacteria release into the medium a substance, the autoinducer, that, once the concentration of this substance reaches a critical level, which is a measure of the number of bacteria in a limited area, transcription
of specific other genes that had been repressed are turned on. Once the sequenced autoinducer gene was found to occur widely in gram-negative bacteria quorum sensing became accepted in the early 1990s. Now it is known that in many pathogen
ic bacteria, similar to what happens for the luciferase proteins, there is delayed production of toxins, which serve to greatly augment their pathogenicity. By curtailing their toxin output until the bacterial populations are substantial these bacteria can generate massive quantities of toxin quickly and thereby swamp the defenses of the host.
Luminescent Dinoflagellates: Beginning in 1954 at Northwestern University
Hastings and his students and colleagues have been studying cellular
and molecular aspects of bioluminescence in dinoflagellates [especially Lingulodinium polyedrum (formerly Gonyaulax polyedra)]. They have been elucidating the structures of the luciferin
s and luciferases, the organization and regulation of their associated genes, temporal control mechanisms, and the actual subcellular identity and location of the light emitting elements, which they termed scintillons. They demonstrated that the reaction is controlled by a drop in pH
when an action potential
leads to the entry of protons via voltage-activated membrane channels in the scintillons. Through immunolocalization studies the Hastings lab showed that scintillons are small peripheral vesicles (0.4 μm) that contain both the luciferase and the luciferin-binding protein. Recently their lab has found that the luciferase gene in Lingulodinium polyedrum and other closely related species contains three homologous and contiguous repeated sequences in a kind of “three-ring circus with the same act in all three.” However, another luminescent, but heterotrophic, dinoflagellate, Noctiluca scintillans
, has but a single protein, which appears to possess both catalytic and substrate binding properties in a single, rather than separate proteins.
Dinoflagellate Circadian Rhythms: Using Lingulodinium polyedrum as a model, Hastings has spear-headed our understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in control of circadian rhythms, which in humans are involved in sleep, jet-lag and other daily activities. His lab has shown that the rhythm of bioluminescence involves a daily synthesis and destruction of proteins. Because the mRNAs that code for these proteins remain unchanged from day to night, the synthesis of these proteins is controlled at the translational level. This work has now been expanded to other proteins in the cell. On the other hand, short pulses of inhibitors of synthesis of these proteins results in phase shifts of the circadian rhythm, either delays or advances, depending when the pulse is administered. At still another level, protein phosphorylation
inhibitors also influence the period of the rhythm.
Other luminescent systems: Early in his career Hastings developed techniques to quantify the level of oxygen
required in a luminescent reaction for several different species including bacteria, fungi, fireflies and ostracod crustaceans. This work showed that oxygen gating is the mechanism for firefly flashing. In other work when he was in the McElroy lab he examined the basic biochemical mechanism of firefly luciferase and demonstrated that coenzyme A stimulates light emission. His lab first demonstrated that the green in vivo coelenterate bioluminescence occurs because of energy transfer from the luminescent molecule (aequorin
), which alone emits blue light, to a secondary green emitter which they termed green fluorescent protein (GFP). Once characterized and cloned, GFP has become a crucial molecule used as a reporter and tagging tool for studying gene activation and developmental patterns. Osamu Shimomura
, Martin Chalfie
and Roger Tsien received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
in 2008 for their work on this remarkable molecule.
Selected publications:
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
, born March 24, 1927 in Maryland, is a leader in the field of photobiology
Photobiology
Photobiology is the scientific study of the interactions of light and living organisms. The field includes the study of photosynthesis, photomorphogenesis, visual processing, circadian rhythms, bioluminescence, and ultraviolet radiation effects...
, especially bioluminescence
Bioluminescence
Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism. Its name is a hybrid word, originating from the Greek bios for "living" and the Latin lumen "light". Bioluminescence is a naturally occurring form of chemiluminescence where energy is released by a chemical reaction in...
