- Email: [email protected]
The mammalian fetus-comparative biology and methodology
TIBS - April 1977
95
Wantanabe et al. on polypeptides found in the venom of wasps and yellow jackets containing the bradykinin sequence. In some species, the serine6 of mammalian bradykinin is replaced by threonine6. In others, the bradykinin sequence is preceded at its N-terminus by two or more amino acids. The sections on plant and microbial toxins, ti&ds with which I am most familiar, contain little that is new and were obviously not the primary interest of this symposium. The two volumes do contain a wealth of new and recently gathered information on the structure and pharmacological action of many toxic enzymes, proteases, nucleases, phospholipases, of restricted and unusual substrate specificities, that are found in the venoms of snakes and various arthropod species. For this reason, they should be particularly useful for the biochemist interested in such problems as the structure and function of biomembranes, or in the complex mechanisms involved in the complement system and in blood coagulation.
according to the type of reaction involved. Although the prose is terse and not particularly ‘readable’, the book is well referenced (1932 in all) and should provide a useful launching pad as well as a background for initiates. The introduction to procedures for carrying out microbial reactions is oversimplistic and detracts unnecessarily from the standard of the rest of the book. It is also unfortunate that the needs of microbial biochemists, a group of potential readers, are not catered for more adequately by a wider use of nomenclature of the substrates considered in Section 3 and of particular enzymes involved in transformations where these are known. Despite these minor criticisms the author is to be congratulated on his thoroughness in assembling such a wide body of knowledge and presenting it in a readily usable form. JACK MELLING J. Melling is a Principal Scientific Officer at the Microbiological Research Establishment, Porton Down, Saiisbury. U.K.
A.M. PAPPENHEIMER JR. A. M. Pappenheimer Jr. is Projtissor of Biology at the Biological Laboratories, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Bags of enzymes Microbial Transformations of Non-steroid Cyclic Compounds edited by Klaus Kieslich, publirhed by Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart, 1976, DMl%.(xxii+ 1212pages)
There is a widening interest in using microorganisms or purified microbial enzymes to carry out specific syntheses and to degrade unwanted and toxic materials. Indeed the possibility of carrying out a variety of chemical reactions at room ternperature, atmospheric pressure and without the use of strong acids or alkalis, while achieving high yields, of a specific product is a prospect which must surely entice organic chemists. This book by Klaus Kieslich provides a gateway for the researcher into the area and readers should not be daunted by the 1262 pages since it is well indexed and logically arranged into three sections. After a short introduction the second section deals with a range of microbial transformations of Alicyclic compounds, Terpenoids, various, aromatic, 0- and N-Heterocyclic compounds, Alkaloids, Di- and Tri-N-, S-, OS- SN-Heterocycles and Carbohydrates. In the third section, which is in tabular form, the transformations are arranged
Chromosome fragments Current Chromosome
Research
edited by K. Jones and P. E. Brandham, publishedby North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1976. Dji’.62.- ($23.95) (xv + 240 pages)
Research in the field of the eukaryotic chromosome has received new impetus in recent years with the development of several new techniques at both the molecular and cytological levels. When picking up ‘Current Chromosome Research’ I wondered which aspects of this large area were to be represented.. I found that the book contains a collection of papers, that were given at the Kew Chromosome Conference, and as such one is really reviewing a conference rather than a book. Reflecting the interests of the conference organisers and the Jodrell Laboratory where the conference was held, the book is mainly concerned with cytological aspects of j chromosomes. Successful conferences do not always transfer well into bookform and although many conference proceedings do appear subsequently in bookform, the best of these have been when the original conference had an underlying theme to which each individual contribution has been directed. I found such a theme lacking in this book ; the common ground of ‘chromosomes’ being simply too wide to hold the various papers together. Despite reservations about the way the information is presented, the book does
contain a lot of information on specific topics. There are 23 chapters together with summaries of 17 demonstrations. Many of the chapters are in the form of research papers, with little attempt on the part of the authors to introduce their subject to the nonspecialist or to tie their results into the general knowledge about chromosomes. This is especially true of the demonstrations, in this case due to lack of space, and I am surprised that the summaries were included in a book of this sort. There is not room here to list each chapter individually. The book contains an excellent review of the recent work on chromatin structure and a brief summary of the current state of chromosome banding. The relationship between heterochromatin and satellite DNA is discussed in two chapters and several chapters deal with aspects ofmeiosis in plants (especially chromosome pairing) and the detection, location and effects of structural changes in chromosomes. While these latter subjects have often been omitted from recent conferences on chromosomes, I feel that such a heavy emphasis on them in this book has led to the exclusion of other equally interesting topics; for example, the extensive cytological work being done on human chromosomes in many laboratories is not represented at all. The book appears only three months after the conference was held, which is a considerable achievement by all concerned. However, I cannot help feeling that a little more time and care, perhaps in the initial stages of organising the conference, would have produced a book that would have been of more use to those with a general interest in chromosomes. C. J. BOSTOCK C. J. Bostock is a member of the Medical Research Council staff at the Clinical and Population Cytogenetics Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, U.K.
