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Theodor Otto Diener

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Theodor Otto Diener
Born(1921-02-28)28 February 1921
Zürich, Switzerland
Died28 March 2023(2023-03-28) (aged 102)
Beltsville, Maryland, U.S.
Alma materSwiss Federal Institute of Technology (Dr sc. ETH 1946)
Known forDiscovery of viroids
Spouses
  • Shirley Baumann
    ​
    (divorced)​
  • Sybil Fox
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1968; died 2012)​
Children3
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsPlant pathology
InstitutionsWashington State University, United States Department of Agriculture

Theodor Otto Diener (28 February 1921 – 28 March 2023) was a Swiss-American plant pathologist.[1] In 1971, he discovered that the causative agent of the potato spindle tuber disease is not a virus, but a novel agent, which consists solely of a short strand of single-stranded RNA without a protein capsid, eighty times smaller than the smallest viruses. He proposed to name it, and similar agents yet to be discovered, viroids. Viroids displaced viruses as the smallest known infectious agents.

Biography

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Diener was born in Zürich, Switzerland on 28 February 1921.[2][3] He attended the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, from which he graduated with a Dr.sc.nat.ETH degree in 1946.[4] After graduation, he worked as a research assistant at the Swiss Federal Experiment Station for Viticulture and Horticulture at Wädenswil,[4] where he discovered on leaves of a cherry tree the first occurrence in more than 100 years of a rust fungus (Puccinia cerasi), a fungus which is common south of the Alps, but is rarely seen in the north.[5]

In 1949, he emigrated to the United States, where, after a brief tenure at the Rhode Island State College, he accepted a position as assistant plant pathologist at Washington State University's outlying Irrigation Experiment Station in Prosser,[4] where he showed that an unusual amino acid, pipecolic acid, accumulates only in peach leaves bearing symptoms of Western-X-Disease.[6] and that injection of the amino acid into healthy peach seedlings resulted in abnormalities which strikingly resembled disease symptoms, thus indicating that pipecolic acid is intimately associated with the disease's molecular pathogenesis.[7]

In 1959, Diener joined the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service Pioneering Laboratory for Plant Virology at the Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland,[4] where he investigated the cause of the potato spindle tuber disease. This led to the unexpected discovery of the causative agent, a small RNA molecule, eighty times smaller than the smallest known viruses, for which he proposed the term viroid.[8][9] Later, viroids were characterized as single stranded covalently closed circular RNA molecules occurring as highly base-paired rod-like structures.[10] Viroids, together with viroid-like satellite RNAs have been officially endorsed by the International Committee for Virus Taxonomy (ICTV) as a novel order of subviral agents,[11] which, in its 2014 publication, encompassed 2 families, 8 genera and 32 species.[12]

In 1989, Diener hypothesized that the unique properties of viroids make them more plausible candidates as "living relics" of a hypothetical, pre-cellular RNA world than are Introns or other RNAs then considered as such.[13] In 2016, Diener reevaluated his hypothesis, with the result that both reviewers agreed that Diener's hypothesis was still valid, but that alternative hypotheses positing a more recent origin of viroids from cellular RNAs needed also to be considered.[14]

Diener had three sons with his first wife, Shirley Baumann, before they divorced. He was then married to Sybil Fox from 1968 until her death in 2012.[15] Diener died at his home in Beltsville, Maryland on 28 March 2023, at the age of 102.[15]

Diener published 2 books on viroids, 120 peer-reviewed articles, 53 chapters in books, and lectured on viroids worldwide

Awards and honors

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Washington Post obituary
  2. ^ Lebensdaten nach American Men and Women of Science, Thomson Gale 2004
  3. ^ Who's who in Frontiers of Science and Technology. Marquis Who's Who. 1985. ISBN 978-0-8379-5702-9.
  4. ^ a b c d Independent Academia
  5. ^ Diener, T.O. (1949) Ein Rostpilz auf Kirschenblättern. Schweriz. Zeitschr. f. Obst-und Weinbau. 58:228-230.
  6. ^ Diener, T.O., Dekker, C.A. (1954) Isolation and identification of L-pipecolic acid from Western-X-diseased peach leaves. Phytopathology: 44:643-645.
  7. ^ Diener, T.O., and Weaver, M.L. (1957) On the significance of proline and pipecolic acid accumulation in Western-X-diseased peach leaves. Phytopathology: 47:8 ISBN 978-1-47872253-3.
  8. ^ Diener TO (1971). "Potato spindle tuber "virus". IV. A replicating, low molecular weight RNA". Virology. 45 (2): 411–28. doi:10.1016/0042-6822(71)90342-4. PMID 5095900.
  9. ^ Diener TO (1972). "Potato spindle tuber viroid. 8. Correlation of infectivity with a UV-absorbing component and thermal denaturation properties of the RNA". Virology. 50 (2): 606–9. doi:10.1016/0042-6822(72)90412-6. PMID 4636118.
  10. ^ Sänger HL, Klotz G, Riesner D, Gross HJ, Kleinschmidt AK (1976). "Viroids are single-stranded covalently closed circular RNA molecules existing as highly base-paired rod-like structures". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 73 (11): 3852–6. Bibcode:1976PNAS...73.3852S. doi:10.1073/pnas.73.11.3852. PMC 431239. PMID 1069269.
  11. ^ King, A.M.Q., Adams. M.J., Carstens, E.B., Lefkovitz, E.J. et al. (2012) Virus Taxonomy . Elsevier Academic Press, PP. 1221-1259, TN: 949565
  12. ^ Di Serio F, Flores R, Verhoeven JT, Li SF, Pallás V, Randles JW, Sano T, Vidalakis G, Owens RA (2014). "Current status of viroid taxonomy". Archives of Virology. 159 (12): 3467–78. doi:10.1007/s00705-014-2200-6. PMID 25216773.
  13. ^ Diener TO (1989). "Circular RNAs: relics of precellular evolution?". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 86 (23): 9370–4. Bibcode:1989PNAS...86.9370D. doi:10.1073/pnas.86.23.9370. PMC 298497. PMID 2480600.
  14. ^ Diener TO (2016). "Viroids: "living fossils" of primordial RNAs?". Biology Direct. 11 (1): 15. doi:10.1186/s13062-016-0116-7. PMC 4807594. PMID 27016066.
  15. ^ a b Langer, Emily (14 April 2023). "Theodor Diener, scientist who discovered the tiny viroid, dies at 102". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  16. ^ Ruth Allen Award
  17. ^ National Academy of Sciences (U.S.) (1885). Report of the National Academy of Sciences. National Academies. pp. 57–. NAP:12071.
  18. ^ Wolf Prize in Agriculture - 1987
  19. ^ The President's National Medal of Science
  20. ^ E.C. Stakman Award
  21. ^ Agricultural Research Service
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