The contributions of Rupert Best to the modern concept of the nature of viruses

Andrew D. W. Geering

doi:10.1071/HR23022

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Previous Next Contents Vol 35(2)

The contributions of Rupert Best to the modern concept of the nature of viruses

Andrew D. W. Geering

^A ^*

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: a.geering@uq.edu.au

Historical Records of Australian Science 35(2) 198-206 https://doi.org/10.1071/HR23022

Published online: 28 March 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Australian Academy of Science. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Rupert Jethro Best (1903–91), working alone at the Waite Agricultural Research Institute in Adelaide between 1934 and 1937, was among the first to purify tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and to propose that it was a complex macromolecule containing protein and another reactive group that was responsible for infectivity of the virus. However, his research was completely overshadowed by that of Wendell Stanley and the duo of Frederick Bawden and Norman (aka Bill) Pirie, working in the United States of America and Great Britain, respectively, to the point where Best is not even mentioned in modern histories of TMV. Many factors have contributed to this lack of recognition for Best. Professor James Prescott, a soil scientist and Best’s supervisor at the Waite Institute, failed to appreciate the significance of his research, leading to critical delays in publication that prevented him from claiming precedence for purifying TMV. When Best’s research was eventually published, it was in Australian journals that were not broadly distributed, resulting in minimal international exposure for his research. The plant virology community within which he worked in Australia was very small and entirely focused on plant disease control, and not concerned with fundamental questions about the composition of viruses. Communication with similarly interested scientists in the Northern Hemisphere was hindered by the great distances involved. In this paper, pioneering research done by Best on TMV is reviewed, and placed in context with that undertaken by Stanley and by Bawden and Pirie, who are best remembered for purifying TMV and characterising its physicochemical properties.

Keywords: agriculture, Frederick Bawden, history of virology, microbiology, plants, review, tobamovirus, viruses, Wendell Stanley.

References

Anonymous (1926) The University of Adelaide: examination results: Faculty of Science. The Register (Adelaide, South Australia), 11 December, p. 9.

Anonymous (1927) The Mile-End accident: killed by fall of earth, The Chronicle (Adelaide, South Australia), 9 April, p. 46.

Anonymous (1931) Baby daughter and Rennie Medal within a month, The News (Adelaide, South Australia), 19 December, p. 1.

Bawden, F. C., Pirie, N. W., Bernal, J. D., and Fankuchen, I. (1936) Liquid crystalline substances from virus-infected plants, Nature, 138, 1051-1052.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Best, R. J. (n.d.) ‘General information concerning Rupert J. Best, D.Sc. (Adel.), F.R.A.C.I., F.I.Biol., M.A.I.A.S.’, Rupert Jethro Best – Records 1929–1968, Reference PRG 232, State Library of South Australia, Mortlock Library of South Australiana, Adelaide.

Best, R. J. (1927) ‘Critical hydrogen ion activity for the precipitation of colloidal platinum’. M.Sc. Thesis, The University of Adelaide, SA, Australia.

Best, R. J. (1929a) A rapid electrometric method for determining the chloride content of soils, The Journal of Agricultural Science, 19, 533-540.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Best, R. J. (1929b) The acid reaction and CO₂ content of conductivity water, Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science, 6, 107-110.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Best, R. J. (1935) The effect of environment of the production of primary lesions by plant viruses, Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science, 1, 159-161.
| Google Scholar |

Best, R. J. (1936a) Precipitation of the tobacco mosaic virus complex at its isoelectric point, Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science, 14, 1-13.
| Google Scholar |

Best, R. J. (1936b) The relationship between the activity of tobacco mosaic virus suspensions and hydrion concentration over the pH range 5 to 10, Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science, 14, 323-328.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Best, R. J. (1936c) Letter to Wendell M. Stanley, 7 August 1936, Wendell M. Stanley papers 1926–1972, Call number BANC MSS 78/18 c, Carton 6, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Best, R. J. (1937a) Visible mesomorphic fibres of tobacco mosaic virus in juice from diseased plants, Nature, 139, 628-629.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Best, R. J. (1937b) Artificially prepared visible paracrystalline fibres of tobacco mosaic virus nucleoprotein, Nature, 140, 547-548.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Best, R. J. (1937c) The chemistry of some plant viruses, The Australian Chemical Institute Journal and Proceedings, 4, 375-392.
| Google Scholar |

Best, R. J. (1939a) Letter to Wendell M. Stanley, 27 June 1939, Wendell M. Stanley papers 1926–1972, Call number BANC MSS 78/18 c, Carton 6, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Best, R. J. (1939b) Virus activity as a property of some protein molecules, The Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science, 5, 94-102.
| Google Scholar |

Best, R. J. (1940a) Letter to Wendell M. Stanley, 1 July 1940, Wendell M. Stanley papers 1926–1972, Call number BANC MSS 78/18 c, Carton 6, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Best, R. J. (1940b) The action of electrolytes on solutions of tobacco mosaic virus nucleoprotein (Marmor tabaci var. vulgare Holmes), Australian Journal of Experimental Biology, 18, 307-312.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Best, R. J. (1940c) Methods for the preparation of pure tobacco mosaic virus nucleoprotein (Marmor tabaci var. vulgare Holmes), Australian Journal of Experimental Biology, 18, 401-403.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Best, R. J. (1961) Recombination experiments with strains A and E of tomato spotted wilt virus, Virology, 15, 327-339.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Best, R. J. (1968) Tomato spotted wilt virus, Advances in Virus Research, 13, 65-146.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Best, R. J. (1977) Letter to Professor P. J. Quirk, 21 September 1977, Rupert Jethro Best - Records, 1929–1968, Reference PRG 232/44, State Library of South Australia, Mortlock Library of South Australiana, Adelaide.

