- Email: [email protected]
Pros and cons of biochemistry in Spain
TIBS - September
N 202 three different levels. First, control at the level of transcription; secondly, translational controls which probably represent a requirement for formation of the secretory apparatus - the rough endoplasmic and thirdly a postreticulum; transcriptional control - modulation of the secretion of the newly synthesiied enzyme. Controlled secretion of ions may in itself be a sufficient explanation for the well-known effect of auxin on cell extension; this seems to be mediated simply by a secretion of H+ ions into the wall from the cytoplasm which modifies the activity of enzymes already in this compartment. What is the initial molecular event induced by growth substances?
In trying to suggest a molecular basis for the action of growth substances the following characteristics are of considerable importance: many substances may act as inducing signals, growth substances may often replace each other and their effects may be mimicked by other, non-specific stimuli. The specificity of the metabolic response resides in the responding cell and is not determined by the signal. An interesting parallel which can be drawn here is the fertilization of the echinoderm egg. Entry of the sperm initiates permeability changes followed by alterations in transcription, protein and DNA synthesis, polysome formation and cell division, i.e. a set of events not dissimilar to those in Table II. Although normally initiated by sperm entry, the metabolic changes associated with fertilization can be induced by a large variety of other non-specific stimuli. These include ultra-violet light, pricking, heat shock, chemicals such as butyric acid, inorganic salts, and the injection of foreign proteins. The initial fertilization event now seems likely to result from a mobilization of calcium ions into the cytoplasm which, in turn, is the consequence of changes in the permeability of intracellular membranes. The other non-specific stimuli therefore owe their inducing properties to an ability to modify membrane permeability in the same way. The specificity in response is, of course, a property of the unfertilized egg. If the parallel is correct, it suggests that the initial and controlling event induced by growth substances can be understood to be changes in permeability of intracellular membranes. In fact a great deal of evidence (summarized in ref. [2]) associates the action of growth substances very
directly with modifications in membrane permeability and these are certainly the earliest changes detected (Table II). Interestingly, both the development of polarity in plants [ll] and photomorphogenesis [2] owe their origins to modifications of ion flux. The picture that is beginning to emerge is intriguing. Plasticity in development may simply originate from using a controlling system, a membrane, whose properties can be altered by a variety of signals. Normal organization and pattern formation, if they too can be controlled by growth substances, must be specified in the same way. In his pioneering work, Lund [12] tried to relate plant development and organization to bioelectric fields; interest in @is approach faded 30 years ago, but it may now acquire a new significance and impetus from these studies on growth substances.
I979
References 1 Thimann, (Steward,
K. V. (1972) in Plant Physiology F. C., ed.), Vol. VI B, Academic Press
2 Trewavas, A. J. (1976) in Molecular Aspects of Gene Expression in Plants (Bryant, J., ed.), pp. 24Y-299, Academic Press 3 Digby, J. and Firn, R. D. (1976) Plant Sci. 25, Y53-60
Curr. Adv.
4 Bruinsma, J. (1977) in Plant Growth Regulation (Piiet, P. E., ed.), pp. 218-226, Springer-Verlag 5 Sheldrake, 6 Sheldrake, 433-447
A. R. (1973) A.
R.
Biol. Rev. 48,5OY-561
(1973)
New
Phytol.
7 Wardlaw, C. W. (1965) Orgunisntion Evolution in Plants, Longmans 8 Venis, M. A. (lY77)Adv.
and
Bat. Res. 5, 53-88
Y Kende, H. and Gardner, G. (1976) Plant Physiol. 27, 267-290 10 Jacobsen, J. V. (lY77)Annu. 28,537-64
72,
Annu. Rev.
Rev. Plant Physiol.
11 Jaffe, L. J. and Nuccitell, R. (1977) Biophys. Bioenerg. 445-76
Annu. Rev.