Fetal lore The Mammalian Fetus-Comparative Biology and Methodology edited by E. S. E. Hafez, published by Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, 1975. $29.75 (approx &15.-) (352 pages)
The book is based on a symposium held in December 1973 and consists of seventeen chapters by different authors, many of whom are well known for research contributions in the fields they write about. The chapters are grouped under four heads, namely perinatal physiology, nutrition and fetal growth development, methodology and intrauterine diagnosis, and anomalies of fetal development, but
TIBS - April 1977
96
they do not fit rigidly into these categories as the subject matter shows a good deal of overlap between them, and several are mutually complementary. Seven chapters deal mainly with basic anatomical and functional aspects of fetus and placenta (ultrastructure, circulation, respiration, excretion, nutrition, behaviour), and ten with anomalies of various kinds (structural deviations, variant haemoglobins, maternal health, maternal antibodies, biochemical disorders, malnutrition, asphyxia). Items of particular interest to the reviewer were accounts of the initiation of breathing, patterns of fetal activity, ketone metabolism in the fetus, origin and disposal of amniotic fluid, effects of malnutrition on fetal behaviour and later potential, fetal-maternal incompatibility, diagnosis of metabolic errors, and significance of !_x-fetoprotein. Rather more than half of the chapters are wholly or largely concerned with the human subject, and several of the others, dealing with findings in non-human animals, examine the relevance for man. The book is well produced, with numerous tables and .illustrations, and is fairly consistently written in a concise and authoritative style. It will appeal primarily to the medical specialist and the active experimenter, but contains also a great deal of information that would be appreciated by clinicians and advanced medical and biological students. C. R. AUSTIN C. R. Austin is Prqfkssor q/Animal Embryology Universiiy of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K.
at the
Not recommended for students Prostaglandins.
An
their Biochemistry, Pharmacology
Introduction
Physiology
to
and
by P. B. Curtis Prior, published by NorthHolland, Amsterdam, 1976. Djl. 42.($16.25) (158 pages)
The author states that the book is written for undergraduates, postgraduates and all those interested, but currently uninitiated, in the subject. It is an introduction to the not a comprehensive prostaglandins, treatise. Curtis Prior is a comparative newcomer to prostaglandin research himself. As an author, therefore, he should be less encumbered with preconceived ideas about the subject than those with a longer-standing involvement. Readers may expect a fresh approach to the subject. But authors who
macological properties in common with are themselves novices must take special prostaglandins, but chemically they are care to avoid errors. Unfortunately, there totally different. This chapter is curiously are far too many in the present book. Casual inspection reveals howlers like ‘bis- out of place. Regretfully, I cannot recommend this di’-homo-y-linolenic acid, linoleic and monograph to those who wish to learn linolenic (alpha or gamma not specified) about prostaglandins; there are more acids shown as 20-carbon compounds and reputable and accurate sources. Undergrathromboxane A, with a triple-bonded duate students in particular should be waroxygen atom; thromboxane B, is shown ned not to use it. The reasonable price to be derived from a 17-carbon acid, whilst may, however, tempt them to buy a copy. the structure of E. J. Corey’s azo analogue of the prostaglandin endoperoxides might E. W. HORTON E. W. Horton is Professor of Pharmacologv at the Unistretch the innovative capacity of even that highly inventive chemical genius, were he versity of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, U.K. to attempt its synthesis. There are many typographical errors, the names of Anggard, Erspamer, McGiff, Schachter and Rosenfeld are misspelt on one page of references alone, whilst Naftolin appears in the acknowledgements with question marks in place of initials. Methods in Membrane Biology, But these and other errors apart, does Vol. 7 the book commend itself as being suitable as an introduction for newcomers? It is edited by Edward D. Korn, published by certainly a short book, containing only 86 Plenum Press, New York and London, 1976. $31.20 (approx. U6.50) (xx+267 pages of text amongst its 159 pages. There is an interesting abundance of blank pages pages) between chapters, useful perhaps for addiAs a co-author of the first chapter in tional