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Protistology 11 (1), 48-51 (2017)
Alexander L'vovich Yudin (1932-2017)
Protistology
Alexander L. Yudin.
The renowned cell biologist, geneticist and protistologist, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences Alexander L'vovich Yudin passed away on April 13, 2017 after a serious illness. We lost a remarkable scientist — an enthusiastic experimental researcher who was keen on his work and able of analysing deeply and interpreting clearly though concisely the most complicated results of various biological experiments.
The world Science is indebted to A.L. Yudin for a number of fundamental findings that served the basics for the contemporary views on nuclear-cytoplasmic relations in the agamic unicellular eukaryotes. He developed a new trend in researching non-mutational (epigenetic) diversity and cell heredity in large free-living amoeba such as Amoeba proteus. At the same time, he was one of the first in our country to start applying the method of microsurgery transplantation of nuclei and cytoplasm. He has also significantly contributed to a number of
other areas of genetics and cell biology of protists, such as the study of serotypes and mating types of ciliates, as well as the mechanisms of destabilizing of hereditary characteristics of amoeba and other protozoa.
Professor Yudin was born on February 22, 1932 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), in the family of renowned painters: L.A. Yudin, a representative of Russian avant-guard who was a student and contemporary of K. Malevitch, and M.A. Gorokhova, a remarkable painter and graphic artist. M.A. Gorokhova had been teaching fine arts in several children's art schools in Leningrad for many years. From 1928, L.A. Yudin collaborated with other outstanding artists and writers and contributed to magazines "Chizh" and "Yozh" from the famous " Marshak Akademy". This was when his talent as a silhouette graphic artist became prominent. Since 1932, L.A. Yudin was a member ofthe Artists' Union of the USSR.
Parents played an important role in developing the personality of young Alexander L'vovich, and had a significant influence on the choice of his future profession. In his childhood they taught their son to appreciate nature and painting, building up his skills and patience required for creative work. His grandmother taught him to cut out refined animal figures when he was a young child.
After graduating from high school Alexander L'vovich entered the Biological-Soil Faculty of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) State University, where he learned from the outstanding professors and researchers of that era: V.S. Feodorov, Yu.M. Olenov and Yu.I. Poljansky. After graduating from the Department of Genetics and Selection, A.L. Yudin worked as a senior technical assistant at the Laboratory of Physiology of Insects at A.A. Uhtomski Physiological Institute affiliated with the USSR Academy of Sciences.
In 1957, Alexander L'vovich started his work at the newly organized Institute of Cytology affiliated with the USSR Academy of Sciences (since
doi:10.21685/1680-0826-2017-11-1-4 © 2017 The Author(s)
Protistology © 2017 Protozoological Society Affiliated with RAS
1991 — the Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, INC RAS), where his career developed from the senior technical assistant to the principal research scientist. In 1965, he successfully defended the PhD Thesis, in 1981 became Doctor of Biological Sciences, in 2001 — Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (specialty "Protozoology and Genetics of Protozoa"); in 2007 he was awarded the title of Professor. A.L. Yudin obtained the most outstanding scientific results during the years of his work at the Laboratory of Cytology of Unicellular Organisms at INC RAS.
During his life A.L. Yudin produced more than 150 scientific publications including several invited review articles in the prestigious international editions. His book "Nuclear-Cytoplasmic Interactions and Cellular Heredity in Amoebae" deserves a special mentioning. This book was published in 1982 by the "Nauka" Publishing House, and it has not lost its significance until today.
During his scientific career, Alexander L'vovich was successfully heading a number of research projects from different prestigious scientific foundations, including the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. Some of those projects were carried out in the framework of fruitful cooperation with collea-gues from the Laboratory for Molecular Endocrinology at I.M. Sechenov Institute for Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry RAS.
For many years, Alexander L'vovich was teaching students at the Department of Genetics and Selection of the St. Petersburg State University. He was a skilled professor and adviser who helped young researchers making their first steps in science. At INC RAS, he supervised 5 PhD dissertations and all of them were successfully defended.
During many years, A.L. Yudin served as a permanent Chairman of the Dissertation Council for awarding the degree of Doctor of Biological Sciences for the specialties "Cell Biology, Cytology, Histology" and "Molecular Biology" at the Institute of Cytology RAS. He was also a member of the Dissertation Council D.212.232.12 at the Biological Faculty of the St. Petersburg State University, and a member of the Scientific Council at the INC RAS.
