2005/04/01 by Lee B. Kass, Christophe Bonneuil, Edward H. Coe · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals #Genetically Modified Organisms Research #Chromosomal and Genetic Variations #Publication #Library science #Political science #Genetics #Law #Sociology #Biology
paper · doi:10.1093/genetics/169.4.1787
openalex publication_date 2005/04/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Anecdotal, Historical and Critical Commentaries on Genetics Edited by James F. Crow and William F. Dove IN the early 1920s, the Maize Genetics Cooperation (MGC) began in an informal way among R. A. Emerson and his students. His ethical and cooperative spirit paved the way for an expanded network of maize researchers who freely shared their materials and unpublished research, thus resulting in rapid progress in fundamental genetic research (Coe 2001; Kass and Bonneuil 2004). The first letter summarizing both published and unpublished maize linkage data was compiled by Emerson and his student George Beadle and sent to students of maize genetics on April 12, 1929. This communication was an outcome of a “cornfab” held in Emerson's hotel room in December 1928, during the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meetings. The “Historical Notes on Maize Cooperation” identifies Emerson's 1929 communication as the first Maize Genetics Cooperation News Letter (MNL; Emerson 1940). Beadle was the first secretary of the MGC and he solicited material for additional summaries of linkage data, which were distributed in two parts in 1930. Rhoades succeeded Beadle as secretary and continued to summarize and publish the reports of cooperators in the MNL, which continues to be published annually. The cooperators met at the Sixth International Congress of Genetics (ICG) at Ithaca in 1932 and organized a committee to establish the maize stock center at Cornell University and to seek funding for their enterprise. Emerson's grant application to the National Research Council (NRC) was denied and he was encouraged to apply immediately to the Rockefeller Foundation (RF), who granted him funds to support his information and supply network in 1934. The work of Barbara McClintock in cooperation with Beadle, Rhoades, Creighton, Burnham, and others at Cornell between 1928 and 1934 resulted in a definitive correlation of chromosomes and linkage groups in maize—ultimately published in 1935 by Emerson et al. The cytogenetics of maize was also reviewed in that year (Rhoades and McClintock 1935). The exhibits that Emerson submitted to support his Rockefeller Foundation grant included a historical summary of the MGC and MNL. These documents allowed us to reconstruct the events that established these important resources for the maize genetics community. Emerson's legacy lives on in the cooperative spirit of maize researchers and in the News Letter he founded 75 years ago. At the 1932 ICG held in Ithaca, New York, Rollins Adams Emerson (Nelson 1993), Head of the Department of Plant Breeding at Cornell University, gave an opening address titled, “The Present Status of Maize Genetics.” In his introduction he declared, “I cannot refrain from noting here a very real advantage experienced by students of maize genetics … I am aware of no other group of investigators who have so freely shared with each other not only their materials but even their unpublished data. The present status of maize genetics, whatever of noteworthy significance it presents, is largely to be credited to this somewhat unique, unselfishly cooperative spirit of the considerable group of students of maize genetics” (Emerson 1932, p. 141; Kass 2001). During this Congress, Emerson called a meeting of ∼45 students of maize genetics and formalized what would soon be called the Maize Genetics Cooperation. Following their meeting Emerson and his graduate student Marcus Rhoades issued on October 5, 1932, what has long been considered the first Maize Genetics Cooperation News Letter (Rhoades 1932a). Our research (Bonneuil and Kass 2001; Coe 2001; Kass and Bonneuil 2004; E. H. Coe and L. B. Kass, unpublished results), which we offer in keeping with the long tradition of maize cooperation, provides a historical perspective on the actual origin of the MGC and the beginnings of the MNL, which was first issued in 1929. We present here the history of Emerson's successful negotiations with the Rockefeller Foundation to fund his cooperative enterprise at Cornell University following his unsuccessful attempt to obtain funding from the NRC. Future Nobel laureates George Beadle, Emerson's student, and Barbara McClintock, Lester W. Sharp's student and Beadle's collaborator, freely submitted their results to the MNL; this laid the groundwork for a similar publication, the Drosophila Information Service, for