Lucien Cuénot
| Lucien Cuénot | |
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Lucien Cuénot
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| Born | 21 October 1866 Paris |
| Died |
7 January 1951 (aged 84) Nancy |
| Nationality | France |
| Education | biologist |
| Known for | multiple allelism at a genetic locus |
Lucien Claude Marie Julien Cuénot (French: [keno]; 21 October 1866 – 7 January 1951) was a French biologist. In the first half of the 20th century, Mendelism was not a popular subject among French biologists. Cuénot defied popular opinion and shirked the “pseudo-sciences” as he called them. Upon the rediscovery of Mendel's work by Correns, De Vries, and Tschermak, Cuénot proved that Mendelism applied to animals as well as plants.
Cuénot spent two years working on mice and came to the conclusion that three “mnemons” (genes) are responsible for the production of one “chromogen” or pigment and two “distases” enzymes. The pigment (if present) is acted upon by the enzymes to produce black or yellow colour. If no pigment is present the result is an albino mouse. Cuénot studied the offspring of various crosses between mice and concluded that these “mnemons” or genes were inherited in a Mendelian fashion. Subsequently, Cuénot was the first person to describe multiple allelism at a genetic locus.
He also described a lethal mutation in the mouse agouti locus at a time when such a mutation was unheard of.
There is some argument over the degree of recognition of Cuénot's pioneering work in his own day, and up until the present.
Some scientists who were famous in Cuénot's day such as William Bateson, the man credited the “one gene one enzyme” hypothesis never recognized Cuénot's discovery that certain traits arose due to the presence or absence of an enzyme. Archibald Garrod suggested in the early part of the 20th century that certain diseases occurred in the absence of an essential enzyme in a biochemical pathway and that these diseases were inherited as Mendelian recessives. Garrod failed to mention Cuénot in his work. At this time, there was widespread difficulty with reconciling genetics and biochemistry.
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