Charles David Allis Explained

Charles David Allis
Birth Date:22 March 1951[1]
Birth Place:Cincinnati, Ohio
Death Place:Seattle, Washington[2]
Fields:Epigenetics
Workplaces:Rockefeller University
University of Virginia
University of Rochester
Baylor College of Medicine
Education:University of Cincinnati (BSc)
Indiana University (MSc, PhD)
Known For:Research of histone modifications
Thesis Title:Isolation and characterization of pole cells and polar granules from embryos of Drosophila melanogaster
Thesis Url:https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/1791084
Thesis Year:1978
Doctoral Advisor:Anthony Mahowald[3]
Awards:Canada 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

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]

Early life and education

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

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.[2] He died January 8, 2023, at a hospital in Seattle, Washington.[2]

Research

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

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]

Notes and References

  1. News: Charles David Allis ("Dave") . January 30, 2023 . . January 14, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230117092250/https://www.cincinnati.com/obituaries/cen225270 . January 17, 2023.
  2. News: Murphy . Brian . David Allis, researcher who explored 'on-off' switch in genes, dies at 71 . January 23, 2023 . . January 21, 2023 . https://archive.today/20230123155321/https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/01/21/david-allis-genes-medicine-dies/ . January 23, 2023.
  3. News: Alum C. David Allis wins 2018 Lasker Award . February 1, 2023 . . September 11, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230201085547/https://biology.indiana.edu/news-events/news/2018/allis-wins-lasker-award.html . February 1, 2023.
  4. Web site: C. David Allis, Ph.D. (1951-2023) . . January 30, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230130084942/https://www.rockefeller.edu/our-scientists/heads-of-laboratories/361-c-david-allis-ph-d/ . January 30, 2023.
  5. Web site: C. David Allis . . February 7, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230207143837/https://gruber.yale.edu/genetics/c-david-allis . February 7, 2023.
  6. Downey . Philip . Profile of C. David Allis . . 2006 . 103 . 17 . 6425–6427 . 16618930 . 1458902 . 10.1073/pnas.0602256103 . 2006PNAS..103.6425D . free .
  7. News: Scalese . Sarah . Former SU professor named Japan Prize Laureate . October 19, 2021 . . February 4, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211019032800/https://thecollege.syr.edu/news-all/news-2014/2014-japan_prize/ . October 19, 2021.
  8. News: C. David Allis Named Wilson Professor of Biology . October 16, 2019 . . July 25, 1997 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191016065724/https://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=1403 . October 16, 2019.
  9. News: A Tribute to C. David Allis, PhD — Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics from 1998-2003 . February 11, 2023 . . January 24, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230211145213/https://news.med.virginia.edu/media-highlights/a-tribute-to-c-david-allis-phd-former-professor-in-the-department-of-biochemistry-and-molecular-genetics/ . February 11, 2023.
  10. Goldfarb . David S. . Gorovsky . Martin A. . Nuclear Dimorphism: Two Peas in a Pod . . 2009 . 19 . 11 . R449–R452 . 10.1016/j.cub.2009.04.023 . 19515351 . 9841779 . February 14, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230214062126/https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822%2809%2900984-1.pdf . February 14, 2023.
  11. Web site: 2014 Japan Prize Achievement - "Life Science" field . . February 15, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230215141059/https://www.japanprize.jp/data/prize/2014/e_2_achievements.pdf . February 15, 2023.
  12. James E. . Brownell . Jianxin . Zhou . Tamara . Ranalli . Ryuji . Kobayashi . Diane G. . Edmondson . Sharon Y. . Roth . C. David . Allis . Tetrahymena Histone Acetyltransferase A: A Homolog to Yeast Gcn5p Linking Histone Acetylation to Gene Activation . . 1996 . 84 . 6 . 843–851 . 10.1016/S0092-8674(00)81063-6 . 8601308 . free.
  13. Allis . C. David . "Modifying" My Career toward Chromatin Biology . . 2015 . 290 . 26 . 15904–15908 . 10.1074/jbc.X115.663229 . 25944906 . free . 4481195 .
