Charles Williams Carter Jr. is an American biophysicist and biochemist whose research combines macromolecular structure, protein crystallography, enzyme catalysis, aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, and the molecular evolution of genetic coding. A longtime professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he has also led the American Crystallographic Association and contributed extensively to origin-of-life research.
Background
Charles Williams Carter Jr. was born on November 25, 1945, in Montpelier, Vermont. He is the son of Priscilla Gleason Carter and Charles Williams Carter, and grew up in a family connected to Vermont and to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His parents raised five children. His mother studied early-childhood education at Vassar College and met Carter's father during a summer session in Chapel Hill; the couple married in Montpelier in 1944. Carter later established his professional and family life in Chapel Hill, where he became a member of the University of North Carolina scientific community.
Education
Carter studied molecular biology at Yale University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967. He then pursued graduate research in biology at the University of California, San Diego, where he earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1972. His doctoral work in structural biology and biochemistry formed the foundation for his later research on protein structure, crystallization, enzyme mechanism, and molecular evolution. After completing his doctorate, he undertook postdoctoral research at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England, before beginning his faculty career in North Carolina.
Career
Carter began his academic career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1974 as an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. He subsequently advanced through the academic ranks and became a professor of biochemistry and biophysics. His research has focused on the structures and mechanisms of proteins and enzymes, especially aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase, protein crystallization, molecular recognition, and the origins and evolution of genetic coding. His work has combined X-ray crystallography, biochemical experimentation, structural analysis, computational studies, and evolutionary reasoning. Carter has continued to publish from the UNC Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, including research and reviews on genetic coding, primordial translation, protein evolution, enzyme catalysis, and free-energy transduction. He was a Fulbright U.S. Scholar at the Pasteur Institute in France from September 2010 through February 2011.
Achievements
Developed the three-oxidation-state hypothesis accounting for the behavior of iron-sulfur redox proteins.
Developed incomplete factorial screening designs for protein crystallization, a method that influenced systematic optimization of crystallization conditions.
Demonstrated direct phase determination of a protein X-ray crystal structure at low resolution using X-ray density-contrast variation.
Demonstrated a third human hemoglobin quaternary structure.
Determined X-ray crystal structures of cytidine deaminase and tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase.
Advanced structural and biochemical models for the evolution of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases and the emergence of genetic coding.
(Reviewed relationships among codon usage, bidirectional c...)
2021
Views
Carter's scientific writing advances a peptide–RNA or protein-centered alternative to strictly RNA-world explanations of the origin of genetic coding. His work argues that ancestral peptide catalysts, aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, and structural relationships between nucleic acids and proteins were important in the emergence of translation and genetic coding.
Membership
Carter has been associated with the American Crystallographic Association and the Biophysical Society. He served as president of the American Crystallographic Association in 2002 and later represented the association to the American Institute of Physics until 2016. He has also been involved in AIP Publishing advisory work and has supported professional communities including the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.
Served as president in 2002 and represented the association to the American Institute of Physics until 2016.
American Crystallographic Association
,
United States
Professional association member.
American Biophysical Society
,
United States
Elected a fellow in 2013.
American Association for the Advancement of Science
,
United States
2013 - present
Professional scientific association member.
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
,
United States
Professional scientific association member.
Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
,
United States
Connections
Carter is the son of Priscilla Gleason Carter and Charles Williams Carter. He belongs to a family of five children and has maintained longstanding personal and professional ties to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where he has worked at the University of North Carolina since 1974. His scientific collaborations have included work with Peter R. Wills on genetic coding and molecular evolution and with colleagues in structural biology, biochemistry, and crystallography.
Father:
Charles
Charles Williams Carter was Carter's father.
Mother:
Priscilla
Priscilla Gleason Carter was Carter's mother.
References
Fulbright Scholar Program
Documents Carter's Fulbright U.S. Scholar research appointment at the Pasteur Institute in France during 2010–2011.
Fogarty Senior International Fellowship,
United States
Awarded in 1986 for international scientific work.
Awarded in 1986 for international scientific work.
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award,
United States
Research fellowship at the Pasteur Institute in France during the 2010–2011 academic year.
Research fellowship at the Pasteur Institute in France during the 2010–2011 academic year.
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,
United States
Elected in 2013 in recognition of contributions to molecular evolution and related scientific research.
Elected in 2013 in recognition of contributions to molecular evolution and related scientific research.
American Crystallographic Association Fellow,
United States
Named a fellow of the American Crystallographic Association in recognition of sustained contributions to crystallographic science and service to the association.
Named a fellow of the American Crystallographic Association in recognition of sustained contributions to crystallographic science and service to the association.