Although scientific-organizational activities were not among his favorite occupations, A.L. Yudin, when necessary, was also capable of fulfilling those duties perfectly well. Alexander L'vovich was an active member of the Central Council of the Vavilov Society of Geneticists and Selectionists, member of the Consulting Committee of the
Editorial Board of the "International Review of Cytology. A Survey of Cell Biology", and the Editorial Board member of "Protistology. An International Journal". A.L. Yudin initiated the translation of the American book "Epigenetics" (CSHL Press, N.Y. 2007, 496 p.) into the Russian language and acted as its main interpreter as well as the editor of the translated version of this book ("Epigenetika", M.: Tehnosphera, 2010).
Albeit being deeply involved in the research experimentation, Alexander L'vovich was also able to find time for other occupations. He was a connoisseur of classical music and during a long time used to collect recordings of concerts of the outstanding contemporary and classical singers and performers: first on the vinyl discs and then later — on floppy discs for PC. His collection contains nearly all recorded concerts of his father's cousin, the famous pianist Maria Veniaminovna Yudina. He was also fond of classical literature and thus became an expert in this area too, being willing and able to express his own thoughts and ideas on paper in a fine, smart manner.
The last months of his life proved that Alexander L'vovich was a very strong, courageous person. When the serious illness locked him inside his apartment, he still retained the willingness to work and interest to communicate via Internet, kept reading the newly published scientific articles and books, continued working on his own manuscripts, and edited the abstracts and dissertation texts of his PhD students as well as papers of the other colleagues.
Alexander L'vovich Yudin, the remarkable scientist and the kind hearted, compassionate person of considerable intelligence will be always remembered by those who had a privilege of knowing him personally or by his scientific publications.
Main publications by A.L. Yudin
Yudin A.L. 1962. On the technique of nuclear transfer in amoebae. Tsitologiya. 4 (3), 361—364.
Yudin A.L. 1965. The role of nucleus and cytoplasm in the inheritance of some characters in amoebae. In: Progress in protozoology. Abstr. 2nd Int. Confer. Protozool. Excerpta med Found., ICS N 91, Amsterdam; New York; London; Paris. p. 63.
Yudin A.L. 1967. Nuclear-nuclear interactions in amoeba. In: The control of nuclear activity. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc. 299-318.
50 • In memoriam
Yudin A.L. and Sopina V.A. 1970. On the role of the nucleus and cytoplasm in the inheritance of some characters in amoebae (nuclear transfer experiments). Acta Protozool. 8, 1—39.
Yudin A.L. 1973. Nuclear-nuclear interactions in heterokaryons. In: The Biology of Amoeba. N. Y., London, Acad. Press, pp. 505—523.
Yudin A.L. and Neyfakh A.A. 1973. Migration of newly-synthesized RNA during mitosis. IV. Content of labelled RNA in nuclei before and after mitosis in Amoeba proteus. Exp. Cell Res. 82, 210—214.
Yudin A.L. 1979. Nuclear transplantation studies in Amoeba proteus. Int. Rev. Cytol. 9, 63-100.
Sopina V.A. and Yudin A.L. 1980. Heritable instability of the substratum attachment rate in amobae. Tsitologiya. 22 (9), 1096-1103.
Bychkovskaya I.B., Ochinskaya G.K. and Yudin A.L. 1980. An analysis of hereditary increase in frequency of cell mortality induced by external factors. (Experiments on nuclear transplantation in amoebae). Arch. Protistenk. 123, 1-11.
Yudin A.L. 1982. Nucleocytoplasmic relationships and cell heredity in amoebae. Nauka, Leningrad.
Afon'kin S.Yu. and Yudin A.L. 1985. Microtitle plates for immunological research can be used for cloning and cultivating free-living protozoa. Tsitologiya. 27 (10), 1207-1209.
Afon'kin S.Yu. and Yudin A.L.1986. Uneven distribution of ciliates Dileptus anser in the gradient of gamones excreted by cells of complementary mating types. Tsitologiya. 28 (10), 1117-1122.
Afon'kin S. Yu. and Yudin A. L. 1987. Distribution of Dileptus anser (Ciliata, Holotricha, Gymno-stomatida) of various genotypes for mat locus in the concentration gradient of their gamones. Acta Protozool. 26, 91-100.
Yudin A.L., Afon'kin S. Yu. and Parfenova E.V. 1990. Mating pheromones in the ciliate Dileptus anser. Tsitologiya. 32 (2), 107-116.
Uspenskaya Z.I.and Yudin A.L. 1992. Clonal and temperature induced differences in serotype in the ciliate Dileptus anser. Europ. J. Protistol. 28, 85-93.
Sopina V.A. and Yudin A.L. 1993. Disappearance of fast electromorphs of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in the progeny of intrastrain transplants and interstrain nucleo-cytoplasmic "hybrids" of Amoeba proteus. Tsitologiya. 35 (3), 165-174.
Sopina V.A. and Yudin A.L. 1993. Nuclear transplantation induces heritable variations in
phenotypes of Amoeba proteus. Acta Protozool. 32, 83-88.