  14. Allfrey . V. G. . Faulkner . R. . Mirsky . A. E. . Acetylation and methylation of histones and their possible role in the regulation of rna synthesis . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 1964 . 51 . 5 . 786–794 . free . 10.1073/pnas.51.5.786 . 14172992 . 300163. 1964PNAS...51..786A .
  15. Allis . C. David . Pursuing the Secrets of Histone Proteins: An Amazing Journey with a Remarkable Supporting Cast . Cell . 2018 . 175 . 1 . 18–21 . free . 10.1016/j.cell.2018.08.022 . 30217363 .
  16. Craig A. . Mizzen . Xiang-Jiao . Yang . Tetsuro . Kokubo . James E. . Brownell . Andrew J. . Bannister . Tom . Owen-Hughes . Jerry . Workman . Lian . Wang . Shelley L. . Berger . Tony . Kouzarides . Yoshihiro . Nakatani . C. David . Allis . The TAFII250 Subunit of TFIID Has Histone Acetyltransferase Activity . Cell . 1996 . 87 . 7 . 1261–1270 . 10.1016/S0092-8674(00)81821-8 . 8980232 . free . February 16, 2023 . April 15, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190415005054/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82421682.pdf.
  17. Michael J. . Hendzel . Yi . Wei . Michael A. . Mancini . Aaron . Van Hooser . Tamara . Ranalli . B. R. . Brinkley . David P. . Bazett-Jones . C. David . Allis . 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 . 1997 . 106 . 6 . 348–360 . 10.1007/s004120050256 . 9362543 . 29723188 . February 17, 2023.
  18. Jer-Yuan . Hsu . Zu-Wen . Sun . Xiumin . Li . Melanie . Reuben . Kelly . Tatchell . Douglas K. . Bishop . Jeremy M. . Grushcow . Cynthia J. . Brame . Jennifer A. . Caldwell . Donald F. . Hunt . Rueyling . Lin . M. Mitchell . Smith . C. David . Allis . Mitotic Phosphorylation of Histone H3 Is Governed by Ipl1/aurora Kinase and Glc7/PP1 Phosphatase in Budding Yeast and Nematodes . Cell . 2000 . 102 . 3 . 279–291 . 10.1016/S0092-8674(00)00034-9 . 10975519 . free .
  19. Peter . Cheung . Kirk G. . Tanner . Wang L. . Cheung . Paolo . Sassone-Corsi . John M. . Denu . C. David . Allis . Synergistic Coupling of Histone H3 Phosphorylation and Acetylation in Response to Epidermal Growth Factor Stimulation . . 2000 . 5 . 6 . 905–915 . 10.1016/s1097-2765(00)80256-7 . free . 10911985 .
  20. Judd C. . Rice . Scott D. . Briggs . Beatrix . Ueberheide . Cynthia M. . Barber . Jeffrey . Shabanowitz . Donald F. . Hunt . Yoichi . Shinkai . C. David . Allis . Histone Methyltransferases Direct Different Degrees of Methylation to Define Distinct Chromatin Domains . Molecular Cell . 2003 . 12 . 6 . 1591–1598 . 10.1016/s1097-2765(03)00479-9 . free . 14690610 .
  21. Brian D. . Strahl . Patrick A. . Grant . Scott D. . Briggs . Zu-Wen . Sun . James R. . Bone . Jennifer A. . Caldwell . Sahana . Mollah . Richard G. . Cook . Jeffrey . Shabanowitz . Donald F. . Hunt . C. David . Allis . Set2 Is a Nucleosomal Histone H3-Selective Methyltransferase That Mediates Transcriptional Repression . . 2002 . 22 . 5 . 1298–1306 . 10.1128/MCB.22.5.1298-1306.2002 . 11839797 . free . 134702 .
  22. Sun . Zu-Wen . Allis . C. David . Ubiquitination of histone H2B regulates H3 methylation and gene silencing in yeast . . 2002 . 418 . 6893 . 104–108 . 10.1038/nature00883 . 12077605 . 2002Natur.418..104S . 4338471 . February 18, 2023.
  23. Strahl . Brian D. . Allis . C. David . The language of covalent histone modifications . Nature . 2000 . 403 . 6765 . 41–45 . 10.1038/47412 . 10638745 . 2000Natur.403...41S . 4418993 . February 19, 2023.
  24. Jenuwein . Thomas . Allis . C. David . Thomas Jenuwein . Translating the histone code . . 293 . 5532 . 1074–1080 . 2001 . 11498575 . 10.1126/science.1063127 . 10.1.1.453.900 . 1883924 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230220075936/https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/doc/10.1.1.453.900 . February 20, 2023 . February 20, 2023.
  25. Chi . Ping . Allis . C. David . Wang . Gang Greg . Covalent histone modifications — miswritten, misinterpreted and mis-erased in human cancers . . 2010 . 10 . 7 . 457–469 . 10.1038/nrc2876 . 20574448 . 3262678.
  26. Dent . Sharon . Grewal . Shiv . C. David Allis (1951–2023) . Nature . 2023 . 614 . 7948 . 409 . 10.1038/d41586-023-00346-0 . 36737544 . 2023Natur.614..409D . 256577181 . free .
  27. Benjamin A. . Nacev . Lijuan . Feng . John D. . Bagert . Agata E. . Lemiesz . JianJiong . Gao . Alexey A. . Soshnev . Ritika . Kundra . Nikolaus . Schultz . Tom W. . Muir . C. David . Allis . The expanding landscape of 'oncohistone' mutations in human cancers . Nature . 2019 . 567 . 7749 . 473–478 . 10.1038/s41586-019-1038-1 . 30894748 . 6512987. 2019Natur.567..473N .
  28. Berger . Shelley L. . C. David Allis (1951–2023) . . 2023 . 379 . 6633 . 645 . 10.1126/science.adg7738 . 36795814 . 2023Sci...379..645B . 256901502 . free .
