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Quantum biochemistry and specific interactions
44
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION
Microbial Production of Nucleic Acid-Related Substances E d i t e d by K. O g a t a , S. K i n o s h i t a , T. T s u n o d a a n d K. A i d a . A H a l s t e d P r e s s B o o k , p u b l i s h e d by K o d a n s h a L t d . (Tokyo) a n d J o h n Wiley & Sons ( L o n d o n a n d New York). P p . 348. £ 1 9 . 5 0 / $ 3 0 . 0 0 .
The Japanese chemical industry has been remarkably successful in producing nucleotides in quantity by fermentation methods. Much of the background literature is to be found in such journals as Nippon Nogikagaku Kaishi, Tanpakushitsu Kakusan Koso and the quaintly titled Amino Acid and Nucleic Acid. This book consists of 22 chapters which are intended to guide the interested reader through this literature. Its scope covers nucleases, nucleotides (including coenzymes) and nucleoside antibiotics. It is unfortunate that the book is so poorly produced and much of it is so unreadable that its objectives fail to be fulfilled. The book has evidently been produced by a photographic procedure and in several places, editors' corrections to the printers proof remain as squiggles and lines in the text. On p. 73, where there is an obvious error about the size of an industrial fermentation reactor, the real meaning is not apparent even from the correction. For a book which costs nearly 6p (or 9c) per page, this is unforgiveable. As a textbook about the biochemistry and chemistry of nucleotides, the book is unbalanced and astonishingly naive. For example, although many types of nucleases are discussed in detail, restriction is dismissed in a totally inadequate paragraph on p. 14 with no satisfactory recent references. Thymidylate synthetase and thymidine kinase are not mentioned anywhere. Much of the biochemistry is misleading and out of date. We are told on p. 56 that maximal RNA synthesis occurs during lag phase (1949 reference), that Griffiths' experiments demonstrated that DNA is the genetic material (p. 66) and that, "the existence of RNA in mitochondria has recently been reported" (p. 55). This fact was reported to the present reviewer not so very recently. The recluction of ribose in nucleotides is very poorly described (p. 235). Table 15.4 is misleading. The non-haem iron of E. coil ribonucleotide reductase is the H-carrier corresponding to deoxyadenosylcobalamine in the Lactobacillus enzyme. Much of the book is poorly cross-referenced and the index is short and difficult to use. The contributors clearly did not know what their colleagues were writing and the consequent lack of correlation and cross-referencing has not been put right by the editors. For example, chemical phosphorylation of nucleosides is described in two places (pages 115 and 218) and fermentative production of IMP in several places. The chapters of the book are grouped in five parts. In part I, the first chapter deals with nucleases. It is totally unreadable and resembles "Annual Report" writing at its worst. The other two chapters of part I are elementary accounts of nucleotide biosynthesis and separation methods. Part II deals with industrial preparation of nucleic acids and nucleuses. Parts Ill and IV are about the production of nucleotides (and co-factors) by de novo synthesis and by adding nucleotide precursors to microbial cultures. There are some very interesting examples of the application of industrial methodology. The quality of the scientific work is excellent. It is shch a pity this account of the subject requires so much revision. The phraseology is particularly obscure in the discussion of uracil auxotrophs (p. 189) and purine auxotrophs are consistently (and wrongly) referred to as "purineless strains". Part V is about the utilization of nucleosides and nucleotides. Chapters 20 and 21 deal with food additives and metabolic treatment of medical disorders respectively. It is these two fields which have led to the enormous Japanese investment in the industrial production of nucleotides. In particular, IMP and GMP are added to foods (in conjunction with glutamate) to create the flavour of meat. Chapter 20 is good reading for those who have a predilection for esoteric fact. Here we can learn that the IMP content (mg%) of black sea bream (Kuro-dai) is 277.1 but for the hairy crab (Ke-gani) it is zero. The squid (Surume-ika) also has no
April 1977 Vol. 5 No. 2
IMP but is high in glutamate (41.5 rag%) unlike its relative Aoriika (only 3.1 mg% glutamate). And as for the consequences of holding shaped meat at 40-50°C for 3 h before steaming in the preparation of some local types of k a m a b o k o . . , but I must leave the reader to look that up (p. 316). The final chapter deals with nucleoside antibiotics. The subject deserves more than this brief catalogue of substances and producing strains. Overall this book is strictly for those libraries to which money means nothing. Despite its admirable intentions, its value lies almost exclusively in its lists of references. J. H. Parish
Quantum Biochemistry and Specific Interactions By Z e n o S i m o n . Pp 252. A b a c u s Press, T u n b r i d g e Wells, K e n t , U . K . , 1976. (A revised a n d u p d a t e d t r a n s l a t i o n of " B i o c h e m i e c u a n t i c a si i n t e r a c t i i s p e c i f i c e " , B u c a r e s t , 1973.) £11.95.