, and is one of the founders of the field of circadian biology (the study of circadian rhythms, or the sleep-wake cycle). He is the Paul C. Mangelsdorf Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Natural Science
Natural science
The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...
s and Professor of Molecular
Molecular biology
Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...
and Cellular Biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. He has published over 400 papers and co-edited three books.
Hastings research on bioluminescence has principally focused on bacterial luminescence
Luminescence
Luminescence is emission of light by a substance not resulting from heat; it is thus a form of cold body radiation. It can be caused by chemical reactions, electrical energy, subatomic motions, or stress on a crystal. This distinguishes luminescence from incandescence, which is light emitted by a...
(over 150 papers) and dinoflagellates (over 80 papers). In addition to bacteria and dinoflagellates, he, with his students and colleagues, has published papers on the biochemical and molecular mechanisms of light production in fungi, cnidarians, ctenophore
Ctenophore
The Ctenophora are a phylum of animals that live in marine waters worldwide. Their most distinctive feature is the "combs", groups of cilia that they use for swimming, and they are the largest animals that swim by means of cilia – adults of various species range from a few millimeters to in size...
s, polychaetes, insects (fireflies
Fireflies
Fireflies is a novel by Shiva Naipaul originally published in 1970. It was his first book, a comic novel set in Trinidad. In an essay in An Unfinished Journey, Naipaul described how in 1968 as a final year student at Oxford University studying Chinese, he had been moved to write down a sentence,...
and dipterans), ostracod
Ostracod
Ostracoda is a class of the Crustacea, sometimes known as the seed shrimp because of their appearance. Some 65,000 species have been identified, grouped into several orders....
crustaceans, millipedes, tunicates, and fishes with bacterial light organs. His laboratory produced the first evidence for quorum sensing
Quorum sensing
Quorum sensing is a system of stimulus and response correlated to population density. Many species of bacteria use quorum sensing to coordinate gene expression according to the density of their local population. In similar fashion, some social insects use quorum sensing to determine where to nest...
in bacteria, early evidence of the molecular mechanisms of circadian clock regulation in organisms (first using dinoflagellate luminescence and then expanded to other cell
Cell (biology)
The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
ular protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
s), and some of the initial studies of energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
transfer in green fluorescent protein
Green fluorescent protein
The green fluorescent protein is a protein composed of 238 amino acid residues that exhibits bright green fluorescence when exposed to blue light. Although many other marine organisms have similar green fluorescent proteins, GFP traditionally refers to the protein first isolated from the...
s (GFP) in cnidarian luminescence.
Early life
Hastings spent his early years in Seaford, DelawareSeaford, Delaware
Seaford is a city located along the Nanticoke River in Sussex County, Delaware. According to the 2010 Census Bureau figures, the population of the city is 6,928, an increase of 3.4% from the 2000 census...
, at age 10 he joined the choir at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and attended the choir's in-house boarding school, visiting his family during vacations. Hastings moved to Lenox School in Lenox, Massachusetts
Lenox, Massachusetts
Lenox is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. Set in Western Massachusetts, it is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,077 at the 2000 census. Where the town has a border with Stockbridge is the site of Tanglewood, summer...
in 1941 to complete his secondary education and was interested in literature, physica, mathematics, ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
and basketball.
Awards and honors
Throughout his career Hastings has received numerous awards and honors:- Guggenheim Fellow, 1965;
- Elected to the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars, 1969;
- Elected to the American Academy of Arts and SciencesAmerican Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
, 1972; - NATO Senior Fellow in Science, Foundation Curie, Orsay, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, 1977; - Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, BonnBonnBonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
1979-80 & 1993; - Yamada Foundation Fellow, OsakaOsakais a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, 1986; - NIMH Merit Award, 1990 &1994;
- FellowFellowA fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
of the American Academy of Microbiology, 2003; - American Society for PhotobiologyAmerican Society for PhotobiologyThe American Society for Photobiology is a scientific society for the promotion of research in photobiology, integration of different photobiology disciplines, dissemination of photobiology knowledge, and provides information on photobiological aspects of national and international...
