Here I present: Luis Leloir, “Two Decades of Research on the Biosynthesis of Saccharides”, Nobel Prize Lecture’, 11 December 1970.
Luis F. Leloir’s 1970 Nobel Lecture, titled “Two decades of research on the biosynthesis of saccharides.” It outlines the early stages of his scientific journey and the serendipitous path that led to his major discoveries.
Key Highlights:
Early Career (1936–1945): After returning from Cambridge in 1936, Leloir worked on fatty acid oxidation (creating a novel cell-free system), renal hypertension, and spent time in the laboratories of Carl F. Cori and D. E. Green in the U.S.
- Return to Buenos Aires: In 1945, he began collaborating with R. Caputto and R. Trucco. Their initial work on glycogen in mammary glands hit a “dead end,” which they later realized was simply the degradation of glycogen by amylase.
- Shift to Saccharides: Seeking a better model for synthesis, they turned to studying lactose breakdown in the yeast Saccharomyces fragilis.
- Foundational Discovery: By 1948, their focus shifted to the phosphorylation of galactose and the transformation of galactose 1-phosphate, marking the beginning of the research that would eventually lead to the discovery of sugar nucleotides.
Leloir reflects on these early years with humility, noting that while some early experiments now seem “Paleolithic,” they laid the groundwork for exciting advances in biochemistry’.
Luis Leloir discovered a metabolic pathway, that is named after him: “Leloir Lactose 🚲 Cycle“.
