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Metals and enzyme activity
ARCHIVES
OF BIOCHEMISTRY
AND
BIOPHYSICS
83,
570-576 (1959)
Book Reviews Metals and Enzyme Activity. Edited by E. M. CROOK. Cambridge University Press, London and New York, 1958. 102 pp. Price $3.75. The popularity of symposia reflects the obvious value to the participants, and publication of the proceedings is clearly a socially desirable device for sharing the benefits of the public part of the meeting with those unavoidably absent. When such a publication appears, it may be asked whether the stimulation provided by the oral presentation retains its vigor for the reader, or whether the values have become attenuated. The Symposium on Metals and Enzyme Activity sponsored by the Biochemical Society was held in July, 1956. The meeting brought together chemists interested in complexes of metal ions, and biochemists concerned with enzymes whose activities depend upon such complexes. Approximately 2 years later a slim volume appeared, including the seven formal papers and a transcript of the informal discussion. The chemical papers, describing the nature and stereochemistry of metal-ligand bonds and the structure and stability of various complexes, deal with an aspect of chemistry of relatively recent development, based on methods and concepts still unfamiliar to a large fraction of biochemists. Few biochemists will fail to gain insight into the nature of metal-enzyme interactions through reading this section, but the brief expositions serve more to induce the reader to increase his acquaintance with this branch of chemistry than to instill a feeling of familiarity. Subsequent papers, dealing with the enzymic hydrolysis of some peptides, the cleavage of tryptophan, reactions of metallo-flavoproteins, and the properties of iron-porphyrin enzymes, present primarily the research of their authors and authoritatively discuss mechanisms by which the essential metals may participate in these systems. It is to be regretted that only single points of view are represented in these very active areas. Also, while several speakers introduced their papers with broad surveys, only cursory mention was made of many types of metal-requiring enzymes of great current interest; for example, reactions of phosphate esters and anhydrides, copper oxidases, decarboxylases, and many specific enzymes such as arginase, aconitase, and histidase, are not discussed in any detail. The large proportion of enzymes found to depend upon metals makes the problems discussed in this book relevant to a large scientific public. It might be noted that since the symposium was held, zinc, mentioned casually as a component of a few hydrolytic enzymes, has been found firmly bound in several well-known dehydrogenases, and a newly identified group of enzymes, the oxygenases, consists of proteins that require metals for activity. The limitation imposed on a symposium of only 1 day’s duration prevents this book from being recommended as a thorough or balanced presentation, but it can be endorsed as a thought-provoking compendium of material that retains its interest today as in 1956. ALAN H. MEHLER, Bethesda, Maryland
569
OF BIOCHEMISTRY
AND
BIOPHYSICS
83,
570-576 (1959)
Book Reviews Metals and Enzyme Activity. Edited by E. M. CROOK. Cambridge University Press, London and New York, 1958. 102 pp. Price $3.75. The popularity of symposia reflects the obvious value to the participants, and publication of the proceedings is clearly a socially desirable device for sharing the benefits of the public part of the meeting with those unavoidably absent. When such a publication appears, it may be asked whether the stimulation provided by the oral presentation retains its vigor for the reader, or whether the values have become attenuated. The Symposium on Metals and Enzyme Activity sponsored by the Biochemical Society was held in July, 1956. The meeting brought together chemists interested in complexes of metal ions, and biochemists concerned with enzymes whose activities depend upon such complexes. Approximately 2 years later a slim volume appeared, including the seven formal papers and a transcript of the informal discussion. The chemical papers, describing the nature and stereochemistry of metal-ligand bonds and the structure and stability of various complexes, deal with an aspect of chemistry of relatively recent development, based on methods and concepts still unfamiliar to a large fraction of biochemists. Few biochemists will fail to gain insight into the nature of metal-enzyme interactions through reading this section, but the brief expositions serve more to induce the reader to increase his acquaintance with this branch of chemistry than to instill a feeling of familiarity. Subsequent papers, dealing with the enzymic hydrolysis of some peptides, the cleavage of tryptophan, reactions of metallo-flavoproteins, and the properties of iron-porphyrin enzymes, present primarily the research of their authors and authoritatively discuss mechanisms by which the essential metals may participate in these systems. It is to be regretted that only single points of view are represented in these very active areas. Also, while several speakers introduced their papers with broad surveys, only cursory mention was made of many types of metal-requiring enzymes of great current interest; for example, reactions of phosphate esters and anhydrides, copper oxidases, decarboxylases, and many specific enzymes such as arginase, aconitase, and histidase, are not discussed in any detail. The large proportion of enzymes found to depend upon metals makes the problems discussed in this book relevant to a large scientific public. It might be noted that since the symposium was held, zinc, mentioned casually as a component of a few hydrolytic enzymes, has been found firmly bound in several well-known dehydrogenases, and a newly identified group of enzymes, the oxygenases, consists of proteins that require metals for activity. The limitation imposed on a symposium of only 1 day’s duration prevents this book from being recommended as a thorough or balanced presentation, but it can be endorsed as a thought-provoking compendium of material that retains its interest today as in 1956. ALAN H. MEHLER, Bethesda, Maryland
569