Daniel E. Atkinson

Education Atkinson was an undergraduate at the University of Nebraska, and obtained a Ph.D. at Iowa State University, where he investigated the synthesis of aromatic amino acids and effects of p-fluorophenylalanine in Lactobacillus arabinosus, under the supervision of Sidney Fox.

Career After a post-doctoral period at the California Institute of Technology, followed by one as a research scientist at Argonne National laboratories, Atkinson moved to UCLA in 1952 as the second biochemist in the department. In his first work at UCLA he studied the bacterium Hydrogenomonas facilis, beginning with a description of the purification of hydrogenase.

Atkinson remained at UCLA for the remainder of his career, where he undertook numerous studies of metabolic regulation. Of these the best known is his introduction of the concept of energy charge.

Energy charge Atkinson and Walton introduced the concept of energy charge, later discussed more fully, he also worked on specific enzymes, such as isocitrate dehydrogenase and glutaminase, and on the role of urea synthesis in vertebrates.

Cellular Energy Metabolism and its Regulation Atkinson's influential book on energy metabolism set out the concepts and understanding of metabolic regulation that had developed over the preceding decades (most notably by him), in particular explaining the role of ratios of metabolite concentrations, including the energy charge, in regulating enzyme properties.

Later life and death Atkinson spent his last years living in Corvallis, Oregon. He died on February 2, 2024, at the age of 102.