Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Martin Gibbs and the peaceful uses of nuclear radiation, 14C

  • Historical
  • Published:
Photosynthesis Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This abstract is a prologue to this paper. Prior to his health failing, Martin Gibbs began writing remembrances of his education and beginning a science career, particularly on the peaceful uses of nuclear radiation, at the U.S. Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Camp Upton, NY. Two years before his death Martin provided one of us (Govindjee) a draft text narrating his science beginnings in anticipation of publication in Photosynthesis Research. Govindjee edited his draft and returned it to him. Later, when it became difficult for him to complete it, he phoned Govindjee and expressed the desire that Govindjee publish this story, provided he kept it close to his original. Certain parts of Martin’s narrations have appeared without references (Gibbs 1999). The Gibbs family made a similar request since the narrations contained numerous early personal accounts. Clanton Black recently presented an elegant tribute on Martin Gibbs and his entire science career (Black 2008). Clanton was given the draft, which he and Govindjee then agreed to finish. This chronicle is their effort to place Gibbs’s narrations about his education and his maturation scientifically, in context with the beginnings of biological chemistry work with carbon-14 at the BNL (see Gibbs 1999). Further, these events are placed in context with those times of newly discovered radioisotopes which became available as part of the intensive nuclear research of World War II (WW II). Carbon-14, discovered during WW II nuclear research in 1940, was extremely useful and quickly led to the rapid discovery of new carbon metabolism pathways and biochemical cycles, e.g., photosynthetic carbon assimilation, within a decade after WW II.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Notes

  1. It was serendipitous that the article was on Panium antidotale, a warm season grass from the King Ranch, because it employs C4 photosynthesis, unknown then, which Gibbs persistently challenged during the 1970s and 1980s. In fact Gibbs’s data on leaf mineral content is in agreement with a character of C4 plants known today, namely the efficient use of mineral nutrients in photosynthesis and growth (Black 1973; Brown 1978; Gerwick and Black 1979; Moore and Black 1979).

  2. Both Robert Emerson and Eugene Rabinowitch later were Ph.D. thesis advisors of one of us (Govindjee) during the late 1950s.

Abbreviations

BNL:

Brookhaven National Laboratory

EMP:

Embden, Meyerhof, and Parnas

HMP:

Hexose mono phosphate

WW II:

World War II

References

  • Amaldi E, D’Agostino O, Fermi E, Pontecorvo B, Rasetti F, Segre E (1935) Artificial radioactivity produced by neutron bombardment II. Proc R Soc Lond A 149:522–558

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson EB (1936) Induced radioactivity of mercury. Nature 137:457

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arnon DI, Allen MB, Whatley FR (1954) Photosynthesis by isolated chloroplasts. II Photophosphorylation, the conversion of light into phosphate bond energy. J Am Chem Soc 76:6324–6329

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Arnon DI, Whatley FR, Allen MB (1958) Assimilatory power in photosynthesis. Science 127:1026–1034

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Aronoff S, Barker HA, Calvin M (1947) Distribution of labeled carbon in sugar from barley. J Biol Chem 169:459–460

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Axelrod B, Banduyski RS, Greiner CM, Jang R (1953) The metabolism of hexose and pentose phosphates in higher plants. J Biol Chem 202:619–634

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barnes CR (1893) On the food of green plants. Bot Gaz 18:403–411

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnett RC, Stafford HA, Conn EC, Vennesland B (1953) Phosphogluconic acid dehydrogenase in higher plants. Plant Physiol 28:115–122

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bassham JA (1963) The path of carbon in photosynthesis. Sci Am 206:88–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bassham JA, Calvin M (1957) The path of carbon in photosynthesis. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs

    Google Scholar 

  • Bassham JA, Benson AA, Kay LD, Harris AZ, Wilson AT, Calvin M (1954) The path of carbon in photosynthesis. XXI. The cyclic regeneration of carbon dioxide acceptor. J Am Chem Soc 76:1760–1770

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Beever H, Gibbs M (1954) The direct oxidation pathway in plant respiration. Plant Physiol 29:322–324