Books on essentially interdisciplinary subjects such as this one are always welcome but at the same time very susceptible to being overtaken by events on publication. As regards this particular book, it is hard to think of a group of readers who would benefit from it, in spite of the claim on the dust cover, other than the professional quantum chemist looking for stimulating problems in the biological area. However in this case he would only want the second half of the book which covers spatial conformation of biomolecules, specific interactions between biomolecules, recognition processes and some material on electronic structure and reactivity. There is a detailed exposition of molecular orbital techniques in various approximations and a similar detailed treatment in the use of approximation techniques in the calculation of intermolecular forces. This section does not make contact with the rest of the book and one feels unable to see wood for trees after reading it. Nowhere are the general and qualitative principles of quantum chemistry stated and discussed and the book seems to be based on the assumption that quantum mechanics can only make quantitative contributions to knowledge. For example, a few pages are devoted to trying to "explain" the difference between "energy rich" and "energy poor" phosphates in terms of valence bond and ndelocalisation theories, both patently incapable of giving meaningful results to the desired level of accuracy (= 2 K.cal/mole). Sadly there is no discussion of how quantum mechanics may throw light on the much more important problem of how many enzymes can increase the rate of hydrolysis of ATP by ten orders of magnitude or more. There are numerous misprints, maltranslations and editorial omissions some of which could floor many biochemists trying to read some quantum theory, e.g. "transition momentum" on page 38. There is no mention of the great qualitative general principles of quantum chemistry which have in the past and are at present illuminating large areas of physical chemistry such as the concepts arising from the Born-Oppenheimer approximations, adiabatic and diabatic potential energy curves and surfaces, Auger transitions. the Franck-Condon Principle, etc. Many of these concepts will undoubtedly prove to be of paramount importance in quantum biochemistry and biophysics and potential readers of this book would be well advised to study these concepts elsewhere before turning to the second part of this book which presents some very fascinating problems for the quantum theorist. Unfortunately even in this section it is difficult in places to wade through the somewhat involved curve fitting exercises presented in rather too much detail. Each chapter has its own set of references, but there is no index and the book does not represent good value for personal purchase. B. F. Gray School of Chemistry Macquarie University North Ryde. N.S.W.. Australia
BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION
Microbial Production of Nucleic Acid-Related Substances E d i t e d by K. O g a t a , S. K i n o s h i t a , T. T s u n o d a a n d K. A i d a . A H a l s t e d P r e s s B o o k , p u b l i s h e d by K o d a n s h a L t d . (Tokyo) a n d J o h n Wiley & Sons ( L o n d o n a n d New York). P p . 348. £ 1 9 . 5 0 / $ 3 0 . 0 0 .
The Japanese chemical industry has been remarkably successful in producing nucleotides in quantity by fermentation methods. Much of the background literature is to be found in such journals as Nippon Nogikagaku Kaishi, Tanpakushitsu Kakusan Koso and the quaintly titled Amino Acid and Nucleic Acid. This book consists of 22 chapters which are intended to guide the interested reader through this literature. Its scope covers nucleases, nucleotides (including coenzymes) and nucleoside antibiotics. It is unfortunate that the book is so poorly produced and much of it is so unreadable that its objectives fail to be fulfilled. The book has evidently been produced by a photographic procedure and in several places, editors' corrections to the printers proof remain as squiggles and lines in the text. On p. 73, where there is an obvious error about the size of an industrial fermentation reactor, the real meaning is not apparent even from the correction. For a book which costs nearly 6p (or 9c) per page, this is unforgiveable. As a textbook about the biochemistry and chemistry of nucleotides, the book is unbalanced and astonishingly naive. For example, although many types of nucleases are discussed in detail, restriction is dismissed in a totally inadequate paragraph on p. 14 with no satisfactory recent references. Thymidylate synthetase and thymidine kinase are not mentioned anywhere. Much of the biochemistry is misleading and out of date. We are told on p. 56 that maximal RNA synthesis occurs during lag phase (1949 reference), that Griffiths' experiments demonstrated that DNA is the genetic material (p. 66) and that, "the existence of RNA in mitochondria has recently been reported" (p. 55). This fact was reported to the present reviewer not so very recently. The recluction of ribose in nucleotides is very poorly described (p. 235). Table 15.4 is misleading. The non-haem iron of E. coil ribonucleotide reductase is the H-carrier corresponding to deoxyadenosylcobalamine in the Lactobacillus enzyme. Much of the book is poorly cross-referenced and the index is short and difficult to use. The contributors clearly did not know what their colleagues were writing and the consequent lack of correlation and cross-referencing has not been put right by the editors. For