notes. References are too numerous Volume I of this series I have a vested infor an introductory text; a carefully selected list of key papers and reviews terest in their survival on the shelves of would have been of great value. The sub- biological libraries. My regret is that I ject index is sparse. The reader will find cannot here return an accolade to Milton Salton for his article in Volume 6 of this the clearly presented contents list more series, for here I am reviewing Volume 7! useful. Thus, for any prospective purchaser of this Biosynthesis and metabolism receive fairly extensive treatment and so do inhibi- review series it might be judged that at least three out of the seven volumes so far pubtors of these pathways. These are certainly lished earn their space on the library shelf. the best sections and may be commended. As in earlier volumes, the editor, in his Methods of extraction, separation, preface, provides a synopsis of the fields identification and measurement receive scarcely a mention. Indeed quantitation is of review in his usual inimitable style. almost totally absent from this book. This These pages can be skimmed tactfully is a serious defect. The new reader will get before a decision to buy is made! In this volume the major article is devono idea of the minute prostaglandin proted to Electron Microscopic Methods by duction by tissues or how much prostagZingsheim and Plattner; there are shorter landin is necessary for a pharmacological articles on the Use of Phospholipases in effect. Newcomers to the field are often the Determination of a Symmetric Phoskeenly interested in analytical methods, they will be disappointed to receive no pholipid Distribution in Membranes by Roelofsen and Zwaal; the External guidance. An introductory text cannot cover all Labeling Cell Surface Carbohydrate by aspects. Omissions include the effects of Gahmberg et al. and The Phospholipid prostaglandins on respiratory smooth Exchange Between Membranes by Zilvermuscle and on the endocrine glands, whilst 1smit and Hughes. All these articles have merit and are entirely relevant to the title platelet aggregation is only briefly mentioned. of this excellent series. The title of Chapter 6, namely, ‘ProstagA. D. BANGHAM A. D. Bangham is Head of the Biophysics Unit at the landin-like substances’, could be misleadAgricultural Research Council Institute qf Animal ing to students, since the term is usually Physiology Babraham, Cambridge, U.K. restricted to partially identified acid lipidsoluble substances with similar biological activity to prostaglandins (irin, darmstoff and medullin are old examples). But this chapter deals with peptides like kinins and substance P. True these have certain phar-
Worthy of shelf space
95
Wantanabe et al. on polypeptides found in the venom of wasps and yellow jackets containing the bradykinin sequence. In some species, the serine6 of mammalian bradykinin is replaced by threonine6. In others, the bradykinin sequence is preceded at its N-terminus by two or more amino acids. The sections on plant and microbial toxins, ti&ds with which I am most familiar, contain little that is new and were obviously not the primary interest of this symposium. The two volumes do contain a wealth of new and recently gathered information on the structure and pharmacological action of many toxic enzymes, proteases, nucleases, phospholipases, of restricted and unusual substrate specificities, that are found in the venoms of snakes and various arthropod species. For this reason, they should be particularly useful for the biochemist interested in such problems as the structure and function of biomembranes, or in the complex mechanisms involved in the complement system and in blood coagulation.
according to the type of reaction involved. Although the prose is terse and not particularly ‘readable’, the book is well referenced (1932 in all) and should provide a useful launching pad as well as a background for initiates. The introduction to procedures for carrying out microbial reactions is oversimplistic and detracts unnecessarily from the standard of the rest of the book. It is also unfortunate that the needs of microbial biochemists, a group of potential readers, are not catered for more adequately by a wider use of nomenclature of the substrates considered in Section 3 and of particular enzymes involved in transformations where these are known. Despite these minor criticisms the author is to be congratulated on his thoroughness in assembling such a wide body of knowledge and presenting it in a readily usable form. JACK MELLING J. Melling is a Principal Scientific Officer at the Microbiological Research Establishment, Porton Down, Saiisbury. U.K.
