- Email: [email protected]
Peptide and Protein Reviews, Volume 1
43
Individual Susceptibility to Genotoxic Agents in the Human Population Edited by F J Serres and R W Pero. pp 516. Plenum Press, New York. 1984 ISBN 0 - 3 0 6 - 4 1 6 7 9 - 4 The subject of genotoxicity has generated a large specialized literature in the form of published conference presentations. This book arises from an American-Swedish workshop meeting held in 1982. Despite its rather specific title, the proceedings of the conference represent a good starting point for getting into this subject. Several of the contributions are useful surveys of methods for monitoring human populations and include examples of family studies, haemoglobin (and other protein) polymorphisms arising from somatic cell mutations in a single individual and DNA repair capacity. It is with respect to this last, referred to by genotoxicologists as UDS (unscheduled DNA synthesis), that the book is most interesting. In particular, Pero (pp 333-347) presents a protocol and a compelling argument for the value of the measurement of UDS induced by acetoxy-AAF in lymphocytes as a screen for cancer susceptibility. This and certain other chapters are well worth discovering in a book that, in general, is heavy going and most unattractively produced. J H Parish
Advances in Human Genetics. Volume 14 Edited by H Harris and K Hirschhorn. pp 399. Plenum Press, New York. 1985. $49.50 ISBN 0 - 3 0 6 - 4 1 7 5 2 - 9 This latest volume contains five reviews, two or three of which will be of interest to biochemists. The chapters are on the cytogenetics of pregnancy wastage, mutations in human populations, genetic mutations affecting human iipoprotein metabolism, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and steroid sulphatase deficiency. Interestingly the last chapter deals with the genetics of the short arm of the human X chromosome and of course the gene for G6PDH is located on the X chromosome. The author of the G6PDH article almost apologises for reviewing this topic area which was the subject of an article in 1971 (Volume 2 of the series). No need: ten years is a long-time in modern biochemical genetics. Overall a worthy addition to the series maintaining the high standards set by its predecessors. J Oddy
Virology: A Practical Approach Edited by B W J Mahy. pp 264. I R L Press, Oxford. 1985. £12.50 ISBN 0 - 9 0 4 1 4 7 - 7 8 - 9 How does one begin biochemical work in virology? This book suggests how, at least for some major groups of plant and animal viruses including the picornaviruses, togaviruses, rhabdoviruses, pneumoviruses, influenza viruses, double-stranded RNA viruses, papovaviruses, adenoviruses and herpesviruses. Most authors have confined themselves to a relatively straightforward brief of describing their methods for virus growth, assay and purification, but have not ventured into more interesting biochemical areas such as purification and analysis of viral nucleic acids or proteins, or the preparation of specific anti-viral antibodies. These chapters have consequently little of interest to workers already established in their fields, or indeed to newcomers who might be best directed by their initial suppliers of virus stocks. Authors who have ventured further have produced very interesting chapters on techniques allied to their virus. These include the chapters on pneumoviruses by C R Pringle, on double-stranded RNA viruses by M McCrae and SV40 and polyomaviruses by Turler and Beard, where a number B I O C H E M I C A L E D U C A T I O N 14(1)
1986
of useful molecular- and cell-biology techniques are described. Of equally high interest is the first chapter on general methods of biophysical and biochemical virus characterization by R Hull (useful for nucleic acid methodology) and the last chapter on techniques in clinical virology by Morgan-Capner and Pattison (wide-ranging in scope from EM methods to immunochemical techniques). The index is of a rather minimal nature and there is no cross-referencing. For example, although both Pringle and Morgan-Capner and Pattison deal with detection of respiratory syncytial virus antigens by indirect immunofluorescence there is no cross-reference and Pringle's chapter is not cited under 'respiratory syncytial virus' in the index. There is clearly a need for a definitive treatment of modern techniques in virology. This book, although having the advantage of relatively low cost, cannot be highly recommended since it is of rather limited scope, but may appeal to complete novices. G E Blair
