FRIEDRICH MIESCHER: BIOGRAPHY, CONTRIBUTIONS AND DISCOVERIES - ARTE - 2024

Friedrich Miescher (1844-1895) was a Swiss scientist whose research led him to discover the determining factors for the identification of DNA through the isolation of molecules rich in phosphate, identifying what is now known as nucleic acid.

Molecular biology deals with the study of the function, composition, and structure of molecules, as well as the processes of replicating, transcribing and translating genetic material. Scientists in this area study cell systems and try to understand how they interact in the synthesis of RNA, DNA, and protein.

Miescher was the first to discover nucleic acid. Source: wikipedia.org

One hundred years before Rosalind Franklin and Watson and Crick, Miescher made the first discovery that gave rise to all the experiments and theories about heredity in living beings, through the observation of the behavior of the molecules that make up the genetic material.

Nucleic acids were the starting point for all subsequent research work that resulted in the discovery of the DNA molecule and the awareness of its impact on the evolutionary process of species.

The physician and researcher Friedrich Miescher was a visionary for his time and launched one of the most significant scientific revolutions in history, which has produced important medical advances to date.

Biography

Early years

Johannes Friedrich Miescher was born in August 1844 in Switzerland, in a city located right on the border between Germany and France called Basel. His parents were Friedrich Miescher-His and Charlotte Antonie His.

His family, passionate about science, marked the path that led this important biologist and scientist to take the first steps in one of the most transcendental investigations in the history of the evolution of life.

His father and uncle presided over the chairs of anatomy and physiology at the University of Basel, and this tradition led Miescher to study medicine.

After suffering from typhoid fever, his hearing was permanently compromised; this forced her to take a break from her work in Göttingen with the organic chemist Adolf Stecker. Despite this hearing disorder, he achieved his doctorate in Medicine in 1867 at 23 years of age.

The following year Miescher traveled to Tübingen (Germany) to study in the laboratory of Ernst Felix Hoppe-Seyler, a forerunner of biochemistry and who called the red blood pigment hemoglobin.

Miescher used bandages with remains of pus brought from a neighboring hospital and managed to isolate an acidic substance from the leukocytes.

Scientist and teacher

As a consequence of this research, he moved to Leipzig to study physiology for a year in the laboratory of the fellow researcher Carl Ludwig, and later became a professor of physiology.

Together with his disciples, he continued his research on the chemistry of nucleic acids, even without understanding their function. However, his discoveries resulted in the subsequent identification of nucleic acids as the undisputed carriers of heredity.

This was a very important contribution in Albrecht Kossel's investigation of the chemical structure of nuclein.

In 1889 his pupil Richard Altmann named nuclein with its current name: nucleic acid. In addition to this, in other investigations Miescher determined that the concentrations of carbon dioxide in the blood were those that regulated respiration.

Death

On August 26, 1895, Miescher died in Davos (Switzerland), a victim of tuberculosis. In Tübingen a laboratory that was part of the Max Planck Society was named in his honor; Likewise, a scientific research institute in Basel, his hometown, bears his name.

Contributions and discoveries

The contributions to science and its discoveries have transcended over the decades, they have impacted and supported new generations of researchers within the field of molecular biology.

From the substance in the nucleus of the cell that Miescher found, various researchers have been able to carry out experiments and tests that henceforth led today's scientists to decipher and understand how the human genome works.

Nuclein

On February 26, 1869, Miescher discovered that the nucleus of the cell had a different chemical composition from the protein and any of the previously known compounds. For the first time, DNA was isolated from the nuclei of white blood cells: it was an acid that he called nuclein.

When analyzing this result, he realized that it was a complex element, formed among other elements by phosphorus and nitrogen. The amounts were different from any other biological material observed, suggesting that this had not been mentioned or described before and that it was particularly related to the nucleus.

Nuclein is now known as nucleic acid and there are two types: DNA and RNA. These are the biomolecules responsible for carrying out the vital processes and the basic functions of the body because they are in charge of controlling and directing protein synthesis, as well as providing information on biological characteristics.

This discovery was published in 1871, since until then it did not seem something relevant. Later, Albrecht Kossel carried out studies of the chemical structure and immediately released one of the discoveries that has produced medical advances that could not be predicted in his time.

Studies in salmon

The contempt or indifference of other scientists for his work led him in 1874 to carry out other investigations on the same experiment and he began to work with the sperm of salmon.

To achieve his goals he would get up early on the banks of the Rhine, in order to obtain fresh fish and to be able to isolate the material from the center of the cell nucleus at a temperature of 2 ° C.

He discovered that a number of substances were present in these specimens: nucleic acid and another that he called protamine, which was related to other low-molecular-mass basic proteins such as histones.

At that time Friedrich Miescher had no idea that all this discovery was related to the processes of fertilization and inheritance. In fact, he denied his participation in these phenomena since, like the rest of contemporary biologists, he defended the idea that proteins were responsible for these effects.

References

1. "Biography of Friedrich Miescher - Who was" in Quien.net. Retrieved on July 1, 2019 from Who: who.net
2. Johan Friedrich Miescher at EcuRed. Retrieved on July 1, 2019 from EcuRed: ecured.cu
3. "Friedrich Miescher" in Eeever you. Retrieved on July 1, 2019 from Eeever you: eeever.com
4. Dahm, Ralf "The Discovery of DNA" in Research and Science. Retrieved on July 2, 2019 from Research and Science: investigacionyciencia.es
5. Miescher, Johann Friedrich II in VL People. Retrieved on July 1, 2019 from VL People: vlp.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de