the Drosophila geneticists in March 1934 (Bridges and Demerec 1934) and for the Worm Breeders Gazette, the community newsletter of the roundworm biologists (Edgar 1975; Cohen 1995), among others. We rejoice in the founding of Emerson's ideal and celebrate the 75th anniversary of the MNL. As early as November 1918, Emerson wrote to Donald F. Jones at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station that he was “hoping that all the men in this country who are working on related problems with corn may cooperate to such an extent that we can cover the field more quickly” [Emerson to Jones, November 8, 1918, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Carl A. Kroch Library, Cornell University (CU) Library, Ithaca, NY]. Soon afterward, Emerson arranged informal “cornfests” in conjunction with the AAAS meetings. It seems that Emerson organized these ∼10 years before the famous “cornfab” held in his hotel room in New York City in December of 1928, as recalled by Rhoades (1984). Emerson much earlier had invited Paul Weatherwax of Indiana University to attend a “second cornfest” along with the “general genetics section” he had planned for the AAAS meetings in Toronto in 1921. Weatherwax apologized for not being able to attend (Weatherwax to Emerson, November 22, 1921, CU) but Emerson's former and current students and colleagues joined him there and, following the meeting, held a reunion on January 1, 1922, at Cornell (Figure 1) R. A. Emerson with former and current students and colleagues at Fernow Hall, Cornell University, January 1, 1922, following the AAAS meeting in Toronto, where the second “cornfest” was held. Back row, from left to right: Milislav Demerec, Sterling Emerson, Ernest G. Anderson, and Charles Metz; front row, from left to right: Maxwell J. Dorsey, Sewall Wright, Rollins A. Emerson, William Bateson, Claude Burton Hutchison, Calvin Bridges, Frank P. Bussell, and Lewis A. Eyster (with permission of Royse P. Murphy, Department of Plant Breeding, Cornell University; see also Provine 1986, p. 103). . The following winter, Emerson emphasized the importance of agreeing on uniformity for factor notation (gene symbols) and he set the tone for cooperating on this problem in a letter on March 7, 1923 (Emerson 1923, p. 147), “To Students of Corn Genetics: … It seems wise to follow the notation used by the Drosophila workers, tho, in some respects, their usage is perhaps no more nearly consistent than our own.” Emerson also asked his colleagues for assistance with numbering the maize linkage groups and requested advice on using bi-literal gene symbols: Shall priority of publication of any linkage determine the numerical order? Or shall the order be determined arbitrarily? … I suggest … that we number the groups in the order given by [William H.] Eyster and by [Claude B.] Hutchison as follows: 1-C-wx; 2-g-R; 3-su-Tu; 4-B-Lg; 5-Y-Pl; 6-P-f … It may be wise, however, to assign no numbers to groups other than the six listed above until the newer groups have been tested further. Another problem is bothering us. Shall we continue to use bi-literal symbols for genes as we have usually done in the past [i.e., bl, blotched leaf], or adopt the recommendations of the Naturalist's committee to use single letter symbols [i.e., b1]? If the corn men desire to stick to the use of bi-literal symbols, we shall probably have to refrain from publishing in Genetics … but if the corn men think best to adopt the plan followed by Genetics [using single letter symbols], I shall use it (p. 149). Emerson ended his five-page review with words for continued cooperation, “I am sending this to a considerable number of corn genetics workers. When I have received replies from the majority, I may want to refer some of our problems to the Chairman of the Naturalist's committee with the suggestion that he consider the advisability of referring it to the committee for consideration” (p. 149). Two of Emerson's former students at Nebraska, Ernest G. Anderson (Figure 1) and Ernest W. Lindstrom, had followed him to Cornell in 1914 and continued to work on corn problems after graduating. Students and established researchers from around the country and throughout the world soon joined Emerson's group and studied corn breeding and genetics at Cornell. C. B. Hutchison (Figure 1), a former Cornell graduate, was appointed Professor of Plant Breeding in 1916. By 1921, he continued Emerson's unpublished study of C-Sh linkage and established that Sh was part of the C-Sh-Wx linkage group (Hutchison 1921, 1922). When Allan C. Fraser (Figures 2 and 3) R. A. Emerson and members of the Synapsis Club, 1923. Herbert J. Webber started this student/faculty organization at Cornell in 1907, and Emerson continued and encouraged member participation (Department of Plant