Biological Magnetic Resonance Volume 6 Edited by L J Berliner and J Reuben. pp. 300. Plenum Press, New York. 1984. $47.50 ISBN 0 - 3 0 6 - 4 1 6 8 3 - 2 This volume follows the pattern of earlier members of the series with a theme (in this case 'Structure and conformation') running through the early chapters but with the inclusion of unrelated topics of current interest to complete the volume. The opening chapter describes how the abundant 3~p nucleus is used to "spy' on proximal protons through application of heteronuclear 2-D NMR methods. Subsequent 'debriefing' of the chemical shift and spin coupling data has provided information on nucleotides and even proteins. Lanthanide ions as NMR shift and relaxation reagents are established as useful for obtaining conformational information on biomolecules and the second chapter gives a lucid account of the principles involved together with application of the approach to study of lysozyme and peptide hormone conformations. As a worker in the field of EPR, my favourite chapter is that by Reed and Markham who describe elegantly how information on the active site structure and catalytic mechanism of enzymes requiring Mn 2+ can be obtained. This chapter should be a reference of choice for metalloprotein EPR practitioners. The fourth chapter describes the theory behind time domain ESR with application to the study of dynamic processes involving spin labelled biomolecules and supplements a chapter in volume III of the series which covered pulsed EPR with application to metalloprotein structure. Finally the use of optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) to study triplet states is described with a comprehensive review of the literature: ODMR is clearly proving important for unravelling the complexities of triplet state species involved in photosynthetic systems. All the chapters are authoritative and the volume is well produced. The series is a valuable contribution to the literature on biological magnetic resonance and I hope the editors maintain their enthusiasm for the project. P F Knowles
Genetic Consequences of Nucleotide Pool Imbalance Edited by F J de Serres. pp 523. Plenum Press, New York. 1985. $69.50 ISBN 0 - 3 0 6 - 4 1 9 0 2 - 5 The proceedings of a conference held in NIH in May 1983, giving the text of 32 papers. The main sections are: Nucleotide Metabolism, DNA Replication Errors Caused by Nucleotides Imbalance, Genetic Consequences of Nucleotide Pool Imbalances, Base Analogue and Nucleotide Mutagenesis, and Biological Implications of Nucleotide Pool Imbalances. A Daley
Individual Susceptibility to Genotoxic Agents in the Human Population Edited by F J Serres and R W Pero. pp 516. Plenum Press, New York. 1984 ISBN 0 - 3 0 6 - 4 1 6 7 9 - 4 The subject of genotoxicity has generated a large specialized literature in the form of published conference presentations. This book arises from an American-Swedish workshop meeting held in 1982. Despite its rather specific title, the proceedings of the conference represent a good starting point for getting into this subject. Several of the contributions are useful surveys of methods for monitoring human populations and include examples of family studies, haemoglobin (and other protein) polymorphisms arising from somatic cell mutations in a single individual and DNA repair capacity. It is with respect to this last, referred to by genotoxicologists as UDS (unscheduled DNA synthesis), that the book is most interesting. In particular, Pero (pp 333-347) presents a protocol and a compelling argument for the value of the measurement of UDS induced by acetoxy-AAF in lymphocytes as a screen for cancer susceptibility. This and certain other chapters are well worth discovering in a book that, in general, is heavy going and most unattractively produced. J H Parish
Advances in Human Genetics. Volume 14 Edited by H Harris and K Hirschhorn. pp 399. Plenum Press, New York. 1985. $49.50 ISBN 0 - 3 0 6 - 4 1 7 5 2 - 9 This latest volume contains five reviews, two or three of which will be of interest to biochemists. The chapters are on the cytogenetics of pregnancy wastage, mutations in human populations, genetic mutations affecting human iipoprotein metabolism, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and steroid sulphatase deficiency. Interestingly the last chapter deals with the genetics of the short arm of the human X chromosome and of course the gene for G6PDH is located on the X chromosome. The author of the G6PDH article almost apologises for reviewing this topic area which was the subject of an article in 1971 (Volume 2 of the series). No need: ten years is a long-time in modern biochemical genetics. Overall a worthy addition to the series maintaining the high standards set by its predecessors. J Oddy
