Charles Daniel Lane

Charles Daniel Lane was a British molecular biologist who along with colleagues Gerard Marbaix and John Gurdon discovered the oocyte exogenous mRNA expression system As a boy, Charles displayed a passion for moths, butterflies and plants, and with the aid of his mother wrote a number of "anecdotal" papers on subjects such as the migration of butterflies. Charles was also a significant collector of Meadow Brown butterflies for the population genetic studies of E.B. Ford.

Leaving school at 16, Lane joined the biochemistry laboratory of Hans Krebs: much of Lane's work involved studying pyruvate kinase in slices and in homogenates of rat liver. Lane attended Trinity College, Cambridge and Christ Church, Oxford. His University of Oxford doctoral thesis was "The Microinjection of RNA into Eggs and Oocytes of Xenopus Laevis". A hard copy of the thesis can be viewed at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. He then worked at the Medical Research Council Molecular Biology Laboratories at Cambridge and then at the National Institute for Medical Research, at Mill Hill London.

Career and research Lane is known for the discovery (with colleagues Gerard Marbaix and John Gurdon), of the oocyte surrogate gene expression system, and its subsequent development and refinement (with many colleagues) for the study of post translational events including the study of proteins embedded in cell membranes. Lane believed that John Gurdon's studies on gene expression had further potential.

The discovery that living cells programmed with exogenous messenger RNA can make and correctly modify foreign proteins is a scientific breakthrough for four reasons:

The foreign mRNA can reveal control mechanisms within the living cell. Foreign proteins made within a living cell provide a "living test tube" for the discovery and study of molecules, including many pharmaceuticals – such as those that interact with receptor proteins embedded in cell membranes. Messenger RNA Therapeutics may revolutionize many conventional medical treatments – from anti-viral vaccines to heart medicines to cancer vaccines. However, to date no mRNA Therapeutic has yet reached the market place (except COVID-19 Vaccines ).

The first key experiment was performed in 1968 by Lane and John Gurdon verified afterwards: the general characteristics of the novel mRNA expression experimental system were then further defined. The express publication in Nature of the 1971 paper by Gurdon, Lane, Woodland and Marbaix The ability of the oocyte to process correctly and locate correctly foreign particles renders this whole cell system generally useful. The system has also been used to evaluate control systems within the living cell. This basic discovery has generated a significant literature and the Xenopus oocyte microinjection system has become a standard feature of many laboratories, whilst the philosophy behind using the cell as a "living test tube" has spread far beyond the simple oocyte system – not least to mRNA therapeutics.

In 1976, Scientific American published a popular article by Lane entitled "Rabbit Haemoglobin from Frog Eggs". there is little direct evidence that mRNA therapeutics will have a general impact on medical practices.

The Xenopus oocyte expression system has since become a standard tool in molecular and cell biology and has contributed to research recognised by the Nobel Prize. Peter Agre's identification of aquaporin water channels, for which he shared the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, was demonstrated by expressing the protein in Xenopus oocytes; oocytes producing the protein swelled and ruptured in a dilute solution, confirming its function as a water channel.

The initial studies which led to this discovery, were performed in the old Zoology Department building (at Oxford). Even before Lane had finished his doctoral thesis he was elected (age 22) a Research Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge – one of the youngest persons ever to be elected a Fellow of a Cambridge College.

Lane had realised that the oocyte system enjoyed enormous potential for the study of post translational events, and an early (1971) Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences paper with Hans Bloemendal, Anton Berns, Ger Strous and Michael Matthews focused on that which, in terms of post-translational events, the oocyte system could and could not do. That which it could not do turned out to be extremely rare – the oocyte could even accurately modify honey bee made under the direction of injected venom gland mRNA and could even, insert foreign proteins into membranes in a functional state. For about 14 years, Lane's research focused on the oocyte as a system for studying post translational (and other) downstream events. Lane was not interested in the use of the oocyte as a system for studies with exogenous DNA, believing that other systems were better suited to upstream studies: nonetheless, the oocyte system has its uses for such endeavors, especially as regards the study of transcription.

Lane died in 2026.

References & publications

Further works & reviews

Lane CD, Marbaix G and Gurdon JB (1971) 9S RNA from reticulocytes and is assay in frog oocytes. The Biology & Radiobiology of Anucleate Systems Academic Press. Ed S. Bonotto Lane CD, Marbaix G and Gurdon JB (1971). The translation of reticulocyte 9S RNA in frog oocytes gives rise to alpha and beta globin chains. Communication to FEBS meeting at Vauna, Bulgaria Lane CD, Marbaix G et Gurdon JB (1972). 80 (5) pages 973–974 Lane CD and Morel C (1972). The translation of duck 9S RNA in frog oocytes. Communication to the Biochemical Society of Brazil Bloemendal H, Berns A, Strous G, Matthews M, and Lane CD (1972). Translation of eukaryotic messenger RNA in various heterologous systems. "RNA Viruses/Ribosomes" Pub. North-Holland Smith M, Stavnezar J, Huang R-C, Gurdon JB and Lane CD (1973). Mouse immunoglobin synthesis in frog cell: the translation of 9-13S myeloma RNA in frog oocytes. Journal of Molecular Biology 80 pages 553–557 Jacobson A, Lane CD and Alton T (1975). Electrophoretic separation of the major species of slime mould messenger RNA. "Microbiology" (Proc. Of Asiolma Symp) Ed. Dworkin & Shapiro. Jacobson A, Palatnik CM, Lane CD, Mabie C and Wilkins C (1975). Fractionation of mRNAs from Dictyostelium discoideum EMBO workshop on Development and Differentiation in slime molds Ed. P Capucinelli North-Holland Press Amsterdam