Collection of 34 offprints from 1941-1965 from the library of Prof. Dr. F. Mechelke. by MCCLINTOCK, BARBARA - 1941-1965

[New York], 1941-1965. Original Wraps. Very Good +. Collection of 34 off prints from 1941-1965 from the library of Prof. Dr. F. Mechelke. All off prints are signed by Mechelke either as written last name or personal stamp. The off prints are numbered sequentially in the upper corner of the first page. The second off print on "Spontaneous Alterations in Chromosome Size and Form in Zea Mays."(Cold Spring Harbor Symposia… 9:72-80, 1941) is present as a photo copy with underlining in red by Mechelke. There is also a 4"x6" photo of Dr. McClintock in her later years, probably taken by Prof. Mechelke. The entire collection is housed in a library box with hinged cover that has a label with Mechelke's ink signature. Included are three seminal papers dealing with her discovery of transposition of "controlling elements" in maize. The specific movement of specific genetic elements to new chromosomal locations affected the expression of nearby genes and caused chromosomal breakages in a developmentally regulated manner. Further investigations of others have confirmed the dynamic nature of mobile elements in prokaryotic and eucaryotic organisms. McClintock's first paper published in 1948 , as a report for the Carnegie Institution of Washington dealt with "Mutable Loci in Maize" She was interested in chromosome breakage, making important observations on the behavior of chromosomes lacking telomeres. . These observations so intrigued her that she began an intensive investigation of the chromosome-breaking locus. Within several years she had learned enough to reach the conclusion, (Mutable Loci in Maize, Ann. Report Department Genetics Carnegie Institution Washington 47: 155-169, 1947/1948), that the chromosome-breaking locus did something hitherto unknown for any genetic locus: it moved from one chromosomal location to another, a phenomenon she called transposition. The study of transposable genetic elements and transposition became the central theme of her genetic experiments from the mid-1940s until the end of her active research career. This is seen in the second and third seminal papers which dealt with "Controlling Elements and the Gene" (Cold Spring Harbor Symposia, XXI, 1956) and "Intranuclear Systems Controlling Gene Action and Mutation" (Mutation-Brookhaven Symposia in Biology No. 8, 1956) . There is also present from another source a separate single issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Vol. 25 (8), 1939. with the article, "The Behavior in successive Nuclear Divisions of a Chromosome Broken at Meiosis." This article is the prelude to the later one noted above on "Mutable Loci in Maize." Overall condition of the off prints and issue of PNAS is very good. This is a scarce and fine collection of off prints by one of the pioneer women scientists whose patience and humility, receiving the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1983.This collection of off prints covers the most critical period of McClintock's research on maize genetics wherein she was able to demonstrate that genes are not stable, as expected from Mendelian genetics, but that there exists transposable genetic systems. This finding provided evidence that spontaneous mutations are "an indispensable part of the steadily ongoing creation. This might change our attitude towards genetic diseases." (Werner Arber, 1978 in The Nobel Century p. 178).Prof. F. Mechelke was a plant geneticist and head of the Genetics Institute at the University of Hohenheim. His research focused on various topics that included analysis of mutations in snapdragon flowers.

This is a scarce and fine collection of off prints by one of the pioneer women scientists whose patience and humility, receiving the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1983.This collection of off prints covers the most critical period of McClintock's research on maize genetics wherein she was able to demonstrate that genes are not stable, as expected from Mendelian genetics, but that there exists transposable genetic systems. This finding provided evidence that spontaneous mutations are "an indispensable part of the steadily ongoing creation. This might change our attitude towards genetic diseases." (Werner Arber, 1978 in The Nobel Century p. 178).Prof. F. Mechelke was a plant geneticist and head of the Genetics Institute at the University of Hohenheim. His research focused on various topics that included analysis of mutations in snapdragon flowers.