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NMR in biological research: Peptides and proteins
TIBS - November 1977
265
change, gel chromatography, electrophoresis, affinity chromatography, immucentrifugation, nochemical techniques, protein purification. Each of the chapters NMR in Biological Research : begins with a short summary of the theoretical background ; in the following ex- Peptides and Proteins by Kurt W&rich, published by North-Holperimental section most of the respective land/American Elsevier, 1976. Df. 115.techniques are applied to selected prob(approx. $47.-) (xiif379pages) lems and provide the reader with detailed advice on how to control the experimental conditions, and how to interpret his ob- Producing a specialised monograph is beservations. To check the results, graphs or coming a less and less attractive propositables are included which illustrate the way tion for an active research scientist. Multito evaluate the data (unfortunately with- author volumes have taken over, partly because they give a broader view of the chosout explicitly discussing ranges of error). At the end of each chapter references are en field and partly because the time taken given which suggest additional reading in up in completing a monograph often results in a substantial diminution of the both the theoretical and practical aspects of the method under discussion. scientific research effort. It is to the credit If the reader is willing to follow the of the author of this book that he mainauthor straight through the jungle of the tained a steady flow of research papers computer program type of format in the during the period of writing. description of the experiments (with up to As the title implies the book is mainly concerned with peptides and proteins, giv119 single steps) he will, indeed, gain a lot. ing a detailed account of observations, To my knowledge there exists no recent advanced course in biochemistry with such mainly of proton and carbon-13 NMR, a variety of elaborate examples of such a on amino acids, peptides and proteins. Five out of the nine chapters deal with wide scope. these topics. The remaining chapters disOf course, the reviewer is paid for havcuss the use of paramagnetic probes, nitroing something to complain about. On the gen-15 NMR,. biological NMR experione hand, the selection of the specific ments with other nuclei and multimolecmethods seems somewhat arbitrary: for example, ‘spectroscopy’ comprises only ular systems. absorbance measurements - no difference NMR is a specialised and at times technically difficult method, but it has, in the spectra, no fluorescence, no ORD, CD, NMR, ESR . . . ‘Centrifugation’ omits all past few years, made important contributions towards the solution of biological quantitative analytical techniques etc. On problems. Perhaps it is not surprising that the other hand, a high level of sophisticausers of NMR fall into two camps. Those tion in some cases alternates with chapters who are primarily involved in the technical which deal more or less with the toys of aspects of the method and those whose biochemistry rather than the tools - for main interest is to solve biological probexample, the chapter dealing with potenlems - the authors of this book approached tiometry contains almost exclusively elethe subject from the former point of view. mentary general chemistry instead of acidWe are given more details of the techimetric titration of biopolymers, intrinsic nology than of the biological solutions. pK-values, ligand induced uptake or reTherein lies the strength and the weakness lease of protons etc. Quite a lot of ballast of the book. If you want to find out could be shed without much loss. Similarly how to use and interpret NMR spectra the photographs of equipment taken from manufacturers’ advertisements do not give of complex molecules, you will find this book useful. the reader much information, especially You will find, in the appropriate appenwhen the relative sizes are not shown. Probably this well-produced book could 1 dices, description of the theoretical treatments and a helpful list of references. If be a good deal cheaper if the various grey you want to know where NMR has inboxes with and without knobs and scales had been omitted. Revised editions which, 1 creased our understanding of biological problems, without having to work through hopefully, will appear could benefit from tedious details, you should look elsewhere. the inclusion of experiments in those chap~ But then clearly the author aims at explorters where examples are scarce so far. RAINER JAENICKE ing almost all the ‘tricks of the trade’. With patience and determination one can work R. Jaenicke is Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Regensburg, Regensburg, W. Germany. through the chapters and learn a great deal. The care that obviously has gone into the writing of this book resulted in a precise text, full of ‘worked examples’. The 1 author states that ‘numerous experiments
More NMR than biology
are described in much detail, so as to serve as guidelines for those intending to start their own NMR measurements’. For these people the book is valuable. For the ‘biochemists and molecular biologists who are not directly involved in NMR studies, yet may be faced with a rapidly increasing amount of original literature describing NMR data on systems related to their own research’ - another expressed aim of the author - the text may be heavy going. It is almost impossible in these days to review a book without commenting on price. This book, like many others, is expensive, even in the paperback edition. But it is well-produced on high quality paper with clear diagrams. If you are lucky enough to get a free review copy you will be pleased to have this book. G. K. RADDA G. K. Radda is lecturer in Biochemistry al the University of O.xford, Oxford. U.K.