    Google Scholar 

  • Benson AA (2002) Following the path of carbon in photosynthesis: a personal account. Photosynth Res 73:29–49

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Benson AA, Calvin M (1947) The dark reductions of photosynthesis. Science 105:648–649

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Black CC (1973) Photosynthetic carbon fixation in relation to net CO2 uptake. Annu Rev Plant Physiol 24:253–286

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Black CC (2008) Martin Gibbs (1922–2006): pioneer of 14C research, sugar metabolism & photosynthesis; vigilant Editor-in-Chief of Plant Physiology; sage Educator; and humanistic Mentor. Photosynth Res 95:1–10

  • Bloom B, Stetten MR, Stetten D (1953) Evaluation of catabolic pathways of glucose in mammalian systems. J Biol Chem 204:681–694

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bonner J (1950) Plant biochemistry. Academic Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown RH (1978) A difference in N use efficiency in C3 and C4 plants and its implication in adaptation and evolution. Crop Sci 18:93–98

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Buchholz JT (1939) The embryogeny of Cunninghamia. Am J Bot 27:877–883

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen C, Gibbs M (1991) Glucose respiration in the intact chloroplast of Chlamydomonas reinhardii. Plant Physiol 95:82–87

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Couri D, Racker E (1959) The oxidative pentose phosphate cycle 5. Complete oxidation of glucose 6-phosphate in a reconstructed system of the oxidative pentose phosphate cycle. Arch Biochem Biophys 83:195–205

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • DeMoss RD, Bard RC, Gunsalus IC (1951) The mechanism of the heterolactic fermentation: a new route of ethanol formation. J Bacteriol 62:449–451

    Google Scholar 

  • DeTurk EE (1948) Elected a FELLOW of the agronomy society. J Am Soc Agron 40:1112

    Google Scholar 

  • Dickens F (1938) Oxidation of phosphohexonate and pentose phosphoric acids by yeast enzymes: Oxidation of phosphohexonate. II. Oxidation of pentose phosphoric acids. Biochem J 32:1626–1644

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Entner N, Doudoroff M (1952) Glucose and gluconic acid oxidation by Pseudomonas saccharophila. J Biol Chem 196:853–858

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Evans WL (1942) Some less familiar aspects of carbohydrate chemistry. Chem Rev 31:537–560

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Frenkel A (1954) Light-induced phosphorylation by cell-free extracts of photosynthetic bacteria. J Am Chem Soc 76:5568–5569

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fuller RC (1999) Forty years of microbial photosynthesis research: where it came from and where it led to. Photosynth Res 62:1–29

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fuller RC, Gibbs M (1956) Aberrant patterns of some photosynthetic enzymes. Plant Physiol 31:31–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Fuller RC, Gibbs M (1959) Intracellular and phylogenetic distribution of ribulose 1,5 diphosphate carboxylase. Plant Physiol 34:324–328

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gaffron H, Brown AH, French S, Livingston RS, Rabinowitch EI, Strehler BL, Tolbert NE (eds) (1957) Research in photosynthesis. Proceedings of the 2nd Gatlinburg conference on photosynthesis in 1955. Interscience, New York

  • Gerwick B, Black CC (1979) Sulfur assimilation of C4 plants. Intercellular compartmentation of adenosine 5′-triphosphate sulfurylase in crabgrass leaves. Plant Physiol 64:590–593

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gest H, Gibbs M (1952) Preparation and properties of cell-free “formic hydrogenlyase” from Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol 63:661–663

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M (1947) The chemical relation of the leaf, sheath, and stem of blue panicum, Panicum antidotale Retz. Plant Physiol 22:325–327

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M (1948) Chemical changes occurring during the growth of diploid and tetraploid Datura stramonium. PhD Thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Gibbs M (1949) Distribution of labeled carbon in plant sugars after a short period of photosynthesis in C14O2. J Biol Chem 179:499–500

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M (ed) (1950) CO2 assimilation reaction in biological systems. BNL-70. Technical Information Services AEC, Oak Ridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M (1951) The position of C14 in sunflower leaf metabolites after exposure of leaves to short periods of photosynthesis and darkness in an atmosphere of C14O2. Plant Physiol 26:549–556

