JOSEPH E. VARNER - National Academy of Sciences

JOSEPH E. VARNER
October 7, 1921–July 4, 1995
BY MAARTEN J. CHRISPEELS
J
OSEPH E. VARNER’S fifty-year career (1945-95) spanned the
emergence and development of plant biochemistry, and
he was one of the major contributors to this field. His most
notable research achievements were the definition of cell
death as an active process; discovery that the hormone gibberellin
regulates the expression of α-amylase in barley aleurone
cells at the level of the gene; and cloning of the cDNA
for the cell wall protein extensin, which laid the foundation
for the study of the role of cell wall proteins in plants.
Together with James Bonner, Varner edited Plant Biochemistry,
which remained the standard single-volume textbook in
the field for fifteen years. During the last ten years of his
life he was probably the most widely admired and loved
plant biologist in the country, the elder statesman of his
discipline. He was extremely knowledgeable about biochemistry
and whenever he talked to colleagues or students he
generously shared his many ideas. He was a tireless promoter
of the study of plants and talked about experiments
until the final days of his life. In addition, Varner was a
sought-after advisor to government, universities, and industry.
He was a major supporter of the American Society of
Plant Physiologists, which he served as president in 1970-71
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