The facts of life Life : Cells, Organisms, Populations by Edward 0. Wilson et al., published by Sinauer Associates, Inc./distributed by W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, 1977. $15.30 (viii+546pages) This book is a short version of a larger book entitled ‘Life on Earth’ by the same eight authors who have retained responsibility for their sections of it. It is aimed to give the student a well-balanced text that covers the key ideas of cellular, organismic and population biology; five hundred pages of text and illustrations are still required in order to do this but the result is a remarkable compendium of essential facts about life. There are no obvious omissions from the encyclopaedic coverage of the subject. The book could indeed form a basis for a course in biology which aimed to present the vast array of factual knowledge which now exists. It does not attempt to teach the methodologies of biological science nor to give the student the ability to find things out for himself, but it could provide a hard-working scholar with the information needed to answer many of the questions in a theoretical examination. The balance of the book is good. Starting with an introductory account of the earth itself, Part 1 outlines the construction of a cell and then proceeds to build this up from its basic biochemistry. Part 2 deals with multicellular life and has chapters on development and each of the main physiological systems; here there is naturally an emphasis on animals but plants are adequately described in the appropri-
265
change, gel chromatography, electrophoresis, affinity chromatography, immucentrifugation, nochemical techniques, protein purification. Each of the chapters NMR in Biological Research : begins with a short summary of the theoretical background ; in the following ex- Peptides and Proteins by Kurt W&rich, published by North-Holperimental section most of the respective land/American Elsevier, 1976. Df. 115.techniques are applied to selected prob(approx. $47.-) (xiif379pages) lems and provide the reader with detailed advice on how to control the experimental conditions, and how to interpret his ob- Producing a specialised monograph is beservations. To check the results, graphs or coming a less and less attractive propositables are included which illustrate the way tion for an active research scientist. Multito evaluate the data (unfortunately with- author volumes have taken over, partly because they give a broader view of the chosout explicitly discussing ranges of error). At the end of each chapter references are en field and partly because the time taken given which suggest additional reading in up in completing a monograph often results in a substantial diminution of the both the theoretical and practical aspects of the method under discussion. scientific research effort. It is to the credit If the reader is willing to follow the of the author of this book that he mainauthor straight through the jungle of the tained a steady flow of research papers computer program type of format in the during the period of writing. description of the experiments (with up to As the title implies the book is mainly concerned with peptides and proteins, giv119 single steps) he will, indeed, gain a lot. ing a detailed account of observations, To my knowledge there exists no recent advanced course in biochemistry with such mainly of proton and carbon-13 NMR, a variety of elaborate examples of such a on amino acids, peptides and proteins. Five out of the nine chapters deal with wide scope. these topics. The remaining chapters disOf course, the reviewer is paid for havcuss the use of paramagnetic probes, nitroing something to complain about. On the gen-15 NMR,. biological NMR experione hand, the selection of the specific ments with other nuclei and multimolecmethods seems somewhat arbitrary: for example, ‘spectroscopy’ comprises only ular systems. absorbance measurements - no difference NMR is a specialised and at times technically difficult method, but it has, in the spectra, no fluorescence, no ORD, CD, NMR, ESR . . . ‘Centrifugation’ omits all past few years, made important contributions towards the solution of biological quantitative analytical techniques etc. On problems. Perhaps it is not surprising that the other hand, a high level of sophisticausers of NMR fall into two camps. Those tion in some cases alternates with chapters who are primarily involved in the technical which deal more or less with the toys of aspects of the method and those whose biochemistry rather than the tools - for main interest is to solve biological probexample, the chapter dealing with potenlems - the authors of this book approached tiometry contains almost exclusively elethe subject from the former point of view. mentary general chemistry instead of acidWe are given more details of the techimetric titration of biopolymers, intrinsic nology than of the biological solutions. pK-values, ligand induced uptake or reTherein lies the strength and the weakness lease of protons etc. Quite a lot of ballast of the book. If you want to find out could be shed without much loss. Similarly how to use and interpret NMR spectra the photographs of equipment taken from manufacturers’ advertisements do not give of complex molecules, you will find this book useful. the reader much information, especially You will find, in the appropriate appenwhen the relative sizes are not shown. Probably this well-produced book could 1 dices, description of the theoretical treatments and a helpful list of references. If be a good deal cheaper if the various grey you want to know where NMR has inboxes with and without knobs and scales had been omitted. Revised editions which, 1 creased our understanding of biological problems, without having to work through hopefully, will appear could benefit from tedious details, you should look elsewhere. the inclusion of experiments in those chap~ But then clearly the author aims at explorters where examples are scarce so far. RAINER JAENICKE ing almost all the ‘tricks of the trade’. With patience and determination one can work R. Jaenicke is Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Regensburg, Regensburg, W. Germany. through the chapters and learn a great deal. The care that obviously has gone into the writing of this book resulted in a precise text, full of ‘worked examples’. The 1 author states that ‘numerous experiments
More NMR than biology
are described in much detail, so as to serve as guidelines for those intending to start their own NMR measurements’. For these people the book is valuable. For the ‘biochemists and molecular biologists who are not directly involved in NMR studies, yet may be faced with a rapidly increasing amount of original literature describing NMR data on systems related to their own research’ - another expressed aim of the author - the text may be heavy going. It is almost impossible in these days to review a book without commenting on price. This book, like many others, is expensive, even in the paperback edition. But it is well-produced on high quality paper with clear diagrams. If you are lucky enough to get a free review copy you will be pleased to have this book. G. K. RADDA G. K. Radda is lecturer in Biochemistry al the University of O.xford, Oxford. U.K.
The facts of life Life : Cells, Organisms, Populations by Edward 0. Wilson et al., published by Sinauer Associates, Inc./distributed by W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, 1977. $15.30 (viii+546pages) This book is a short version of a larger book entitled ‘Life on Earth’ by the same eight authors who have retained responsibility for their sections of it. It is aimed to give the student a well-balanced text that covers the key ideas of cellular, organismic and population biology; five hundred pages of text and illustrations are still required in order to do this but the result is a remarkable compendium of essential facts about life. There are no obvious omissions from the encyclopaedic coverage of the subject. The book could indeed form a basis for a course in biology which aimed to present the vast array of factual knowledge which now exists. It does not attempt to teach the methodologies of biological science nor to give the student the ability to find things out for himself, but it could provide a hard-working scholar with the information needed to answer many of the questions in a theoretical examination. The balance of the book is good. Starting with an introductory account of the earth itself, Part 1 outlines the construction of a cell and then proceeds to build this up from its basic biochemistry. Part 2 deals with multicellular life and has chapters on development and each of the main physiological systems; here there is naturally an emphasis on animals but plants are adequately described in the appropri-