Barbara McClintock

Why Is Barbara McClintock Influential?

According to Wikipedia, Barbara McClintock was an American scientist and cytogeneticist who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. McClintock received her PhD in botany from Cornell University in 1927. There she started her career as the leader of the development of maize cytogenetics, the focus of her research for the rest of her life. From the late 1920s, McClintock studied chromosomes and how they change during reproduction in maize. She developed the technique for visualizing maize chromosomes and used microscopic analysis to demonstrate many fundamental genetic ideas. One of those ideas was the notion of genetic recombination by crossing-over during meiosis—a mechanism by which chromosomes exchange information. She produced the first genetic map for maize, linking regions of the chromosome to physical traits. She demonstrated the role of the telomere and centromere, regions of the chromosome that are important in the conservation of genetic information. She was recognized as among the best in the field, awarded prestigious fellowships, and elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1944.

(See a Problem?)

Barbara McClintock's Published Works

Number of citations in a given year to any of this author's works

Total number of citations to an author for the works they published in a given year. This highlights publication of the most important work(s) by the author

Published Papers

The significance of responses of the genome to challenge. (1984) (2266)
The Stability of Broken Ends of Chromosomes in Zea Mays. (1941) (1483)
The origin and behavior of mutable loci in maize (1950) (1401)
Chromosome organization and genic expression. (1951) (1152)
Controlling elements and the gene. (1956) (704)
The Behavior in Successive Nuclear Divisions of a Chromosome Broken at Meiosis. (1939) (542)
Mutable Loci in Maize (1951) (511)
The Production of Homozygous Deficient Tissues with Mutant Characteristics by Means of the Aberrant Mitotic Behavior of Ring-Shaped Chromosomes. (1938) (446)
The Fusion of Broken Ends of Chromosomes Following Nuclear Fusion. (1942) (296)
The control of gene action in maize (1965) (278)
A Correlation of Cytological and Genetical Crossing-Over in Zea Mays. (1931) (248)
Induction of Instability at Selected Loci in Maize. (1953) (232)
Neurospora. I. Preliminary observations of the chromosomes of Neurospora crassa (1945) (226)
A Cytological and Genetical Study of Triploid Maize. (1929) (194)
Cytological observations of deficiencies involving known genes, translocations and an inversion in Zea mays (1931) (193)
Mechanisms that rapidly reorganize the genome (1978) (192)
The association of non-homologous parts of chromosomes in the mid-prophase of meiosis in zea mays (1933) (187)
Cytogenetic Studies of Maize and Neurospora (1945) (183)
The fusion of broken ends of sister half-chromatids following chromatid breakage at meiotic anaphases (1938) (174)
CHROMOSOME MORPHOLOGY IN ZEA MAYS. (1929) (165)
Some Parallels Between Gene Control Systems in Maize and in Bacteria (1961) (164)
A CYTOLOGICAL DEMONSTRATION OF THE LOCATION OF AN INTERCHANGE BETWEEN TWO NON-HOMOLOGOUS CHROMOSOMES OF ZEA MAYS. (1930) (152)
A Correlation of Ring-Shaped Chromosomes with Variegation in Zea Mays. (1932) (151)
The Suppressor-Mutator System of Control of Gene Action in Maize (1958) (129)
Mutations in Maize and Chromosomal Aberrations in Neurospora (1954) (127)
A Method for Making Aceto-Carmin Smears Permanent (1929) (120)
Intranuclear systems controlling gene action and mutation. (1956) (112)
The Relation of Homozygous Deficiencies to Mutations and Allelic Series in Maize. (1944) (111)
Mutation in maize (1956) (110)
Aspects of gene regulation in maize (1964) (103)
SPONTANEOUS ALTERATIONS IN CHROMOSOME SIZE AND FORM IN ZEA MAYS (1941) (99)
Topographical relations between elements of control systems in maize (1962) (94)
Maize genetics. (1946) (94)
Further Studies of Gene-Control Systems in Maize (1963) (87)
Controlled mutation in maize (1955) (83)
Components of action of the regulators Spm and Ac (1965) (79)
Genetic and cytological studies of maize (1959) (75)
