Thomas Hohn
Thomas Hohn
Thomas Hohn grew up in Austria and studied at the Max Planck Institute in Tübingen, Germany. He then performed postdoctoral studies at Yale and later at Stanford, USA. He started his independent research at the Biozentrum in Basel before joining the FMI as a group leader in 1978, where he continued to work until his retirement in 2003.
With his group, Thomas made fundamental discoveries in virology, originally working on bacteriophages and later focusing on plant viruses.
During the heyday of plant research at FMI in the 1980s, Thomas, in collaboration with the groups of his wife, Barbara Hohn, and Ingo Potrykus, established protocols for transferring foreign genes to plants. These protocols, and the promoters his group designed for high-level gene expression, are landmark contributions to the technology for genetically modifying plants that are used world-wide for crop improvement.
Later in his career, Thomas focused on plant defenses against virus infection. Working on Cauliflower Mosaic Virus, he discovered special viral translation strategies. He also contributed to establishing the role of Dicer-like enzymes in the massive production of small, silencing RNAs representing virus DNA.
For many years, he was actively involved in the Indo-Swiss Collaboration in Biotechnology project, working together with Indian scientists to apply biotechnology for the improvement of pulses and cassava for use by subsistence farmers.
After his retirement, Thomas continued to run a laboratory at the Botanical Institute, University of Basel for several years. He also remained an active member of the FMI community, regularly attending our seminars and institute events. He was a fan of the outdoors and loved different cultures and travelling the world.
Thomas Hohn passed away on November 9, 2023.
Read FMI obituary
Sanfaçon H, Hohn T (1990) Proximity to the promoter inhibits recognition of cauliflower mosaic virus polyadenylation signal
Nature 346:81-84Sanfaçon H, Brodman P, Hohn T (1991) A dissection of the cauliflower mosaic virus polyadenylation signal
Genes Dev 5:141-149Hohn T (1969) Role of RNA in the assembly process of bacteriophage fr
J Mol Biol 43:191-200Hohn B, Hohn T (1974) Activity of empty, headlike particles for packaging of DNA of bacteriophage lambda in vitro
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 71:2372-2376Fütterer J, Kiss-László Z, Hohn T (1993) Nonlinear ribosome migration on cauliflower mosaic virus 35S RNA
Cell 73:789-802Kiss-László Z, Blanc S, Hohn T (1995) Splicing of cauliflower mosaic virus 35S RNA is essential for viral infectivity
EMBO J 14:3552-3562Wurtz M, Kistler J, Hohn T (1976) Surface structure of in vitro assembled bacteriophage lambda polyheads
J Mol Biol 101:39-56Hohn T, Wurtz M, Engel A (1978) Sevenfold rotational symmetry of a protein complex
J Ultrastruct Res 65:90-93Pooggin MM, Hohn T, Fütterer J (1998) Forced evolution reveals the importance of short open reading frame A and secondary structure in the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S RNA leader
J Virol 72:4157-4169Leclerc D, Chapdelaine Y, Hohn T (1999) Nuclear targeting of the cauliflower mosaic virus coat protein
J Virol 73:553-560Hohn T, Hohn B, Engel A, Wurtz M, Smith PR (1979) Isolation and characterization of the host protein groE involved in bacteriophage lambda assembly
J Mol Biol 129:359-373Park H-S, Hohn T, Ryabova LA (2001) A plant viral "Reinitiation" factor interacts with the host transcriptional machinery
Cell 106:723-733Pfeiffer P, Hohn T (1983) Involvement of reverse transcription in the replication of cauliflower mosaic virus:a detailed model and test of some aspects
Cell 33:781-787Brisson N, Paszkowski J, Penswick JR, Gronenborn B, Potrykus I, Hohn T (1984) Expression of a bacterial gene in plants by using a viral vector
Nature 310:511-514Richert-Poggeler KR, Noreen F, Schwarzacher T, Harper G, Hohn T (2003) Induction of infectious petunia vein clearing (pararetro) virus from endogenous provirus in petunia
EMBO J 22:4836-4845Pooggin MM, Shivaprasad PV, Veluthambi K, Hohn T (2003) RNAi targeting of DNA virus in plants
Nature Biotechnol 21:131-132Grimsley N, Hohn T, Davies JW, Hohn B (1987) Transformation of maize plants by Agrobacterium tumefaciens
Nature 325:177-179De Zoeten GA, Penswick JR, Horisberger MA, Ahl P, Schultze M, Hohn T (1989) The expression, localization, and effect of a human interferon in plants
Virology 172:213-222Trinks D, Rajeswaran R, Shivaprasad PV, Akbergenov R, Oakeley EJ, Veluthambi K, Hohn T, Pooggin MM (2005) Suppression of RNA silencing by a geminivirus nuclear protein, AC2, correlates with transactivation of host genes
J Virol 79:2517-2527Blevins T, Rajeswaran R, Shivaprasad PV, Beknazariants D, Si-Ammour A, Park HS, Vazquez F, Robertson D, Meins F Jr, Hohn T, Pooggin MM (2006) Four plant Dicers mediate viral small RNA biogenesis and DNA virus induced silencing
Nucl Acids Res 34:6233-6246Bonneville JM, Sanfaçon H, Fütterer J, Hohn T (1989) Posttranscriptional transactivation in cauliflower mosaic virus
Cell 59:1135-1143