Virology: A Practical Approach Edited by B W J Mahy. pp 264. I R L Press, Oxford. 1985. £12.50 ISBN 0 - 9 0 4 1 4 7 - 7 8 - 9 How does one begin biochemical work in virology? This book suggests how, at least for some major groups of plant and animal viruses including the picornaviruses, togaviruses, rhabdoviruses, pneumoviruses, influenza viruses, double-stranded RNA viruses, papovaviruses, adenoviruses and herpesviruses. Most authors have confined themselves to a relatively straightforward brief of describing their methods for virus growth, assay and purification, but have not ventured into more interesting biochemical areas such as purification and analysis of viral nucleic acids or proteins, or the preparation of specific anti-viral antibodies. These chapters have consequently little of interest to workers already established in their fields, or indeed to newcomers who might be best directed by their initial suppliers of virus stocks. Authors who have ventured further have produced very interesting chapters on techniques allied to their virus. These include the chapters on pneumoviruses by C R Pringle, on double-stranded RNA viruses by M McCrae and SV40 and polyomaviruses by Turler and Beard, where a number B I O C H E M I C A L E D U C A T I O N 14(1)
1986
of useful molecular- and cell-biology techniques are described. Of equally high interest is the first chapter on general methods of biophysical and biochemical virus characterization by R Hull (useful for nucleic acid methodology) and the last chapter on techniques in clinical virology by Morgan-Capner and Pattison (wide-ranging in scope from EM methods to immunochemical techniques). The index is of a rather minimal nature and there is no cross-referencing. For example, although both Pringle and Morgan-Capner and Pattison deal with detection of respiratory syncytial virus antigens by indirect immunofluorescence there is no cross-reference and Pringle's chapter is not cited under 'respiratory syncytial virus' in the index. There is clearly a need for a definitive treatment of modern techniques in virology. This book, although having the advantage of relatively low cost, cannot be highly recommended since it is of rather limited scope, but may appeal to complete novices. G E Blair
Biological Magnetic Resonance Volume 6 Edited by L J Berliner and J Reuben. pp. 300. Plenum Press, New York. 1984. $47.50 ISBN 0 - 3 0 6 - 4 1 6 8 3 - 2 This volume follows the pattern of earlier members of the series with a theme (in this case 'Structure and conformation') running through the early chapters but with the inclusion of unrelated topics of current interest to complete the volume. The opening chapter describes how the abundant 3~p nucleus is used to "spy' on proximal protons through application of heteronuclear 2-D NMR methods. Subsequent 'debriefing' of the chemical shift and spin coupling data has provided information on nucleotides and even proteins. Lanthanide ions as NMR shift and relaxation reagents are established as useful for obtaining conformational information on biomolecules and the second chapter gives a lucid account of the principles involved together with application of the approach to study of lysozyme and peptide hormone conformations. As a worker in the field of EPR, my favourite chapter is that by Reed and Markham who describe elegantly how information on the active site structure and catalytic mechanism of enzymes requiring Mn 2+ can be obtained. This chapter should be a reference of choice for metalloprotein EPR practitioners. The fourth chapter describes the theory behind time domain ESR with application to the study of dynamic processes involving spin labelled biomolecules and supplements a chapter in volume III of the series which covered pulsed EPR with application to metalloprotein structure. Finally the use of optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) to study triplet states is described with a comprehensive review of the literature: ODMR is clearly proving important for unravelling the complexities of triplet state species involved in photosynthetic systems. All the chapters are authoritative and the volume is well produced. The series is a valuable contribution to the literature on biological magnetic resonance and I hope the editors maintain their enthusiasm for the project. P F Knowles
Genetic Consequences of Nucleotide Pool Imbalance Edited by F J de Serres. pp 523. Plenum Press, New York. 1985. $69.50 ISBN 0 - 3 0 6 - 4 1 9 0 2 - 5 The proceedings of a conference held in NIH in May 1983, giving the text of 32 papers. The main sections are: Nucleotide Metabolism, DNA Replication Errors Caused by Nucleotides Imbalance, Genetic Consequences of Nucleotide Pool Imbalances, Base Analogue and Nucleotide Mutagenesis, and Biological Implications of Nucleotide Pool Imbalances. A Daley