Lifetime Achievement Award, 2003; - Elected to the National Academy of SciencesUnited States National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
, 2003; - Recipient of the Farrell Prize in Sleep Medicine for his contributions to and for founding the field of circadian rhythms, 2006.
His career
1948-1951: Hastings began his graduate studies at Princeton UniversityPrinceton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
(Princeton, NJ) in 1948 in the laboratory of E. Newton Harvey, the world leader of luminescence studies at the time, and focused on the role of oxygen in the luminescence of bacteria, fireflies, ostracod crustaceans and fungi. He received his PhD in 1951.
1951-1953: He then joined the lab of William D. McElroy, another student of Harvey’s, at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
(Baltimore, MD) where he discovered both the stimulatory effects of coenzyme A
Coenzyme A
Coenzyme A is a coenzyme, notable for its role in the synthesis and oxidation of fatty acids, and the oxidation of pyruvate in the citric acid cycle. All sequenced genomes encode enzymes that use coenzyme A as a substrate, and around 4% of cellular enzymes use it as a substrate...
and gating control by oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
of firefly luminescence, and that flavin
Flavin
Flavin is the common name for a group of organic compounds based on pteridine, formed by the tricyclic heteronuclear organic ring isoalloxazine. The biochemical source is the vitamin riboflavin...
is a substrate in bacterial luminescence.
1953-1957: In 1953 he joined the faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
(Evanston, IL). In 1954 he began a long collaboration with Beatrice Sweeney, who was then at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, is one of the oldest and largest centers for ocean and earth science research, graduate training, and public service in the world...
(La Jolla, CA), in elucidating the cellular and biochemical mechanisms of luminescence in the unicellular dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum (formerly Gonyaulax polyedra). A byproduct of this initial research was their discovery of circadian control of the luminescence.
1957-1966: Hastings next took a faculty position in the Biochemistry Division of the Chemistry Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (Urbana, IL) where he continued his focus on dinoflagellate and bacterial luminescence and dinoflagellate circadian rhythms.
1966–present: Hastings joined the faculty of Harvard University as Professor of Biology in 1966 and where he remains as an emeritus professor. During this period he continued and expanded his studies of circadian rhythms in dinoflagellates and luminescence in bacteria, dinoflagellates and other organisms. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2003 and received the Farrell Prize in Sleep Medicine for his work on circadian rhythms in 2006.
For over 50 years he has also had an affiliation with the Marine Biological Laboratory
Marine Biological Laboratory
The Marine Biological Laboratory is an international center for research and education in biology, biomedicine and ecology. Founded in 1888, the MBL is the oldest independent marine laboratory in the Americas, taking advantage of a coastal setting in the Cape Cod village of Woods Hole, Massachusetts...
in Woods Hole, MA. He was the director of the Physiology
Physiology
Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...
Course there from 1962-.1966, and served as a trustee from 1966-1970.
Research Interests
Luminescent Bacteria: Hastings investigations of luminous bacteria have led not only to basic discoveries of the biochemical mechanisms involved in their light production, the discovery of a flavin to be a substrate in its luciferaseLuciferase
Luciferase is a generic term for the class of oxidative enzymes used in bioluminescence and is distinct from a photoprotein. One famous example is the firefly luciferase from the firefly Photinus pyralis. "Firefly luciferase" as a laboratory reagent usually refers to P...
reaction, the determination of gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
regulation of the luciferases, but also the first evidence for quorum
Quorum
A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly necessary to conduct the business of that group...
sensing, a form of bacterial communication. In quorum sensing (initially termed autoinduction), the bacteria release into the medium a substance, the autoinducer, that, once the concentration of this substance reaches a critical level, which is a measure of the number of bacteria in a limited area, transcription
Transcription (genetics)
Transcription is the process of creating a complementary RNA copy of a sequence of DNA. Both RNA and DNA are nucleic acids, which use base pairs of nucleotides as a complementary language that can be converted back and forth from DNA to RNA by the action of the correct enzymes...