12 Lund, E. J. (1947) Bioelectric Fields and Growth, Austin University, Texas
Pros and cons of biochemistry in Spain A. M. Municio and D. Vhzquez Biochemistry is undoubtedly one of the sciences that has achieved a reasonably high standard in Spain during the last 20 years; some well-equipped laboratories are found in different parts of the country and they are making significant contributions to such areas of biochemistry as enzymology, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, protein and nucleic acid structure and synthesis, membrane structure and function, photosynthesis, molecular and developmental genetics, virology, immunology and biochemical endocrinology. The potential for this rapid quantitative and qualitative expatision had its antecedents in the work of chemists and physiologists during the early 1930s. The great German tradition of organic chemistry and the work of some outstanding Spanish general physiologists had major influences on the beginnings of biochemistry and medical chemistry in Spain and led to the emergence of scientists studying substances of biological importance and problems of direct relevance to medicine. These groups were disbanded because of the A. Municio is Professor of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Sciences, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain. D. V&quez is a member of the Spanish Research Council working as Head of the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad Autonoma, Madrid, Spain.
country’s difficulties in the last years of the 1930s and the following decade. During that bleak period, however, the presence of Spanish scientists in the influential biochemical laboratories of the U.S.A. was a decisive factor in the training and inspiration of a core of young Spanish biochemists in successive generations. In these efforts, a central role was played by the then newly founded Scientific Research Council which established a series of biological and biochemical research centres. Unfortunately, however, this Scientific Research Council pursued the erroneous policy of making its institutes independent of the universities in a developing country that ought to have employed all its economic and intellectual resources in linking university teaching with fundamental research; the consequences of this error have extended to the pi-esent, and solutions to this self-inflicted problem are still being sought. The institutes of the Research Council housed most of the biochemical research performed in the country during the 1950s; then and subsequently the standard of their research was good and many of their well-trained scientists have moved into university positions. Unfortunately, once within the universities these biochemists had to assume a large teaching load and found themselves @Elsevier/North-Holland Biomedical Press 1Y7Y
N 203
TIBS - September I979 without the necessary technical help for research which they had enjoyed previously in the Research Council centres. A new period in Spanish biochemistry was initiated in the early 1960s. The more favourable economic situation and the contacts with many research institutions in the U.S.A. and Europe, frequently based on personal relationships, induced a vigorous change in the education and research programmes of the country. The economic boom and the concomitant increase in financial investments expanded rapidly the Spanish economy and this led to a very significant improvement in laboratory facilities.
The expansion of the ’60s
’
At the beginning of the 1960s the base of biochemistry in Spain was very narrow although there was an enormous expansion ahead. During the decade the first chairs of biochemistry in the faculties of sciences were created in the universities of Barcelona, Madrid and Sevilla. Previously biochemistry had been within the faculties of pharmacy. In addition the number of universities was doubled in 15 years (1960-1974) and the number of faculties of biology and chairs of biochemistry multiplied ten-fold in 20 years. In parallel, between 1957 and 1974 the scientific staff of the Scientific Research Council grew by a similar factor. These statistics clearly illustrate the great expansion of Spanish science and especially biochemistry in the 15 years from 1960. As a result there are now some 50 chairs of biochemistry in the different faculties (biological sciences, chemical sciences, medicine, pharmacy, veterinary and agriculture) distributed among the 25 government universities. The teaching of biochemistry, however, in these faculties differs greatly in level, extent and efficacy. Degrees in biochemistry at the university level are still only awarded by two universities, ‘Universidad Complutense’ and ‘Universidad Autonoma’, both in Madrid, from which some 150 students graduated in 1978. However, a high percentage of the 2000 students graduating yearly from the many faculties of biological sciences and chemical sciences intend to specialize further’in biochemistry and this is also the case for some graduates in pharmacy, medicine, veterinary science and agriculture; inevitably the amount of biochemistry in the different curricula varies from a relatively small commitment to a very significant one in the large departments. This administrative growth in biochemis-
try in the Spanish universities has not, however, been adequately accompanied by the corresponding increase in financial support necessary to allow pursuit of active research programmes, to ensure appropriate numbers of staff or to provide the laboratory and library facilities desirable for teaching the increasing number of students. The current financial restrictions following boom years of very rapid expansion are further compounded by the unnecessary bureaucratic control that is exerted by the government, while the increased teaching obligations and administrative duties leave little time and energy for academic biochemists to become deeply involved in their research. Biochemical research in the Research Council institutes has also not escaped the new financial stringency, the ordinary budgets are not enough to purchase even the consumable supplies.