Breeding Records, of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University are from left to corn William J. Ernest Dorsey, J. P. Jones, A. G. Frank P. Bussell, C. H. A. Emerson, G. W. F. Back F. A. A. A. L. C. and R. A. Emerson, C. A. R. and students of corn genetics in front of the Plant Breeding the Plant Breeding at Cornell University, also Kass and of William B. left to front W. F. Allan C. George Beadle's George W. Beadle, and B. left to George F. R. A. Emerson, C. A. R. Professor Emerson's G. and succeeded Hutchison, he to maize In to Anderson and Lindstrom, other students graduate work with Emerson on corn genetics and students from 2 and William H. Milislav Demerec (Figure 1), A. F. George W. Beadle, W. George F. J. Marcus Rhoades, and others P. Murphy, unpublished During the Emerson that he not the linkage of which was both to the with Drosophila and to a for the breeding work on from to 1928 Drosophila linkage the of a and Crow Emerson the that maize genetic be a cooperative enterprise and Bonneuil which would to the best of their research to more fundamental research this Emerson also a and as to the Department of in corn research from National and graduate Barbara McClintock, George Beadle, and Marcus Rhoades, were at Cornell by and some with the F. Marcus Rhoades, and George all of to the cooperative Following Emerson's early work on factor (Emerson and his maize genetics to the progress of corn breeding and to in In this Emerson's may be considered a to group University and at The of Emerson's students had with the Drosophila geneticists and with geneticists and at other along with students E. G. Anderson, Demerec, G. Beadle, and who were in corn genetics and also on between the two Maize geneticists with Drosophila geneticists during the C. C. This was to Emerson and his who Emerson the work that was in these Cornell maize geneticists were aware that the use of cytogenetics by had a second front to By 1928, however, to genetics from corn were maize linkage and genetic nearly a The linkage groups in corn were not all and the work in each group was very as by the by Beadle and Emerson in April 1929 (Figure group and as of April 12, 1929 Emerson from E. G. in in MNL, (Emerson the however, Barbara of the of the corn chromosomes and unpublished research on genes with chromosomes were to Beadle's of on the of the in which Emerson distributed “To Students of Maize on April (Emerson McClintock, an at with students George Beadle, Creighton, and Marcus Rhoades, and with Charles Burnham, a and began a for maize genetics and cytogenetics at Cornell (Rhoades At the Ithaca Congress in 1932, Emerson present a genetic with linkage groups with thus the for cooperative and to maize cytogenetics (Rhoades and McClintock 1935). Rhoades also organized a in which were arranged to their By Emerson had to the for a for support of work in and maize and information Emerson submitted a of exhibits exhibits Rockefeller Foundation to his application 1934. Emerson's “Historical summary of cooperation among maize the maize cooperation began years in a way among his former students. Soon other investigators were asked to be among these researchers with a summary of linkage in 1929 this was Emerson's “second of information issued after the first in Emerson 1940). His included all of the linkage data compiled and sent to maize geneticists on April and (Emerson Emerson's first April 12, 1929 (Emerson News Letter by Emerson Emerson was distributed to maize geneticists after the “cornfab” held in Emerson's hotel room at the of the AAAS meetings in New York City in It included a long of linkage information and the of researchers each linkage group linkage groups were at New York, at the held in R. A. Emerson's hotel room in December 1928 on Emerson linkage groups were at New York, at the held in R. A. Emerson's hotel room in December 1928 on Emerson on the Emerson 12, “To not at the New York … this linkage was … in with the of the It was from our to groups for and other workers. Our was to that each group would be given and to the that the not very of may with some an on important genetic problems such as linkage (Emerson p. Barbara Emerson's of we have no that the meeting and it would not have been in that for a single to attend a in a hotel The cooperators who however, were with work Kass and would have for this Following the New York meeting George Beadle as secretary of the group Emerson Beadle requested from maize cooperators the summaries of linkage data, which Emerson, in cooperation with Beadle and would to cooperators in the and of 1930. Beadle left Cornell in for as a National Research Council Breeding Records, CU) and but continued to unpublished linkage data from cooperators (Emerson until Marcus Rhoades succeeded him as