A.M. PAPPENHEIMER JR. A. M. Pappenheimer Jr. is Projtissor of Biology at the Biological Laboratories, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Bags of enzymes Microbial Transformations of Non-steroid Cyclic Compounds edited by Klaus Kieslich, publirhed by Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart, 1976, DMl%.(xxii+ 1212pages)
There is a widening interest in using microorganisms or purified microbial enzymes to carry out specific syntheses and to degrade unwanted and toxic materials. Indeed the possibility of carrying out a variety of chemical reactions at room ternperature, atmospheric pressure and without the use of strong acids or alkalis, while achieving high yields, of a specific product is a prospect which must surely entice organic chemists. This book by Klaus Kieslich provides a gateway for the researcher into the area and readers should not be daunted by the 1262 pages since it is well indexed and logically arranged into three sections. After a short introduction the second section deals with a range of microbial transformations of Alicyclic compounds, Terpenoids, various, aromatic, 0- and N-Heterocyclic compounds, Alkaloids, Di- and Tri-N-, S-, OS- SN-Heterocycles and Carbohydrates. In the third section, which is in tabular form, the transformations are arranged
Chromosome fragments Current Chromosome
Research
edited by K. Jones and P. E. Brandham, publishedby North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1976. Dji’.62.- ($23.95) (xv + 240 pages)
Research in the field of the eukaryotic chromosome has received new impetus in recent years with the development of several new techniques at both the molecular and cytological levels. When picking up ‘Current Chromosome Research’ I wondered which aspects of this large area were to be represented.. I found that the book contains a collection of papers, that were given at the Kew Chromosome Conference, and as such one is really reviewing a conference rather than a book. Reflecting the interests of the conference organisers and the Jodrell Laboratory where the conference was held, the book is mainly concerned with cytological aspects of j chromosomes. Successful conferences do not always transfer well into bookform and although many conference proceedings do appear subsequently in bookform, the best of these have been when the original conference had an underlying theme to which each individual contribution has been directed. I found such a theme lacking in this book ; the common ground of ‘chromosomes’ being simply too wide to hold the various papers together. Despite reservations about the way the information is presented, the book does
contain a lot of information on specific topics. There are 23 chapters together with summaries of 17 demonstrations. Many of the chapters are in the form of research papers, with little attempt on the part of the authors to introduce their subject to the nonspecialist or to tie their results into the general knowledge about chromosomes. This is especially true of the demonstrations, in this case due to lack of space, and I am surprised that the summaries were included in a book of this sort. There is not room here to list each chapter individually. The book contains an excellent review of the recent work on chromatin structure and a brief summary of the current state of chromosome banding. The relationship between heterochromatin and satellite DNA is discussed in two chapters and several chapters deal with aspects ofmeiosis in plants (especially chromosome pairing) and the detection, location and effects of structural changes in chromosomes. While these latter subjects have often been omitted from recent conferences on chromosomes, I feel that such a heavy emphasis on them in this book has led to the exclusion of other equally interesting topics; for example, the extensive cytological work being done on human chromosomes in many laboratories is not represented at all. The book appears only three months after the conference was held, which is a considerable achievement by all concerned. However, I cannot help feeling that a little more time and care, perhaps in the initial stages of organising the conference, would have produced a book that would have been of more use to those with a general interest in chromosomes. C. J. BOSTOCK C. J. Bostock is a member of the Medical Research Council staff at the Clinical and Population Cytogenetics Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, U.K.
Fetal lore The Mammalian Fetus-Comparative Biology and Methodology edited by E. S. E. Hafez, published by Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, 1975. $29.75 (approx &15.-) (352 pages)
The book is based on a symposium held in December 1973 and consists of seventeen chapters by different authors, many of whom are well known for research contributions in the fields they write about. The chapters are grouped under four heads, namely perinatal physiology, nutrition and fetal growth development, methodology and intrauterine diagnosis, and anomalies of fetal development, but
TIBS - April 1977
96
they do not fit rigidly into these categories as the subject matter shows a good deal of overlap between them, and several are mutually complementary. Seven chapters deal mainly with basic anatomical and functional aspects of fetus and placenta (ultrastructure, circulation, respiration, excretion, nutrition, behaviour), and ten with anomalies of various kinds (structural deviations, variant haemoglobins, maternal health, maternal antibodies, biochemical disorders, malnutrition, asphyxia). Items of particular interest to the reviewer were accounts of the initiation of breathing, patterns of fetal activity, ketone metabolism in the fetus, origin and disposal of amniotic fluid, effects of malnutrition on fetal behaviour and later potential, fetal-maternal incompatibility, diagnosis of metabolic errors, and significance of !_x-fetoprotein. Rather more than half of the chapters are wholly or largely concerned with the human subject, and several of the others, dealing with findings in non-human animals, examine the relevance for man. The book is well produced, with numerous tables and .illustrations, and is fairly consistently written in a concise and authoritative style. It will appeal primarily to the medical specialist and the active experimenter, but contains also a great deal of information that would be appreciated by clinicians and advanced medical and biological students. C. R. AUSTIN C. R. Austin is Prqfkssor q/Animal Embryology Universiiy of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K.
at the
Not recommended for students Prostaglandins.