The problem of graduate employment Most students who graduated or specialized in biochemistry in the 1960s were absorbed by the expanding universities or, to a smaller extent, found positions in the Scientific Research Council and in the pharmaceutical industry. However, for today’s biochemistry graduates it is becoming very difficult to find jobs; there are economic difficulties in the pharmaceutical industry, the staff positions in the Research Council reached a steady state during 1976-78, the expansion in the universities has been curbed while the number of graduates is increasing. In combination these circumstances make it very hard for the new graduates to find positions, including, of course, places for carrying out Ph.D. research. A state of affairs not, of course, unique to Spain. This already very serious situation is in Spain accentuated by the markedly severe difficulties and impediments that are presently faced by nonmedical biochemists trying to integrate into the appropriate technical groups in the health service and hospitals. A liberalization based solely on free scientific competition for the available positions would effectively promote the participation of well-trained biochemists in health service medical research programmes. The benefits would be mutual and such cooperation would surely result in greater returns on the money spent. In general, Spanish Ph.D. biochemists have a good educational background and are able to participate in extremely good research programmes when they move to world centres of biochemistry. Fortunately, besides the fellowships sponsored
by foreign research institutions, it is not too difficult for Spanish biochemists to obtain postdoctoral fellowships from either governmental sources or private foundations. In the last few years a new opportunity for general scientific exchange and cooperative research has also been provided by the allocation of special funds from Spain-U.S.A. bilateral, governmental agreements. A substantial amount of the funds of this programme are presently allocated for the equipment of research departments in universities and Research Council and other governmental institutions.
Funding - a critical problem These resources notwithstanding, the funding of research biochemistry is becoming a very critical problem. The ordinary overall budget for research provided by the government for a research group (a chair in the university or an equivalent group in the Research Council) is very low indeed, ranging from $3,000 to $10,000 yearly. Inevitably, most of the research groups have had to rely during the last 10 years on additional grants from the governmental ‘Comision Asesora de Investigation Cientifica y Tecnica’. However, the last period for applications for these grants was in January 1977 and all the grants will have expired by the end of this year. Looking to the future with more optimism, despite Spain’s serious economic situation there is now a project to launch an ambitious 3-year research plan. But for the country to profit fully from this proposed increase in financial support a clear scientific policy must first be drawn up to define priorities in basic and technological research and mechanisms for selecting the genuinely modern programmes and exploiting the scientific and economic results must be devised.
.
TIBS Readership Survey
Let us know what you think about TIBS The July issue of TBS contained a questionnaire bound into the centre of the magazine which we hope our readers will answer. If you have not already done so, please return your completed questionnaire as soon as possible. If the copy of TBS you see regularly is in a library, we also want to hear your views. Please ask the librarian to detach the form and fill it in yourself. To make T/&S as useful and interesting as possible we need to know what you think.
N 202 three different levels. First, control at the level of transcription; secondly, translational controls which probably represent a requirement for formation of the secretory apparatus - the rough endoplasmic and thirdly a postreticulum; transcriptional control - modulation of the secretion of the newly synthesiied enzyme. Controlled secretion of ions may in itself be a sufficient explanation for the well-known effect of auxin on cell extension; this seems to be mediated simply by a secretion of H+ ions into the wall from the cytoplasm which modifies the activity of enzymes already in this compartment. What is the initial molecular event induced by growth substances?
In trying to suggest a molecular basis for the action of growth substances the following characteristics are of considerable importance: many substances may act as inducing signals, growth substances may often replace each other and their effects may be mimicked by other, non-specific stimuli. The specificity of the metabolic response resides in the responding cell and is not determined by the signal. An interesting parallel which can be drawn here is the fertilization of the echinoderm egg. Entry of the sperm initiates permeability changes followed by alterations in transcription, protein and DNA synthesis, polysome formation and cell division, i.e. a set of events not dissimilar to those in Table II. Although normally initiated by sperm entry, the metabolic changes associated with fertilization can be induced by a large variety of other non-specific stimuli. These include ultra-violet light, pricking, heat shock, chemicals such as butyric acid, inorganic salts, and the injection of foreign proteins. The initial fertilization event now seems likely to result from a mobilization of calcium ions into the cytoplasm which, in turn, is the consequence of changes in the permeability of intracellular membranes. The other non-specific stimuli therefore owe their inducing properties to an ability to modify membrane permeability in the same way. The specificity in response is, of course, a property of the unfertilized egg. If the parallel is correct, it suggests that the initial and controlling event induced by growth substances can be understood to be changes in permeability of intracellular membranes. In fact a great deal of evidence (summarized in ref. [2]) associates the action of growth substances very
directly with modifications in membrane permeability and these are certainly the earliest changes detected (Table II). Interestingly, both the development of polarity in plants [ll] and photomorphogenesis [2] owe their origins to modifications of ion flux. The picture that is beginning to emerge is intriguing. Plasticity in development may simply originate from using a controlling system, a membrane, whose properties can be altered by a variety of signals. Normal organization and pattern formation, if they too can be controlled by growth substances, must be specified in the same way. In his pioneering work, Lund [12] tried to relate plant development and organization to bioelectric fields; interest in @is approach faded 30 years ago, but it may now acquire a new significance and impetus from these studies on growth substances.