example, chemical phosphorylation of nucleosides is described in two places (pages 115 and 218) and fermentative production of IMP in several places. The chapters of the book are grouped in five parts. In part I, the first chapter deals with nucleases. It is totally unreadable and resembles "Annual Report" writing at its worst. The other two chapters of part I are elementary accounts of nucleotide biosynthesis and separation methods. Part II deals with industrial preparation of nucleic acids and nucleuses. Parts Ill and IV are about the production of nucleotides (and co-factors) by de novo synthesis and by adding nucleotide precursors to microbial cultures. There are some very interesting examples of the application of industrial methodology. The quality of the scientific work is excellent. It is shch a pity this account of the subject requires so much revision. The phraseology is particularly obscure in the discussion of uracil auxotrophs (p. 189) and purine auxotrophs are consistently (and wrongly) referred to as "purineless strains". Part V is about the utilization of nucleosides and nucleotides. Chapters 20 and 21 deal with food additives and metabolic treatment of medical disorders respectively. It is these two fields which have led to the enormous Japanese investment in the industrial production of nucleotides. In particular, IMP and GMP are added to foods (in conjunction with glutamate) to create the flavour of meat. Chapter 20 is good reading for those who have a predilection for esoteric fact. Here we can learn that the IMP content (mg%) of black sea bream (Kuro-dai) is 277.1 but for the hairy crab (Ke-gani) it is zero. The squid (Surume-ika) also has no
April 1977 Vol. 5 No. 2
IMP but is high in glutamate (41.5 rag%) unlike its relative Aoriika (only 3.1 mg% glutamate). And as for the consequences of holding shaped meat at 40-50°C for 3 h before steaming in the preparation of some local types of k a m a b o k o . . , but I must leave the reader to look that up (p. 316). The final chapter deals with nucleoside antibiotics. The subject deserves more than this brief catalogue of substances and producing strains. Overall this book is strictly for those libraries to which money means nothing. Despite its admirable intentions, its value lies almost exclusively in its lists of references. J. H. Parish
Quantum Biochemistry and Specific Interactions By Z e n o S i m o n . Pp 252. A b a c u s Press, T u n b r i d g e Wells, K e n t , U . K . , 1976. (A revised a n d u p d a t e d t r a n s l a t i o n of " B i o c h e m i e c u a n t i c a si i n t e r a c t i i s p e c i f i c e " , B u c a r e s t , 1973.) £11.95.
Books on essentially interdisciplinary subjects such as this one are always welcome but at the same time very susceptible to being overtaken by events on publication. As regards this particular book, it is hard to think of a group of readers who would benefit from it, in spite of the claim on the dust cover, other than the professional quantum chemist looking for stimulating problems in the biological area. However in this case he would only want the second half of the book which covers spatial conformation of biomolecules, specific interactions between biomolecules, recognition processes and some material on electronic structure and reactivity. There is a detailed exposition of molecular orbital techniques in various approximations and a similar detailed treatment in the use of approximation techniques in the calculation of intermolecular forces. This section does not make contact with the rest of the book and one feels unable to see wood for trees after reading it. Nowhere are the general and qualitative principles of quantum chemistry stated and discussed and the book seems to be based on the assumption that quantum mechanics can only make quantitative contributions to knowledge. For example, a few pages are devoted to trying to "explain" the difference between "energy rich" and "energy poor" phosphates in terms of valence bond and ndelocalisation theories, both patently incapable of giving meaningful results to the desired level of accuracy (= 2 K.cal/mole). Sadly there is no discussion of how quantum mechanics may throw light on the much more important problem of how many enzymes can increase the rate of hydrolysis of ATP by ten orders of magnitude or more. There are numerous misprints, maltranslations and editorial omissions some of which could floor many biochemists trying to read some quantum theory, e.g. "transition momentum" on page 38. There is no mention of the great qualitative general principles of quantum chemistry which have in the past and are at present illuminating large areas of physical chemistry such as the concepts arising from the Born-Oppenheimer approximations, adiabatic and diabatic potential energy curves and surfaces, Auger transitions. the Franck-Condon Principle, etc. Many of these concepts will undoubtedly prove to be of paramount importance in quantum biochemistry and biophysics and potential readers of this book would be well advised to study these concepts elsewhere before turning to the second part of this book which presents some very fascinating problems for the quantum theorist. Unfortunately even in this section it is difficult in places to wade through the somewhat involved curve fitting exercises presented in rather too much detail. Each chapter has its own set of references, but there is no index and the book does not represent good value for personal purchase. B. F. Gray School of Chemistry Macquarie University North Ryde. N.S.W.. Australia