American molecular biologist (1951–2023)
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.
[3] He died January 8, 2023, at a hospital in
Seattle ,
Washington .
[3]
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
TFII D 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]
References
^
"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 .
^
a
b
"Charles David Allis ("Dave")" .
The Cincinnati Enquirer . January 14, 2023. Archived from
the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved January 30, 2023 .
^
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 .
^
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 .
^
"C. David Allis" .
Gruber Foundation . Archived from
the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved February 7, 2023 .
^
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 .
^ 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 .
^
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 .
^
"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 .
^ 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 .
^
"2014 Japan Prize Achievement - "Life Science" field" (PDF) .
Japan Prize . Archived from
the original (PDF) on February 15, 2023. Retrieved February 15, 2023 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 TAFII 250 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^
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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ 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 .
^ Berger, Shelley L. (2023).
"C. David Allis (1951–2023)" .
Science . 379 (6633): 645.
Bibcode :
2023Sci...379..645B .
doi :
10.1126/science.adg7738 .
PMID
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S2CID
256901502 .
^
"C. David Allis" .
American Academy of Arts and Sciences . Archived from
the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved February 3, 2023 .
^
"2002 Dickson Prize Winner" .
Dickson Prize . Archived from
the original on December 25, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2023 .
^
"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 .
^
"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 .
^
"C. David Allis" .
National Academy of Sciences . Archived from
the original on February 5, 2023. Retrieved February 5, 2023 .
^
"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 .
^
"C. David Allis" .
Gairdner Foundation . Archived from
the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2023 .
^
"ASBMB–Merck Award" .
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology . Archived from
the original on February 6, 2023. Retrieved February 6, 2023 .
^
"Past Winners" .
Brandeis University . Archived from
the original on February 6, 2023. Retrieved February 6, 2023 .
^
"The 2014 Japan Prize" .
Japan Prize . Archived from
the original on February 2, 2023. Retrieved February 6, 2023 .
^
"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 .
^
"C. David Allis" .
Breakthrough Prize Board . Archived from
the original on January 16, 2023. Retrieved January 16, 2023 .
^
"C. David Allis" . Gruber Foundation. Archived from
the original on February 1, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2022 .
^
"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 .
^
"2018 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award" .
Lasker Foundation . Archived from
the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved February 8, 2022 .
^
"C. David Allis, Ph.D."
National Academy of Medicine . Archived from
the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved February 8, 2023 .
^
"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 .
^
"Remembering a pioneer of chromatin biology" . Rockefeller University. January 14, 2023. Archived from
the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023 .
^
"C. David Allis Mentorship Fund for Young Scientists" . Rockefeller University. Archived from
the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023 .
Mathematics
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International National Academics Other