I979
References 1 Thimann, (Steward,
K. V. (1972) in Plant Physiology F. C., ed.), Vol. VI B, Academic Press
2 Trewavas, A. J. (1976) in Molecular Aspects of Gene Expression in Plants (Bryant, J., ed.), pp. 24Y-299, Academic Press 3 Digby, J. and Firn, R. D. (1976) Plant Sci. 25, Y53-60
Curr. Adv.
4 Bruinsma, J. (1977) in Plant Growth Regulation (Piiet, P. E., ed.), pp. 218-226, Springer-Verlag 5 Sheldrake, 6 Sheldrake, 433-447
A. R. (1973) A.
R.
Biol. Rev. 48,5OY-561
(1973)
New
Phytol.
7 Wardlaw, C. W. (1965) Orgunisntion Evolution in Plants, Longmans 8 Venis, M. A. (lY77)Adv.
and
Bat. Res. 5, 53-88
Y Kende, H. and Gardner, G. (1976) Plant Physiol. 27, 267-290 10 Jacobsen, J. V. (lY77)Annu. 28,537-64
72,
Annu. Rev.
Rev. Plant Physiol.
11 Jaffe, L. J. and Nuccitell, R. (1977) Biophys. Bioenerg. 445-76
Annu. Rev.
12 Lund, E. J. (1947) Bioelectric Fields and Growth, Austin University, Texas
Pros and cons of biochemistry in Spain A. M. Municio and D. Vhzquez Biochemistry is undoubtedly one of the sciences that has achieved a reasonably high standard in Spain during the last 20 years; some well-equipped laboratories are found in different parts of the country and they are making significant contributions to such areas of biochemistry as enzymology, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, protein and nucleic acid structure and synthesis, membrane structure and function, photosynthesis, molecular and developmental genetics, virology, immunology and biochemical endocrinology. The potential for this rapid quantitative and qualitative expatision had its antecedents in the work of chemists and physiologists during the early 1930s. The great German tradition of organic chemistry and the work of some outstanding Spanish general physiologists had major influences on the beginnings of biochemistry and medical chemistry in Spain and led to the emergence of scientists studying substances of biological importance and problems of direct relevance to medicine. These groups were disbanded because of the A. Municio is Professor of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Sciences, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain. D. V&quez is a member of the Spanish Research Council working as Head of the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad Autonoma, Madrid, Spain.
country’s difficulties in the last years of the 1930s and the following decade. During that bleak period, however, the presence of Spanish scientists in the influential biochemical laboratories of the U.S.A. was a decisive factor in the training and inspiration of a core of young Spanish biochemists in successive generations. In these efforts, a central role was played by the then newly founded Scientific Research Council which established a series of biological and biochemical research centres. Unfortunately, however, this Scientific Research Council pursued the erroneous policy of making its institutes independent of the universities in a developing country that ought to have employed all its economic and intellectual resources in linking university teaching with fundamental research; the consequences of this error have extended to the pi-esent, and solutions to this self-inflicted problem are still being sought. The institutes of the Research Council housed most of the biochemical research performed in the country during the 1950s; then and subsequently the standard of their research was good and many of their well-trained scientists have moved into university positions. Unfortunately, once within the universities these biochemists had to assume a large teaching load and found themselves @Elsevier/North-Holland Biomedical Press 1Y7Y
N 203
TIBS - September I979 without the necessary technical help for research which they had enjoyed previously in the Research Council centres. A new period in Spanish biochemistry was initiated in the early 1960s. The more favourable economic situation and the contacts with many research institutions in the U.S.A. and Europe, frequently based on personal relationships, induced a vigorous change in the education and research programmes of the country. The economic boom and the concomitant increase in financial investments expanded rapidly the Spanish economy and this led to a very significant improvement in laboratory facilities.