Chromosome constitution of races of maize. Its significance in the interpretation of relationships between races and varieties in the Americas (1981) (71)
The Cytological Identification of the Chromosome Associated with the R-G Linkage Group in ZEA MAYS. (1931) (66)
Genetic systems regulating gene expression during development (1968) (63)
A GENIC DISTURBANCE OF MEIOSIS IN ZEA MAYS. (1928) (62)
Development of the maize endosperm as revealed by clones (1978) (60)
The Association of Mutants with Homozygous Deficiencies in Zea Mays. (1940) (56)
The Order of the Genes C, Sh and Wx in Zea Mays with Reference to a Cytologically Known Point in the Chromosome. (1931) (53)
The Contribution of One Component of a Control System to Versatility of Gene Expression (1971) (53)
The cytogenetics of maize (1935) (48)
Regulation of pattern of gene expression by controlling elements in maize. (1966) (45)
Chromosome Constitutions of Mexican and Guatemalan Races of Maize (1960) (37)
The states of a gene locus in maize (1967) (36)
Artefacts created during oral biopsy procedures. (1987) (34)
Polyploidy in Zea Mays L. (1926) (34)
Significance of chromosome constitutions in tracing the origin and migration of races of maize in the Americas (1978) (31)
A 2n-1 chromosomal chimera in maize (1929) (23)
Modified gene expressions induced by transposable elements (1980) (14)
The Correlation of Cytological and Genetical Crossing-Over in Zea Mays. A Corroboration. (1935) (14)
Ichthyodeterrent Properties of Lipophilic Extracts from Bermudian Sponges (1997) (12)
Restoration of A1 gene action by crossing over (1965) (9)
Mechanisms that rapidly reorganize the genome : (genome reorganizations, transposable gene control systems, restriction enzymes, stabilizing mechanisms) (1978) (8)
The production of maize plants mosaic for homozygous deficiencies: Simulation of the bm1 phenotype through loss of the Bm1 locus (1937) (4)
Trauma as a Means of Initiating Change in Genome Organization and Expression (1983) (3)
Chromosome Organization and Function in Higher Organisms (1964) (3)
A Method for Detecting Potential Mutations of a Specific Chromosomal Region (1938) (3)
California Institute of Technology Lectures (1954) (3)
Continued Study of a Structurally Modified Chromosome 9 (1957) (2)
Genome Shock as a Means of Reprogramming Genomes (1983) (2)
Breakage-fusion-bridge cycle induced deficiencies in the short arm of chromosome 9 (1944) (2)
Attempts to Separate Ds from neighboring gene loci (1965) (2)
A Case of Ac-induced Instability at the Bronze Locus in Chromosome 9 (1955) (2)
Spread of Mutational Change Along the Chromosome (1955) (1)
A Genic Disturbance of Meiosis in Zea mays (1928) (1)
Columbia University Lectures (1964) (1)
The Cytological Identification of the Chromosomes Associated with the 'R-golden' and 'B-liguleless' Linkage Groups in Zea Mays (1)
System responsible for mutations at a1m-2 (1955) (1)
Continued Study of Stability of Location of Spm (1957) (1)
Transposition sequences of Ac (1955) (1)
Studies of instability of chromosome behavior of components of a modified chromosome 9 (1956) (1)
Continuation of Transposition of Ac; and its Relation to Somatic Sectoring and to Controls of Mutation of Mutable Genes (1954) (0)
Polypoidy in Zea mays L. (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to Peter A. Peterson (1972) (0)
"Mode of Operation of a System of Controlling Elements in Maize" (Appendix) (1956) (0)
ASPECTS OF GEKE REGULATIOK IN MAIZE (2001) (0)
[Unpublished index of corn specimens] (section 4, image 4) (1971) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to Marcus M. Rhoades (1950) (0)
The sixth volume of Essays of an Information Scientist contained all of my essays published during the previous year in Current Contents (1998) (0)
A suppressor-mutator system of control of genic action and mutational change (1955) (0)
"Mode of Operation of a System of Controlling Elements in Maize" (pages 1-31) (1956) (0)
The Origin and Behavior of c-m2; The Origin and Behavior of wx-m1 (1954) (0)
Principles Derived from Study of Bacterial and Phage Genetic Systems (1964) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to William L. Brown (1959) (0)
Further study of Ac control of mutation at the bronze locus in chromosome 9 (1956) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to F. G. Brieger (1962) (0)