secretary (Rhoades 1932a). In his review of “The of Maize Rhoades recalled the New York City which was his first with the maize Rhoades had at Cornell in the of 1928 from the University of where he had studied with Emerson's former student E. G. Anderson was soon by for his established Division at Rhoades the year there with Anderson (CU) and Rhoades et al. It seems however, that the 1928 AAAS “cornfab” was not Emerson's Emerson also submitted to the Rockefeller Foundation a of first letter to corn geneticists October 5, 1932 Rhoades which was in the Cornell Plant Breeding of the and MNL, Plant Breeding Department Cornell University, Ithaca, NY]. Rhoades the and by a committee of at the Ithaca meeting held on 1932, in with the International Genetics In to the numbering and of gene symbols, linkage and the group that Cornell be the where the would be and that a be for and the Emerson, of the committee to their along with R. Donald F. Jones, Paul C. and Lewis J. had Rhoades to as of the to a of and to to workers. also the maize linkage groups to who would for the group linkage groups Maize linkage groups were to by the committee of maize researchers at the ICG on 1932 Rhoades 1932a). listed are from letter of October 5, linkage groups Maize linkage groups were to by the committee of maize researchers at the ICG on 1932 Rhoades 1932a). listed are from letter of October 5, also Coe 2001). By this McClintock had left Cornell but to maize cytogenetics had been both and was a National Research Council and, after with L. J. at the University of had joined group at where cooperating with Beadle and to Cornell to attend the ICG in the of 1932, where Emerson their to maize Following the Congress, first letter to maize cooperators that may or continue to work with any group or not it has been to It was that or more are in the work in Rhoades distributed a for and on December 12, 1932 (Rhoades and the Corn News Letter followed on January (Rhoades in These two are at Cornell and the is Emerson's that his committee was also for a way to the work which the Cornell maize geneticists were asked to continue and to His committee not a way to but it to an The committee on appointed by the Division of and of the a of the National of a of for years for an information and supply for maize work to be by R. A. Emerson of the Plant Breeding Department of Cornell University, for the of the for of the important and … for our in the field of genetics and The committee their with six exhibits as exhibits which Emerson had submitted to his to These exhibits were not in the at but we two exhibits by letter December 12, 1932 (Rhoades and January (Rhoades we these exhibits in of the Maize also Emerson where maize are by The of J. and emphasized that the among that the among their was not by the December the secretary of the committee on Emerson that after study of the application had the grant of Emerson received their letter from the AAAS where both maize and Drosophila geneticists had and for Emerson had with Frank Rockefeller an plan for for funds to the Rockefeller Foundation the grant not be and Cornell on other had been of Emerson's and supply to corn and his for but at that Emerson was that the would support the work Emerson to November 8, a of that the grant application had been Emerson to the Rockefeller Foundation for funding and submitted letter to maize January 1934 By this among the maize geneticists in cooperative work on genetic it that not than were Emerson's at had been graduate students or had done some work in his Emerson cooperators as in genetic had been graduate students and 2 had been at Cornell submitted the exhibits exhibits which we have and also that in the of parts of a of of in in the of by Beadle, and with work had been sent to to linkage groups had been The of the of in that would be published by Emerson, Beadle, and Fraser in March the Rockefeller Foundation for the New York of at Cornell University for the of and maize and information by Professor R. A. the Emerson asked cooperators if were to him to use their unpublished linkage data in much and long linkage summary to be published from Cornell Students of maize genetics by Emerson's cooperative and Emerson soon after the Rockefeller in a letter to cooperators on 1934 7, At that genetics researchers were the News By April McClintock to Cornell where but a Emerson his MGC enterprise and requested a to as his research Kass for continued research on maize Emerson's his students advantage of to and to cooperative the Emerson et al. and other maize their maize linkage linkage summary using McClintock linkage groups with chromosomes 5, 7, 8, and In Rhoades and McClintock by using of the linkage groups had been with 2 to and and that other gave a on for linkage groups 1, and The early