of specific other genes that had been repressed are turned on. Once the sequenced autoinducer gene was found to occur widely in gram-negative bacteria quorum sensing became accepted in the early 1990s. Now it is known that in many pathogen
Pathogen
A pathogen gignomai "I give birth to") or infectious agent — colloquially, a germ — is a microbe or microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, prion, or fungus that causes disease in its animal or plant host...
ic bacteria, similar to what happens for the luciferase proteins, there is delayed production of toxins, which serve to greatly augment their pathogenicity. By curtailing their toxin output until the bacterial populations are substantial these bacteria can generate massive quantities of toxin quickly and thereby swamp the defenses of the host.
Luminescent Dinoflagellates: Beginning in 1954 at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
Hastings and his students and colleagues have been studying cellular
Cell (biology)
The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
and molecular aspects of bioluminescence in dinoflagellates [especially Lingulodinium polyedrum (formerly Gonyaulax polyedra)]. They have been elucidating the structures of the luciferin
Luciferin
Luciferins are a class of light-emitting biological pigments found in organisms that cause bioluminescence...
s and luciferases, the organization and regulation of their associated genes, temporal control mechanisms, and the actual subcellular identity and location of the light emitting elements, which they termed scintillons. They demonstrated that the reaction is controlled by a drop in pH
PH
In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline...
when an action potential
Action potential
In physiology, an action potential is a short-lasting event in which the electrical membrane potential of a cell rapidly rises and falls, following a consistent trajectory. Action potentials occur in several types of animal cells, called excitable cells, which include neurons, muscle cells, and...
leads to the entry of protons via voltage-activated membrane channels in the scintillons. Through immunolocalization studies the Hastings lab showed that scintillons are small peripheral vesicles (0.4 μm) that contain both the luciferase and the luciferin-binding protein. Recently their lab has found that the luciferase gene in Lingulodinium polyedrum and other closely related species contains three homologous and contiguous repeated sequences in a kind of “three-ring circus with the same act in all three.” However, another luminescent, but heterotrophic, dinoflagellate, Noctiluca scintillans
Noctiluca scintillans
Noctiluca scintillans, commonly known as the Sea Sparkle, and also published as Noctiluca miliaris, is a free-living non-parasitic marine-dwelling species of dinoflagellate that exhibits bioluminescence. The bioluminescent characteristic of N...
, has but a single protein, which appears to possess both catalytic and substrate binding properties in a single, rather than separate proteins.
Dinoflagellate Circadian Rhythms: Using Lingulodinium polyedrum as a model, Hastings has spear-headed our understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in control of circadian rhythms, which in humans are involved in sleep, jet-lag and other daily activities. His lab has shown that the rhythm of bioluminescence involves a daily synthesis and destruction of proteins. Because the mRNAs that code for these proteins remain unchanged from day to night, the synthesis of these proteins is controlled at the translational level. This work has now been expanded to other proteins in the cell. On the other hand, short pulses of inhibitors of synthesis of these proteins results in phase shifts of the circadian rhythm, either delays or advances, depending when the pulse is administered. At still another level, protein phosphorylation
Protein phosphorylation
Protein phosphorylation is a post-translational modification of proteins in which a serine, a threonine or a tyrosine residue is phosphorylated by a protein kinase by the addition of a covalently bound phosphate group. Regulation of proteins by phosphorylation is one of the most common modes of...
inhibitors also influence the period of the rhythm.