The expansion of the ’60s
’
At the beginning of the 1960s the base of biochemistry in Spain was very narrow although there was an enormous expansion ahead. During the decade the first chairs of biochemistry in the faculties of sciences were created in the universities of Barcelona, Madrid and Sevilla. Previously biochemistry had been within the faculties of pharmacy. In addition the number of universities was doubled in 15 years (1960-1974) and the number of faculties of biology and chairs of biochemistry multiplied ten-fold in 20 years. In parallel, between 1957 and 1974 the scientific staff of the Scientific Research Council grew by a similar factor. These statistics clearly illustrate the great expansion of Spanish science and especially biochemistry in the 15 years from 1960. As a result there are now some 50 chairs of biochemistry in the different faculties (biological sciences, chemical sciences, medicine, pharmacy, veterinary and agriculture) distributed among the 25 government universities. The teaching of biochemistry, however, in these faculties differs greatly in level, extent and efficacy. Degrees in biochemistry at the university level are still only awarded by two universities, ‘Universidad Complutense’ and ‘Universidad Autonoma’, both in Madrid, from which some 150 students graduated in 1978. However, a high percentage of the 2000 students graduating yearly from the many faculties of biological sciences and chemical sciences intend to specialize further’in biochemistry and this is also the case for some graduates in pharmacy, medicine, veterinary science and agriculture; inevitably the amount of biochemistry in the different curricula varies from a relatively small commitment to a very significant one in the large departments. This administrative growth in biochemis-
try in the Spanish universities has not, however, been adequately accompanied by the corresponding increase in financial support necessary to allow pursuit of active research programmes, to ensure appropriate numbers of staff or to provide the laboratory and library facilities desirable for teaching the increasing number of students. The current financial restrictions following boom years of very rapid expansion are further compounded by the unnecessary bureaucratic control that is exerted by the government, while the increased teaching obligations and administrative duties leave little time and energy for academic biochemists to become deeply involved in their research. Biochemical research in the Research Council institutes has also not escaped the new financial stringency, the ordinary budgets are not enough to purchase even the consumable supplies.
The problem of graduate employment Most students who graduated or specialized in biochemistry in the 1960s were absorbed by the expanding universities or, to a smaller extent, found positions in the Scientific Research Council and in the pharmaceutical industry. However, for today’s biochemistry graduates it is becoming very difficult to find jobs; there are economic difficulties in the pharmaceutical industry, the staff positions in the Research Council reached a steady state during 1976-78, the expansion in the universities has been curbed while the number of graduates is increasing. In combination these circumstances make it very hard for the new graduates to find positions, including, of course, places for carrying out Ph.D. research. A state of affairs not, of course, unique to Spain. This already very serious situation is in Spain accentuated by the markedly severe difficulties and impediments that are presently faced by nonmedical biochemists trying to integrate into the appropriate technical groups in the health service and hospitals. A liberalization based solely on free scientific competition for the available positions would effectively promote the participation of well-trained biochemists in health service medical research programmes. The benefits would be mutual and such cooperation would surely result in greater returns on the money spent. In general, Spanish Ph.D. biochemists have a good educational background and are able to participate in extremely good research programmes when they move to world centres of biochemistry. Fortunately, besides the fellowships sponsored
by foreign research institutions, it is not too difficult for Spanish biochemists to obtain postdoctoral fellowships from either governmental sources or private foundations. In the last few years a new opportunity for general scientific exchange and cooperative research has also been provided by the allocation of special funds from Spain-U.S.A. bilateral, governmental agreements. A substantial amount of the funds of this programme are presently allocated for the equipment of research departments in universities and Research Council and other governmental institutions.
Funding - a critical problem These resources notwithstanding, the funding of research biochemistry is becoming a very critical problem. The ordinary overall budget for research provided by the government for a research group (a chair in the university or an equivalent group in the Research Council) is very low indeed, ranging from $3,000 to $10,000 yearly. Inevitably, most of the research groups have had to rely during the last 10 years on additional grants from the governmental ‘Comision Asesora de Investigation Cientifica y Tecnica’. However, the last period for applications for these grants was in January 1977 and all the grants will have expired by the end of this year. Looking to the future with more optimism, despite Spain’s serious economic situation there is now a project to launch an ambitious 3-year research plan. But for the country to profit fully from this proposed increase in financial support a clear scientific policy must first be drawn up to define priorities in basic and technological research and mechanisms for selecting the genuinely modern programmes and exploiting the scientific and economic results must be devised.
.
TIBS Readership Survey
Let us know what you think about TIBS The July issue of TBS contained a questionnaire bound into the centre of the magazine which we hope our readers will answer. If you have not already done so, please return your completed questionnaire as soon as possible. If the copy of TBS you see regularly is in a library, we also want to hear your views. Please ask the librarian to detach the form and fill it in yourself. To make T/&S as useful and interesting as possible we need to know what you think.