An
their Biochemistry, Pharmacology
Introduction
Physiology
to
and
by P. B. Curtis Prior, published by NorthHolland, Amsterdam, 1976. Djl. 42.($16.25) (158 pages)
The author states that the book is written for undergraduates, postgraduates and all those interested, but currently uninitiated, in the subject. It is an introduction to the not a comprehensive prostaglandins, treatise. Curtis Prior is a comparative newcomer to prostaglandin research himself. As an author, therefore, he should be less encumbered with preconceived ideas about the subject than those with a longer-standing involvement. Readers may expect a fresh approach to the subject. But authors who
macological properties in common with are themselves novices must take special prostaglandins, but chemically they are care to avoid errors. Unfortunately, there totally different. This chapter is curiously are far too many in the present book. Casual inspection reveals howlers like ‘bis- out of place. Regretfully, I cannot recommend this di’-homo-y-linolenic acid, linoleic and monograph to those who wish to learn linolenic (alpha or gamma not specified) about prostaglandins; there are more acids shown as 20-carbon compounds and reputable and accurate sources. Undergrathromboxane A, with a triple-bonded duate students in particular should be waroxygen atom; thromboxane B, is shown ned not to use it. The reasonable price to be derived from a 17-carbon acid, whilst may, however, tempt them to buy a copy. the structure of E. J. Corey’s azo analogue of the prostaglandin endoperoxides might E. W. HORTON E. W. Horton is Professor of Pharmacologv at the Unistretch the innovative capacity of even that highly inventive chemical genius, were he versity of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, U.K. to attempt its synthesis. There are many typographical errors, the names of Anggard, Erspamer, McGiff, Schachter and Rosenfeld are misspelt on one page of references alone, whilst Naftolin appears in the acknowledgements with question marks in place of initials. Methods in Membrane Biology, But these and other errors apart, does Vol. 7 the book commend itself as being suitable as an introduction for newcomers? It is edited by Edward D. Korn, published by certainly a short book, containing only 86 Plenum Press, New York and London, 1976. $31.20 (approx. U6.50) (xx+267 pages of text amongst its 159 pages. There is an interesting abundance of blank pages pages) between chapters, useful perhaps for addiAs a co-author of the first chapter in tional notes. References are too numerous Volume I of this series I have a vested infor an introductory text; a carefully selected list of key papers and reviews terest in their survival on the shelves of would have been of great value. The sub- biological libraries. My regret is that I ject index is sparse. The reader will find cannot here return an accolade to Milton Salton for his article in Volume 6 of this the clearly presented contents list more series, for here I am reviewing Volume 7! useful. Thus, for any prospective purchaser of this Biosynthesis and metabolism receive fairly extensive treatment and so do inhibi- review series it might be judged that at least three out of the seven volumes so far pubtors of these pathways. These are certainly lished earn their space on the library shelf. the best sections and may be commended. As in earlier volumes, the editor, in his Methods of extraction, separation, preface, provides a synopsis of the fields identification and measurement receive scarcely a mention. Indeed quantitation is of review in his usual inimitable style. almost totally absent from this book. This These pages can be skimmed tactfully is a serious defect. The new reader will get before a decision to buy is made! In this volume the major article is devono idea of the minute prostaglandin proted to Electron Microscopic Methods by duction by tissues or how much prostagZingsheim and Plattner; there are shorter landin is necessary for a pharmacological articles on the Use of Phospholipases in effect. Newcomers to the field are often the Determination of a Symmetric Phoskeenly interested in analytical methods, they will be disappointed to receive no pholipid Distribution in Membranes by Roelofsen and Zwaal; the External guidance. An introductory text cannot cover all Labeling Cell Surface Carbohydrate by aspects. Omissions include the effects of Gahmberg et al. and The Phospholipid prostaglandins on respiratory smooth Exchange Between Membranes by Zilvermuscle and on the endocrine glands, whilst 1smit and Hughes. All these articles have merit and are entirely relevant to the title platelet aggregation is only briefly mentioned. of this excellent series. The title of Chapter 6, namely, ‘ProstagA. D. BANGHAM A. D. Bangham is Head of the Biophysics Unit at the landin-like substances’, could be misleadAgricultural Research Council Institute qf Animal ing to students, since the term is usually Physiology Babraham, Cambridge, U.K. restricted to partially identified acid lipidsoluble substances with similar biological activity to prostaglandins (irin, darmstoff and medullin are old examples). But this chapter deals with peptides like kinins and substance P. True these have certain phar-
Worthy of shelf space