Memorandum from Barbara McClintock to William L. Brown (1962) (0)
Gene Control Mechanisms in Higher Organisms: Two Common Types and Several Special Types (1964) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to Curt and Evelyn Stern (1934) (0)
:.HE PRODUCTION OF HOMOZYGOUS DEFICIENT TISSUES ,’ WITH MUTAST CHARACTERISTICS BY ME-AX’S OF i \ THE ABERRANT MITOTIC BEHAVIOR OF RING-SHAPED CHROMOSOIMES* (2001) (0)
How Chromosomes Have Been Used to Trace the Origin and Migration of Races of Maize in the Americas (1980) (0)
List of McClintock publications (1984) (0)
Continuation of Inheritance Behavior in Ac (1954) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to Oliver E. Nelson, Jr. (1970) (0)
Six Plants Examined in Each Race (1963) (0)
Continuation of Transposition of Ds; Locations of Ds in Short Arm of Chromosome 9. The Missing Regions; Why. The States of Ds (1954) (0)
Gene-Control Mechanisms in Higher Organisms. Part II (1964) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to Harold Frank Robinson (1962) (0)
A METHOD FOR MAKING ACETO-CARMIN SMEARS (1997) (0)
The Inheritance Behavior and the Mode of Action of Ac (1954) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to W. Ronnie Coffman (1990) (0)
Introduction to Study of Variegation in Maize (1954) (0)
MUTABLE LOCI IN MAIZE t, (2001) (0)
Alteration of Gene Action by Genetic Mechanisms (1958) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to Almiro Blumenschein (1966) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to George W. Beadle (1972) (0)
"Memorandum to Marcus Rhoades (about the Ds Locus)" [pages 26-54] (1949) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to Curt Stern (1933) (0)
MUTABLE LOCI IN (2001) (0)
Spread of Mutation Change Along Chromosome. The a1 m-1; a1 m-2 Control Systems (1954) (0)
Conclusions on c-m1; Outline of bz-m1; Begin c-m2 (1954) (0)
BOTANY: CREIGHTON A ND McCLINTOCK hoc. N. A. S. THE CORRELATION OF CYTOLOGICAL AND GENETICAL CROSSING-OVER IN ZEA MA YS. A CORROBORATION (2001) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to Angel Kato (1964) (0)
The Mechanism of Transposition of Ds; Origin and Behavior of cm-1 (1954) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to Charles R. Burnham (1931) (0)
Draft of letter from Barbara McClintock to Angel Kato (1970) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to Joshua Lederberg (1948) (0)
The Interpretation of Origin and Behavior of the Controlling Systems (1954) (0)
The Breakage-fusion-bridge Cycle and the Origin of Instability at Gene Loci (1954) (0)
Review of Previous Discussions (1954) (0)
The Genetic Location and Cytological Behavior of Ds (1954) (0)
Further study of the a1m-1 Spm system (1956) (0)
THE ORDER OF THE GENES C, Sh AND Wx IN ZEA MA YS WITH REFERENCE TO A CYTOLOGICALLY KNOWN POINT IN THE CHROMOSOME BY BARBARA MCCLINTOCE (2001) (0)
"The Ds Locus. Part III. Transposition of the Ds Locus" (pages 51-77) (1949) (0)
[Barbara McClintock's Curriculum Vitae] (1967) (0)
Aspects of Gene Control in Higher Organisms (1965) (0)
Lecture Notes on Maize (1986) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to Elizabeth H. Blackburn (1983) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to J. R. S. Fincham (1973) (0)
Talk on genomes (1983) (0)
Continuation of Discussion of wx-m1; The Induction of Mutability at Selected Loci; The States of a1-m3 (1954) (0)
Cyto-Genetics in 1932 (1932) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to David H. Timothy (1959) (0)
Nobel Prize Banquet (1983) (0)
Degree of spread of mutation along the chromosome induced by Ds (1956) (0)
Changes in State of Ac -- the Effects; Breakage-fusion-bridge Cycles in Endosperm; Transposition of Ds (Begin) (1954) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to Melvin Green (1968) (0)
The Discovery of Ds. Its Behavior and its Relation to Mutable Loci (1954) (0)
"Memorandum to Marcus Rhoades (about the Ds Locus)" [Appendix] (1949) (0)
Expanding Concepts in Genetics (1971) (0)
BARBARA McCLINTOCK : STATEMENT OF ACHIEVDlENTS Resume (1999) (0)
Letter from Barbara McClintock to Frank Press, National Academy of Sciences (1991) (0)
"The Ds Locus. Part III. Transposition of the Ds Locus" (Title Page and Table of Contents) (1949) (0)