in MNL, and and other to their maize linkage The work of maize cooperators in By 1935 were used to that both and a of the and in the linkage (Emerson et al. a as a were allowed of gene with chromosomes and gave the order of genes and of with Rhoades In used chromosomes to continue Emerson cooperation among researchers throughout the encouraged both and students to his research at Cornell (Figures and and published their in the News this which the maize genetics was not to and for but also unpublished results among the The was that any data there not be in the of the Maize researchers from around the and to their unpublished as we in reports 1934. The first set of News which we in the Department of Plant Breeding at Cornell was by in with letter of October 5, 1932, This us to that letter was not Maize News Letter These News to have been and the of Emerson, who was the secretary for MNL, The “Historical Notes on Maize listed on p. of MNL, were probably by Emerson, who was secretary for that News that the letter of April 12, is News Letter Coe used the “Historical as a to an of materials of the and related research on the history of maize linkage Kass and Bonneuil some of the on This information us to reconstruct the historical events to the of both the MGC and the and to and the (Coe and Kass The Plant Breeding Department also has a second set of News with similar numbering both are in the of Professor E. on to L. Professor William B. a set of and News that to Lester Sharp's the years and important to linkage in and and are also The first and News Letter that we in of is Genetics Cooperation News Letter April the News Letter are with the and of Department of Plant Breeding, Cornell In the from Indiana to in were on before followed by with In Emerson of his maize cooperators his that some reports had been permission (Emerson to November 22, to MNL, was to the News Letter cover in (Figure of Maize Genetics Cooperation News Letter The was to the News Letter cover for the first in and that the published have not with the of and the to on the cover in Emerson in and the was by his and by Emerson in research until his on December 8, et al. Emerson's former and to a fund in his The funds were the of a in the of the Plant Breeding Department at Cornell of the was used to some of Emerson's This was on the first of the Plant Science at Cornell until the to Emerson Hall, for R. A. Emerson, in of the B. this in the of Emerson was a graduate student at Cornell in the The is no and and are not at this The Rockefeller Foundation the and at Cornell funding was Rhoades and that by the early at Cornell were to the and News Letter and he arranged to to MNL, 3) of the Maize Genetics Cooperation of the Maize Genetics Cooperation . In for the from Cornell to where it was by Marcus Rhoades, joined by was by the National Science Foundation until following which the Department of the The is a Research the of and are at the Rockefeller Foundation support of the maize cooperation, Cornell the from to with from Agricultural and Corn 1, In of the from Cornell to Marcus Rhoades as secretary and it him to Indiana in At funding for the was from and a grant from The continued to be by Rhoades, by research and former as and and distributed at Indiana year the to the University of Coe as until and The News Letter continues to be and distributed at and is at for or at for that are in for is from an fund established from and Maize Genetics were in following a from R. at the University of The are organized and by a The meeting was held in Information past and is at The Maize was in as an for communication and for to data, established by the Department of Research at the of joined by of the gene and was from the and of the MNL, by of data. In the a by between and University and of data is at the two and the is from at In a Maize Genetics was is both the and the for maize genetics, and to this information to the community. This community funding for and the for the of maize genetics, from to Information the is given at This perspective was from a given at the “The of at The for the of in March We R. for and of Drosophila Information Service, E. for and of MNL, and William Provine for Lester Sharp's and of MNL, and for use of his R. P. for and for this and for his unpublished on the history of Plant Breeding at the Rockefeller New York, with to National and with to J. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Carl A. Kroch Library, Cornell University, with to E. at the Library, and The L. H. Library, P. for to our We are to R. P. Murphy, W. B. and R. H. for early of this the following for support of National Science Foundation and American Library, Research and the of Plant and Plant Breeding and Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, for