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M (1952) Triosephosphate dehydrogenase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in the pea plant. Nature 170:164

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M (1954) The respiration of the pea plant. Oxidation of hexose phosphate and pentose phosphate by cell-free extracts of pea leaves. Plant Physiol 29:34–39

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M (1959) Metabolism of carbon compounds. Annu Rev Plant Physiol 10:329–378

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M (1999) Educator and editor. Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol 50:1–25

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M (2003) The summer of ‘51. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 312:81–83

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M, Beever H (1955) Glucose dissimilation in the higher plant. Effect of age of tissue. Plant Physiol 30:343–347

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M, DeMoss RD (1951) Ethanol formation in Pseudomonas lindneri. Arch Biochem Biophys 34:478–479

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M, DeMoss RD (1954) Anaerobic dissimilation of C14-labeled glucose and fructose by Pseudomonas lindneri. J Biol Chem 207:689–694

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M, Horecker BL (1954) The mechanism of pentose phosphate conversion to hexose monophosphate, II, with pea leaf and pea root preparations. J Biol Chem 208:813–820

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M, Kandler O (1957) Asymmetric distribution of C14 in sugars formed during photosynthesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 43:446–451

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M, Dumrose R, Bennett FA, Bubeck MR (1950) On the mechanism of bacterial fermentation to lactic acid studied with C14-glucose. J Biol Chem 184:545–549

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M, Dumrose R, Acher F (1952) Biochemical preparations, vol 2. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M, Cochrane VW, Paege LM, Wolin H (1954) Fermentation of d-xylose-1-C14 by Fusarium lini Bolley. Arch Biochem Biophys 50:237–242

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs M, Earl JM, Ritchie JL (1955) Metabolism of ribose-1-C14 by cell-free extracts of yeast. J Biol Chem 217:161–168

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Govindjee GH, Beatty JT, Allen JF (eds) (2005) Discoveries in photosynthesis. Springer, Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunsalus IC, Gibbs M (1952) The heterolactic fermentation II. Position of C14 in the products of glucose dissimilation by Leuconostoc mesenteroides. J Biol Chem 194:871–875

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hanson JB (1989) History of the American Society of Plant Physiologists. Chapter 5 and Epilogue. American Society of Plant Physiologists, Rockville

    Google Scholar 

  • Horecker BL (1951) Phosphorus metabolism, vol I. The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamen MD (1957) Isotopic tracers in biology, 3rd edn. Academic Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamen MD (1963) The early history of carbon-14. J Chem Educ 40:234–242

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kamen MD, Ruben S (1940) Production and properties of carbon 14. Phys Rev 58:194

    Google Scholar 

  • Kandler O (1957) Über die Beziehungen zwischen Phosphathaushalt and Photosynthese. IV. Zur Frage einer stoichiometrischen Beziehung zwischen CO2-Reduktion und Phosphatumsatz. Z Naturforsch 12b:271–280

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kandler O, Gibbs M (1956) Asymmetric distribution of C14 in the glucose phosphates found during photosynthesis. Plant Physiol 31:411–412

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly GJ, Gibbs M (1973) Nonreversible glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase of plant tissues. Plant Physiol 52:111–118

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Latzko E, Gibbs M (1968) Distribution and activity of enzymes of photosynthesis in spinach. Z Pflanzenphysiol 59:184–191

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McGowan RE, Gibbs M (1974) Comparative enzymology of the glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase form Pisum sativum. Plant Physiol 54:312–319

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Miller EC (1938) Plant physiol. McGraw-Hill Book Co Inc., New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore R, Black CC (1979) Nitrogen assimilation pathways in leaf mesophyll and Bundle sheath cells of C4 photosynthesis plants formulated from comparative studies with Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop. Plant Physiol 64:309–313

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mukund S, Adams MWW (1995) Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate ferredoxin oxidoreductase, a novel tungsten-containing enzyme with a potential glycolytic role in the hyperthermophilic archaeon, Pyrococcus furiosus. J Biol Chem 270:8389–8392