Other luminescent systems: Early in his career Hastings developed techniques to quantify the level of oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
required in a luminescent reaction for several different species including bacteria, fungi, fireflies and ostracod crustaceans. This work showed that oxygen gating is the mechanism for firefly flashing. In other work when he was in the McElroy lab he examined the basic biochemical mechanism of firefly luciferase and demonstrated that coenzyme A stimulates light emission. His lab first demonstrated that the green in vivo coelenterate bioluminescence occurs because of energy transfer from the luminescent molecule (aequorin
Aequorin
Aequorin is a photoprotein isolated from luminescent jellyfish and a variety of other marine organisms...
), which alone emits blue light, to a secondary green emitter which they termed green fluorescent protein (GFP). Once characterized and cloned, GFP has become a crucial molecule used as a reporter and tagging tool for studying gene activation and developmental patterns. Osamu Shimomura
Osamu Shimomura
is a Japanese organic chemist and marine biologist, and Professor Emeritus at Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and Boston University Medical School...
, Martin Chalfie
Martin Chalfie
Martin Chalfie is an American scientist. He is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia University, where he is also chair of the department of biological sciences. He shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Osamu Shimomura and Roger Y. Tsien "for the...
and Roger Tsien received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
in 2008 for their work on this remarkable molecule.
Publications
Selected publications:
- Hastings, J.W. (2007) The Gonyaulax clock at 50: translational control of circadian expression. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 72: 141-144.
- Hastings, J.W. and Morin, J.G. (2006) Photons for reporting molecular events: green fluorescent protein and four luciferase systems. Methods Biochem Anal. 47: 15-38.
- Nealson, K.H. and Hastings, J.W. (2006) Quorum sensing on a global scale: massive numbers of bioluminescent bacteria make milky seas. Appl. Env. Microbiol. 72: 2295-2297.
- Liu, L., Wilson, T. and Hastings, J.W. (2004) Molecular evolution of dinoflagellate luciferases, enzymes with three catalytic domains in a single polypeptide. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101: 16555-16560.
- Viviani, V.R., Hastings, J.W. and Wilson, T. (2002) Two bioluminescent Diptera: the North American Orfelia fultoni and the Australian Arachnocampa flava. Similar niche, different bioluminescence systems. Photochem. Photobiol. 75: 22-27.
- Hastings, J.W. and Wood, K.V. (2001) Luciferases did not all evolve from precursors having similar enzymatic properties. pp. 199–210, In, Photobiology 2000 (D. Valenzeno and T. Coohill, eds.) Valdenmar Publ. Co., Overland Park, KS.
- Hastings, J.W. (2001) Fifty years of fun. J. Biol. Rhythms 16: 5-18.
- Hastings, J.W. and Greenberg, E.P. (1999) Quorum Sensing: The explanation of a curious phenomenon reveals a common characteristic of bacteria. J. Bacteriol. 181: 2667-2668.
- Comolli, J. and Hastings J. W. (1999) Novel Effects on The Gonyaulax Circadian System Produced by the Protein Kinase Inhibitor Staurosporine. J. Biol. Rhythms 14: 10-18.
- Wilson, T. and Hastings, J.W. (1998) Bioluminescence Annu. Rev. Cell Devel. Biol.14: 197-230.
- Hastings, J. W. (1996) Chemistries and colors of bioluminescent reactions: a review. Gene 173: 5-11.
- Morse, D., Milos, P.M., Roux, E., and Hastings, J.W. (1989) Circadian regulation of the synthesis of substrate binding protein in the Gonyaulax. bioluminescent system involves translational control. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:172-176.
- Nicolas, M-T., Nicolas, G., Johnson, C.H., Bassot, J-M. and Hastings, J.W. (1987) Characterization of the bioluminescent organelles in Gonyaulax polyedra. (dinoflagellates) after fast-freeze freeze fixation and antiluciferase immunogold staining. J. Cell Biol. 105: 723-735.
- Johnson, C.H. and Hastings, J.W. (1986) The elusive mechanism of the circadian clock. American Scientist 74: 29-36.