Corliss J.O., Beyer T.V., Raikov I.B., Skarlato S.O. and Yudin A.L. 1994. In memoriam: Yuri (Georg) Ivanovich Poljansky (1904-1993). Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 41 (1), 88-89.
Uspenskaya Z.I. and Yudin A.L. 1996. Effect of actinomycin D on serotype transformation in the ciliate Dileptus anser. Rus. J. Genetics. 32 (3), 327-332.
Uspenskaya Z.I. and Yudin A.L. 1998a. An attempt to induce stable serotype transformation in the ciliate Dileptus anser with homologous immune serum. Acta Protozool. 37, 93-99.
Uspenskaya Z.I. and Yudin A.L. 1998b. Serotype transformation in the ciliate Dileptus anser: Homologous immune serum induces the appearance of the same surface antigen as does a change in the cultivation temperature. Tsitologiya. 40 (12), 1080-1087.
Yudin A.L. and Uspenskaya Z.I. 2000. Sero-types in the ciliate Dileptus anser: A case of non-Mendelian inheritance. Protistology. 1, 185-194.
Uspenskaya Z.I. and Yudin A.L. 2000. Mode of serotype inheritance in exconjugant progeny of the ciliate Dileptus anser. Tsitologiya. 42 (11), 1103-1110.
Podlipaeva Yu.I. and Yudin A.L. 2001. Activity and thermoresistance of some Amoeba proteus enzymes with special reference to thermal adaptation of the amoebae. Protistology. 2 (1), 54-62.
Uspenskaya Z.I. and Yudin A.L. 2001. Reexpression of two different i-antigens in the Dileptus anser after temporary transformation of their serotype. Tsitologiya. 43 (6), 613-618.
Yudin A.L. and Uspenskaya Z.I. 2002. Serotypes in the ciliate Dileptus anser: epigenetic phenomena. Protistology. 2 (3), 142-151.
Uspenskaya Z.I. and Yudin A.L. 2003. Mating types in the ciliate Dileptus anser. Genetic instability in the mating type system. Tsitologiya. 45 (5), 510-514.
Uspenskaya Z.I. and Yudin A.L. 2004. Mating types in the ciliate Dileptus anser. Shortening of maturation period after micrurgical bisection of exconjugant cells. Tsitologiya. 46 (7), 653-659.
Yudin A.L. and Uspenskaya Z.I. 2006. The effect of cultivation temperature on differentiation for mating type in exconjugant clones of the ciliate Dileptus anser. Protistology. 4 (4 ), 347-352.
Yudin A.L. and Uspenskaya Z.I. 2006. Mating types in the ciliate Dileptus anser. Inheritance and
genetic determination. Tsitologiya. 48 (4), 364—374.
Yudin A.L. and Uspenskaya Z.I. 2007. Nuclear differentiation for mating types in the ciliate Dileptus anser. a hypothesis. Cell Biol. Intern. 31 (4), 428-432.
Yudin A.L. and Uspenskaya Z.I. 2009. Change of mating type induced by actinomycin in the ciliate Dileptus anser. Tsitologiya. 51 (1), 84-88.
Derkach K.V., Shpakov A.O., Uspenskaya Z.I. and Yudin A.L. 2010. Functional characteristics of calcium-sensitive adenylyl cyclase of ciliate Tetra-hymenapyriformis. Tsitologiya. 52 (11), 967-972. Derkach K.V., Shpakov A.O., Uspenskaya Z.I. and Yudin A.L. 2012. The study of molecular mechanisms of action of natural amino acids and serotonin on adenylyl and guanylyl cyclases of the ciliates. Tsitologiya. 54 (3), 270-277.
Yudin A. L. and Skarlato S. O. 2013. Book review — Carol L. Moberg. Entering an Unseen World: A Founding Laboratory and Origins of Modern Cell Biology, 1910-1974. New York: The Rockefeller University Press, 2012. 499 p. Tsitologiya. 55 (8), 598-599.
Demin S.Yu., Berdieva M.A., Podlipaeva Yu.I., Yudin A.L. and Goodkov A.V. 2015. Chromatin organization in cell cycle of Amoeba proteus according to optical tomography data. Tsitologiya. 57 (11), 813-822.
Uspenskaya Z.I.and Yudin A.L. 2016. Fifty years of research on serotypes and mating types in Dileptus anser. A review. Europ. J. Protistol. 53, 31-44.
Sergei O. Skarlato. Institute of Cytology RAS. St. Petersburg, Russia Irena V. Telesh. Zoological Institute RAS, St. Petersburg, Russia Andrew V. Goodkov. Institute of Cytology RAS. St. Petersburg, Russia