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Noggle GR (1945) The physiology of polyploidy in plants. PhD Thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Pfeffer W (1900) The physiology of plants, vol 1. English Translation. Clarendon Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Putman EW, Hassid WZ, Krotkov G, Barker HA (1948) Preparation of radioactive carbon-labeled sugars by photosynthesis. J Biol Chem 173:785–795

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Quayle JR, Fuller RC, Benson AA, Calvin M (1954) Enzymatic carboxylation of ribulose diphosphate. J Am Chem Soc 76:3610–3611

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rabinowitch E (1961) Robert Emerson, National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoirs XXXV: 112–131

  • Riddihough G, Purnell BA, Travis J (2008) Introduction to freedom of expression on gene regulation. Science 319:1781–1799

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Romer A (1970) Radiochemistry and the discovery of isotopes. Dover Publications Inc., New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruben S, Kamen MD (1940) Radioactive carbon of long half-life. Phys Rev 57:549

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ruben S, Kamen MD (1941) Long-lived radioactive carbon: C14. Phys Rev 59:349–354

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • San Pietro A (2008) Memories: from protein synthesis to photosynthesis. Photosynth Res 96:185–199

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • San Pietro A, Lang HM (1956) Accumulation of reduced pyridine nucleotides by illuminated grana. Science 124:118–119

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Satina S, Blakeslee AF (1941) Periclinal chimeras in Datura stramonium in relation to development of leaf and flower. Am J Bot 28:862–871

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seegmiller GE, Horecker BL (1951) The synthesis of glucose-6-phosphate and 6-phosphogluconate. J Biol Chem 192:175–180

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Soddy F (1913–1914) Intra-atomic charge. Nature 92:399–400

    Google Scholar 

  • Stiller M (1962) The path of carbon in photosynthesis. Annu Rev Plant Physiol 13:151–169

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stumpf PK (1952) Glycolytic enzymes in higher plants. Annu Rev Plant Physiol 3:17–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Udenfriend S, Gibbs M (1949) Preparation of C14 uniformly labeled fructose by means of photosynthesis and paper chromatography. Science 110:708–709

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vittorio P, Krotkov G, Reen GB (1950) Labelling in the glucose deposited as starch during photosynthesis. Proc Soc Biol Med Exp 74:775–776

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Warburg O, Christian W (1939a) Proteinteil des kohlenhydrat-oxydierenden ferments der gaerung. Biochem Zeit 301:221–222

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Warburg O, Christian W (1939b) Isolierung und kristillisation des protiens des oxydierenden garungsferments. Biochem Zeit 303:40–68

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wood HG (1950) Comments on CO2 fixation in biochemistry. In: Gibbs M (ed) CO2 assimilation reactions in biological systems. BNL-70. Technical Services AEC, Oak Ridge, pp 1–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood HG, Werkman CH (1935) The utilization of CO2 in the dissimilation of glycerol by the propionic acid bacteria. J Bacteriol 30:332

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wood HG, Lifson N, Lorber V (1945) The position of fixed carbon in glucose from rat liver glycogen. J Biol Chem 159:475–489

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Both of us (Clanton and Govindjee) are grateful to Martin Gibbs for sharing his early life with us; we thank you, Marty, as many lovingly called you. We thank the children of Martin and Karen Gibbs for encouraging this chronicle. Clanton is indebted to Angie Stockton for her skillful assistance and patience with multiple drafts of this manuscript and to Syed Ali for preparing figures. Clanton personally is grateful to Martin Gibbs for accepting him as a raw postdoctoral student, teaching him to think more critically, and for being a career mentor; and he is indebted to Tony San Pietro for teaching him to present research data as quantitatively as possible. We thank Louise Anderson, Clint Fuller, and Tony San Pietro for reading and commenting on the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department, Fred C. Davison Life Sciences Complex, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Clanton C. Black

  2. Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois, 265 Morrill Hall, 505 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Govindjee

Authors
  1. Clanton C. Black
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Govindjee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Clanton C. Black.

Additional information

Honoring Martin Gibbs (1922–2006).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Black, C.C., Govindjee Martin Gibbs and the peaceful uses of nuclear radiation, 14C. Photosynth Res 99, 63–80 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-008-9357-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-008-9357-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation