Volume 30 of the Barley Genetics Newsletter is dedicated to Dr. Ryuhei Takahashi

(8 September 1910 to 14 May 1999)

Dr. Ryuhei Takahashi died 14 May 1999 at Kurashiki, Japan. Dr. Takahashi was a leading barley researcher in Japan and has received many honors for his research on barley. Career highlights include serving as Vice-President, 1970-1974, and President, 1974-1978, of the Japanese Society of Breeding. He was awarded a prize by the Japanese Society of Breeding in 1954 and received the prize for Agricultural Science from the Japanese Society of Agricultural Science in 1963. As a member of the Organizing Committee for the International Barley Genetics Symposium, he helped organize the first three Symposia.

Dr. Takahashi was born 8 September 1910 in Kyoto Prefecture of Japan. In 1934, he graduated from Hokkaido Imperial University and was employed in 1935 as a barley researcher at Ohara Institute for Agricultural Research, established by the Ohara family at Kurashiki. In 1948, Dr. Takahashi was installed as vice-director of the Institute. Dr. Takahashi earned his doctorate degree from Hokkaido University in 1950. His thesis title was “Studies on geographical distribution and origin of cultivated barley.” In 1952, the Institute joined Okayama University and it was renamed the Institute for Agricultural and Biological Sciences, Okayama University. At the same time, Dr. Takahashi became the first professor of plant genetics in the Institute.

As a student of plant genetics, Dr. Takahashi was enlightened by the books on the "Genetics and the Origin of Species" by Dr. Th. Dobzhansky (1937, 1941, 1951) and demonstrated that the geographical distribution of barley cultivars is related to the major genes contained in the cultivars. He made worldwide collections of barley cultivars and wild relatives and established a barley collection containing more than 4000 accessions at Kurashiki. The accessions were classified for many morphological traits and major genes were determined by hybridizations between introduced cultivars and linkage testers. Subsequently, he published an opinion that barley was domesticated in Middle East and differentiated into two types: an oriental type including mainly East Asian barleys and an occidental type including mainly European barleys. Dr. Takahashi considered brittleness of the rachis in F₁ hybrids, controlled by the Btr1 and Btr2 loci in chromosome 3H, as the decisive characteristic for differentiation of oriental and occidental type cultivars.

One of Dr. Takahashi’s main contributions to Japanese barley was finding that the uz (uzu) gene, semi- brachytic growth habit (3H), is peculiar to Japanese cultivars. Using many pairs of near-isogenic lines, he showed that the uzu gene has pleiotropic effects on yield and yield components. Dr. Takahashi also found that the Vv (vrs1) genes for two- and six-rowed spikes (2H), the Nn (nud) genes for covered and naked kernels (7H), and the Ll (dsp1) genes for lax and dense spikes (7H) control major phenotypic traits and have pleiotropic effects on several agronomic characters. During over 40 years study, Dr. Takahashi has contributed to the identification and mapping of over 50 genes in barley.

Dr. Takahashi made a significant contribution to disease resistance research by finding and studying a gene (rym1) for resistance to barley yellow mosaic disease (BaYMV) in the landrace Mokusekko 3, which he collected in China. Introgression of the rym1 gene made possible continued cultivation of two-rowed barley in Japan. This resistance gene is a valuable genetic resource that has been incorporated into many European and East Asian barley cultivars. Dr. Takahashi also conducted genetic studies on resistance to powdery mildew and to barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV).

Dr. Takahashi retired from Okayama University in 1976 and was awarded the title Emeritus Professor. He had very precise and severe approach to his professional studies, but his personality was positive and sunny. Dr. Takahashi loved the natural environment and enjoyed walking in hills and fields with a camera during his spare time.

--Dr. S. Yasuda, Emeritus Professor of Okayama University