- Hastings, J.W. (1983) Biological diversity, chemical mechanisms and evolutionary origins of bioluminescent systems. J. Molecular Evolution 19: 309-321.
- Taylor, W.R., Dunlap, J.C., Hastings, J.W. (1982) Inhibitors of protein synthesis on 80s ribosomes phase shift the Gonyaulax. clock. J. Exp. Biol. 97: 121-136.
- Dunlap, J. and Hastings, J.W. (1981) The biological clock in Gonyaulax. controls luciferase activity by regulating turnover. J. Biol. Chem. 256: 10509-10518.
- Nealson, K.H. and Hastings, J.W. (1979) Bacterial bioluminescence: Its control and ecological significance. Microbiol. Rev. 43: 396-518.
- McMurry, L. and Hastings, J.W. (1972) Circadian rhythms: mechanism of luciferase activity changes in Gonyaulax. Biol. Bull. 143: 196-206.
- Fogel, M. and Hastings, J.W. (1972) Bioluminescence: Mechanism and mode of control of scintillon activity. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 69: 690-693.
- Morin, J.G. and Hastings, J.W. (1971) Energy transfer in a bioluminescent system. J. Cell. Physiol. 77: 313-318.
- Nealson, K., Platt, T. and Hastings, J.W. (1970) The cellular control of the synthesis and activity of the bacterial luminescent system. J. Bact. 104: 313-322.
- Wilson, T. and Hastings, J.W. (1970) Chemical and biological aspects of singlet excited molecular oxygen. Photophysiology (A.C. Giese, ed.), Vol. V, pp. 49–95, Acad. Press, NY.
- Hastings, J.W., Mitchell, G.W., Mattingly, P.H., Blinks, J.R. and Van Leeuwen, M. (1969) Response of aequorin bioluminescence to rapid changes in calcium concentration. Nature 222: 1047-1050.
- Hastings, J.W. Bioluminescence. (1968) Annu. Rev. Biochem. 37: 597-630.
- Krieger, N. and Hastings, J.W. (1968) Bioluminescence: pH activity profiles of related luciferase fractions. Science 161: 586-589.
- Hastings, J.W. and Gibson, Q.H. (1963) Intermediates in the bioluminescent oxidation of reduced flavin mononucleotide. J. Biol. Chem. 238: 2537-2554.
- Bode, V.C., DeSa, R.J. and Hastings, J.W. (1963) Daily rhythm in luciferin activity in Gonyaulax polyedra. Science 141: 913-915.
- DeSa, R.J., Hastings, J.W. and Vatter, A.E. (1963) Luminescent "crystalline" particles: An organized subcellular bioluminescent system. Science 141: 1269-1270.
- Hastings, J.W. (1959) Unicellular clocks. Ann. Rev. Microbiol. 13: 297-312.
- Hastings, J.W. and Sweeney, B.M. (1957) The luminescent reaction in extracts of the marine dinoflagellate Gonyaulax polyedra. J. Cell and Comp. Physiol. 49: 209-226.
- Sweeney, B.M. and Hastings, J.W. (1957) Characteristics of the diurnal rhythm of luminescence in Gonyaulax polyedra. J. Cell. and Comp. Physiol. 49: 115-128.
- McElroy, W.D., Hastings, J.W., Sonnenfeld, V. and Coulombre, J. (1953) The requirement of riboflavin-phosphate for bacterial luminescence. Science 118: 385-386.
- Hastings, J.W., McElroy, W.D. and Coulombre, J. (1953) The effect of oxygen upon the immobilization reaction in firefly luminescence. J. Cell and Comp. Physiol. 42: 137-150.
- Hastings, J.W. (1952b) Oxygen concentration and bioluminescence intensity II: Cypridina hilgendorfii. J. Cell. and Comp. Physiol. 40: 1-9.
- Hastings, J.W. (1952a) Oxygen concentration and bioluminescence intensity. I: Bacteria and fungi. J. Cell and Comp. Physiol. 39: 1-30.