  29. Web site: C. David Allis . . February 3, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230203151709/https://www.amacad.org/person/c-david-allis . February 3, 2023.
  30. Web site: 2002 Dickson Prize Winner . . February 3, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221225023043/http://www.dicksonprize.pitt.edu/recipients/2002-allis.php . December 25, 2022.
  31. Web site: Massry Prize Winners (1996 – Present) . . 5 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221205090130/https://keck.usc.edu/massry-prize/past-laureates . 5 December 2022.
  32. News: C. David Allis to Receive the Third Annual Wiley Prize in the Biomedical Sciences . February 5, 2023 . Wiley Foundation . January 27, 2004 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230205140530/https://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/PressRelease/pressReleaseId-48955.html . February 5, 2023.
  33. Web site: C. David Allis . . February 5, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230205140846/http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20007397.html . February 5, 2023.
  34. Web site: Past A&S Alumni Award Winners (2002-2019) . February 6, 2023 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20221204212915/https://alumni.uc.edu/get-involved/college-networks/as/artsci-awards.html . December 4, 2022.
  35. Web site: C. David Allis . . February 6, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211206055845/https://gairdner.org/award_winners/c-david-allis/ . December 6, 2021.
  36. Web site: ASBMB–Merck Award . . February 6, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230206063205/https://www.asbmb.org/career-resources/awards-grants-fellowships/merck . February 6, 2023.
  37. Web site: Past Winners . . February 6, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230206071958/https://www.brandeis.edu/rosenstiel/rosenstiel-award/past.html . February 6, 2023.
  38. Web site: The 2014 Japan Prize . . February 6, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230202090327/https://www.japanprize.jp/en/prize_prof_2014_allis.html . February 2, 2023.
  39. Web site: Lauréat 2014 du prix Charles-Léopold Mayer : C. David Allis . . February 7, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230207142709/https://www.academie-sciences.fr/fr/Laureats/laureats-2014-prix-charles-leopold-mayer.html . February 7, 2023 . fr.
  40. Web site: C. David Allis . . January 16, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230116213123/https://breakthroughprize.org/Laureates/2/L60 . January 16, 2023.
  41. Web site: C. David Allis . Gruber Foundation . February 1, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230201085551/https://gruber.yale.edu/genetics/2016/c-david-allis . February 1, 2023.
  42. News: 2017 March of Dimes Prize awarded to Dr. C. David Allis for groundbreaking research . May 8, 2017 . . February 8, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230208085204/https://www.marchofdimes.org/about/news/2017-march-dimes-prize-awarded-to-dr-c-david-allis-groundbreaking-research . February 8, 2023.
  43. Web site: 2018 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award . . February 8, 2022 . February 8, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230208085333/https://laskerfoundation.org/winners/histone-modifications-and-gene-expression/.
  44. Web site: C. David Allis, Ph.D. . . February 8, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230208085640/https://nam.edu/member/?member_id=eecjXHFYIjFn2P2viXplMQ%3D%3D . February 8, 2023.
  45. 2022 Albany Prize Awarded for Pivotal Discoveries in Gene Regulation . October 14, 2022 . . October 13, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221014042935/https://amc.edu/news/2022-albany-prize-awarded-for-pivotal-discoveries-in-gene-regulation.cfm . October 14, 2022.
  46. News: Remembering a pioneer of chromatin biology . Rockefeller University . February 16, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230216064750/https://www.rockefeller.edu/news/33490-remembering-a-pioneer-of-chromatin-biology/ . February 16, 2023 . January 14, 2023.
  47. Web site: C. David Allis Mentorship Fund for Young Scientists . Rockefeller University . February 16, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230216072930/https://www.rockefeller.edu/support-our-science/allis-mentorship-fund-for-young-scientists/ . February 16, 2023.

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