Efraim Racker
Efraim Racker (June 28, 1913 – September 9, 1991) was an Austrian biochemist who was responsible
for identifying and purifying Factor 1 (F1), the first part of the ATP synthase enzyme to be characterised.
F1 is only a part of a larger ATP synthase complex known as Complex V. It is a peripheral membrane
protein attached to component Fo, which is integral to the membrane.[1]
Early life
Efraim Racker was born to a Jewish family in 1913 in Neu Sandez, Austrian Galicia, and grew up in
Vienna. His elder brother, Heinrich Racker, was to become a famous psychoanalyst. Efraim Racker was
studying medicine at the University of Vienna when Hitler invaded in 1938. Racker fled to Great Britain,
where he took a job in a mental hospital in Wales. His research focused on the biochemical causes for
mental diseases. During the war, Racker was given the opportunity to practice medicine, but he decided
to move to the United States to continue his research.[2]
Career
In the U.S., he accepted a position as a research associate in physiology at the University of Minnesota in
Minneapolis from 1941 to 1942. While investigating the biochemical basis for brain diseases, he
discovered that the polio virus inhibited glycolysis in the brains of mice. He eventually left his research
position for a job as a physician at the Harlem Hospital in New York City. In 1944 he became an associate
professor of microbiology at the New York University Medical School, where he continued his work on
glycolysis.[2]
In 1952 he accepted a position at Yale Medical School, but left after two years to accept the position of
chief of the Nutrition and Physiology Department at the Public Health Research Institute of the City of
New York. It was here that Racker demonstrated that glycolysis was dependent on ATPase and the
continuous regeneration of ADP and phosphate. Maynard E. Pullam joined Racker's staff in 1953, and
decided to uncover the mechanism of ATP synthesis in mitochondria and chloroplasts. Joined by Anima
Datta and Harvey S. Penefsky, they set out to identify the enzymes used in ATP synthesis.[2]
Racker left the Public Health Research Institute in 1966 to found the biochemistry department at Cornell
University. He continued his research at Cornell, and was awarded many honors and prizes, including the
Warren Triennial Prize in 1974, the National Medal of Science in 1976, the Gairdner Award in 1980, and
the America Society of Biological Chemistry's Sober Memorial Lectureship. In addition, he was
appointed to the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.[3] Efraim Racker
Efraim Racker died in 1991, but not before coining the
phrase, "Don't waste clean thinking on dirty enzymes,"
which is often quoted as one of "The Ten
Commandments of Enzymology".[2]
Discovery
Racker and his associates, Anima Datta, Maynard
Pullmand, and Harvey Penefsky, worked to isolate the
enzymes involved in ATP synthesis. They observed
that isolated mitochondrial fragments were capable of
respiration but not able to synthesize ATP. Racker and
Receiving the Sober Memorial Lectureship in
his co-workers concluded that oxidative
1982
phosphorylation could be restored by addition of the
Born June 28, 1913
supernatant from the centrifuging. The complex
Neu Sandez, Austrian Galicia
making this restoration possible was named Factor 1 or
(now Nowy Sącz, Poland)
F1 as it is a necessary coupling factor for ATPase
activity. This discovery of the first enzyme of oxidative Died September 9, 1991 (aged 78)
phosphorylation was identified and purified in 1960.[4] Syracuse, New York
Nationality Austrian
The factor that binds F1 to the membrane, Fo, was
Education University of Vienna
discovered later in conjunction with Yasuo Kagawa.
This particle was found to be sensitive to the antibiotic Known for Identifying and Factor 1 (F1), the
oligomycin and thus named Fo. This discovery had the first part of the ATP synthase
added benefit of silencing any critics of the role of F1 enzyme to be characterised
in oxidative phosphorylation because it conferred Relatives Heinrich Racker (brother)
oligomycin sensitivity on the ATPase activity Awards Warren Triennial Prize (1974)
complex.[4] Once both of these factors were identified National Medal of Science (1976)
Racker was able to confirm Peter D. Mitchell's Gairdner Award (1980)
hypothesis that contrary to popular opinion, ATP
Scientific career
synthesis was not coupled to respiration through a
Fields Biochemistry
high-energy intermediate but instead by a
transmembrane proton gradient.[2] Institutions University of Minnesota; Harlem
Hospital, New York; New York
F1 is a critical part of ATP synthesis within the University Medical School; Yale
mitochondria. In its absence, Complex V is not able to Medical School; Public Health
create the proton gradient necessary to produce ATP.[1] Research Institute, New York;
It is responsible for coupling the oxidation of nutrients Cornell University
to the synthesis of ATP from ADP and inorganic
phosphates.[4]
On September 6, 1991, Racker was felled by a severe stroke,
and died in Syracuse three days after.
References
1. Cox, Michael M. and David L. Nelson. Lehninger
Principles of Biochemistry 4th Edition. New York:
WH Freeman and Company. 2005 ATPsynthase
2. Kresge, Nicole, Robert D. Simoni and Robert L. Hill. http://www.atpsynthase.info/Basics.html
"Unraveling the Enzymology of Oxidative
Phosphorylation: The Work of Efraim Racker".
Journal of Biological Chemistry Vol. 281, Issue 4. January 27, 2006.
http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/full/281/4/e4
3. University, Cornell. "Biographical timeline | Efraim Racker" (https://efraimracker.library.cornel
l.edu/about/timeline). efraimracker.library.cornell.edu. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
4. "Efraim Racker". Biographical Memoirs, Volume 70. National Academy of Sciences. 1996.
http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/biomems/eracker.html
External links
Biography (http://www.nap.edu/readingroom.php?book=biomems&page=eracker.html) - The
National Academies Press
Efraim Racker, Scientist and Artist, June 28, 1913 - September 9, 1991 (https://efraimracker.
library.cornell.edu/), Cornell University Library
Efraim Racker-Art Albums (https://efraimracker.library.cornell.edu/art-albums)
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