Best, R. J., and Samuel, G. (1936a) The effect of various chemical treatments on the activity of the viruses of tomato spotted wilt and tobacco mosaic, Annals of Applied Biology, 23, 759-780.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Best, R. J., and Samuel, G. (1936b) The reaction of the viruses of tomato spotted wilt and tobacco mosaic to the pH value of media containing them, Annals of Applied Biology, 23, 509-537.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Carne, W. M. (1928) An outline of the history of phytopathology with special reference to its development in Australia, Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 14, 24-36.
| Google Scholar |

Creager, A. N. H. (2002) The Life of a Virus: Tobacco Mosaic Virus as an Experimental Model, 1930–1965, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, USA.

Fenner, F. J. (1987) Frank Macfarlane Burnet, 3 September 1899 - 31 August 1985, Biographical memoirs of fellows of the Royal Society. Royal Society (Great Britain), 33, 101-162.
| Google Scholar | PubMed |

Fraenkel-Conrat, H. (1956) The role of the nucleic acid in the reconstitution of active tobacco mosaic virus, Journal of the American Chemical Society, 78, 882-883.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Francki, R. I. B. (1977) ‘Early work on plant viruses by Dr. R. J. Best at the Waite Agricultural Research Institute’, in Biennial Report of the Waite Agricultural Research Institute 1976–77, The University of Adelaide, Glen Osmond, SA, pp. 38–40.

Geering, A. D. W. (in press) The discovery of tomato spotted wilt virus, Historical Records of Australian Science, published online: 5 September 2023.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Gierer, A., and Schramm, G. (1956) Infectivity of ribonucleic acid from tobacco mosaic virus, Nature, 177, 702-703.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Kay, L. E. (1986) W. M. Stanley’s crystallization of the tobacco mosaic virus, 1930–1940, Isis, 77, 450-472.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Kunitz, M., and Northrop, J. H. (1935) Crystalline chymo-trypsin and chymo-trypsinogen: I. isolation, chrystallization, and general properties of a new proteolytic enzyme and its precursor, Journal of General Physiology, 18, 433-458.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Lavin, G. I., and Stanley, W. M. (1937) The ultraviolet absorption spectrum of crystalline tobacco mosaic virus protein, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 118, 269-274.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Marshall, T. J. (2012) Prescott, James Arthur (1890–1987). Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography. Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/prescott-james-arthur-15530/text26743, published first in hardcopy 2012, accessed online 27 September 2023.

Ross, A. F., and Stanley, W. M. (1938) The partial reactivation of formolized tobacco mosaic virus protein, Journal of General Physiology, 22, 165-191.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Samuel, G. (1932) Letter to Francis O. Holmes, 14 December 1932, Francis O. Holmes Papers, Record Group 450 H735, Box 17, Folder 12, Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow, NY.

Samuel, G., Best, R. J., and Bald, J. G. (1935) Further studies on quantitative methods with two plant viruses, Annals of Applied Biology, 22, 508-524.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Sankaran, N. (2008) Stepping-stones to one-step growth: Frank Macfarlane Burnet’s role in elucidating the viral nature of the bacteriophages, Historical Records of Australian Science, 19, 83-100.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Stanley, W. M. (1935) Isolation of a crystalline protein possessing the properties of tobacco-mosaic virus, Science, 81, 644-645.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Stanley, W. M. (1936) Chemical studies on the virus of tobacco mosaic VI: the isolation from diseased turkish tobacco plants of a crystalline protein possessing the properties of tobacco-mosaic virus, Phytopathology, 26, 305-320.
| Google Scholar |

Stanley, W. M. (1937) Crystalline tobacco-mosaic virus protein, American Journal of Botany, 24, 59-68.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Stanley, W. M. (1938) The reproduction of virus proteins, The American Naturalist, 72, 110-123.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Stanley, W. M. (2002) Virus proteins—a new group of macromolecules, The Journal of Physical Chemistry, 42, 55-70.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

Stanley, W. M. (1941) Some chemical, medical and philosophical aspects of viruses, Science, 93, 145-151.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Stanley, W. M., and Loring, H. S. (1936) The isolation of crystalline tobacco mosaic virus protein from diseased tomato plants, Science, 83, 85.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Stern, K. G. (1938) The relationship between prosthetic group and protein carrier in certain enzymes and biological pigments, Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology, 6, 286-300.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

van Helvoort, T. (1991) What is a virus? The case of tobacco mosaic disease, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A, 22, 557-588.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

van Helvoort, T. (1992) The controversy between John H. Northrop and Max Delbrück on the formation of bacteriophage: bacterial synthesis or autonomous multiplication? Annals of Science, 49, 545-575.
| Crossref | Google Scholar | PubMed |

Vinson, C. G., and Petre, A. W. (1929) Mosaic disease of tobacco, Botanical Gazette, 87, 14-38.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |

White, N. H. (1981) ‘A history of plant pathology in Australia’, in Plants and Man in Australia, eds D. J. Carr and S. G. M. Carr, Academic Press, Sydney, pp. 42–95.

Wyckoff, R. W. G., Biscoe, J., and Stanley, W. M. (1937) An ultracentrifugal analysis of the crystalline virus protein isolated from plants diseased with different strains of tobacco mosaic virus, Journal of Biological Chemistry, 117, 57-71.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |