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Enzymes: Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Clinical Chemistry

Trevor Palmer, Horwood, Chichester, 2001, xix + 402 pp., price £30, ISBN 1-898563-78-0 Search PubMedThis book is a fifth edition of the successful text Understanding Enzymes by Trevor Palmer, which has been used for the teaching of enzyme action since 1981. The general layout is very similar to the fourth edition, published in 1995, but has been updated on selected topics such as use of molecular biology and bioinformatics. References to recent reviews and books have also been added to the “Further Reading” sections.

The book begins with a discussion of the classification of enzymes into reaction types. Chapter 2 deals with protein structure, with an emphasis in the text on peptide sequencing methods. This section is now somewhat out of date, mentioning only briefly the use of nucleotide sequencing for elucidation of primary structure, and containing relatively little on the three-dimensional structure of enzymes determined by X-ray crystallography or NMR spectroscopy. The remainder of Part 1 deals with protein biosynthesis, specificity of enzyme action, and oligomeric proteins. Part 2 of the book deals largely with the steady-state kinetic behaviour of enzymes, and their inhibition. The equations for steady-state enzyme kinetics are very well explained and illustrated. Chapter 11, which deals with mechanisms of catalysis, focuses on the well-known examples of α-chymotrypsin, ribonuclease, lysozyme, and triose phosphate isomerase. The level of detail on reaction mechanism is sufficient for a biology or medical student, but is somewhat limited for readers with a greater interest in mechanism. Part 3 of the book deals with applications of enzymes in analytical biochemistry, clinical biochemistry, and the use of enzymes in industry. This section is written at an accessible level, which will be very suitable for readers interested in analytical applications of enzymes.

In summary, this book will continue to be useful for first and second year undergraduate students in biochemistry, biological sciences, medicine, and analytical sciences, although a few sections are now getting a little out of date. The particularly good features of the book are the treatment of steady-state enzyme kinetics, and the discussion of analytical applications, which are clear and well organised. For more advanced biochemistry students, or for chemistry students interested in enzyme mechanisms, however, the level of detail in the treatment of reaction mechanisms and three-dimensional structure is somewhat limited, so students will need to refer to more advanced texts.

T. D. H. Bugg
University of Warwick, , UK

Organic Chemistry

J. Clayden, N. Greeves, S. Warren and P. Wothers, University Press, Oxford, 2000, 1508 pp., price £29.99,ISBN 0-19-850346-6 Search PubMedOne of the most puzzling aspects of British university chemistry education is the remarkable dearth of good organic chemistry texts geared to UK courses. Physical chemists have long used Atkins, inorganic have Cotton & Wilkinson; loads of good practical books, some such as Vogel being the ‘bible’ for aeons. Ever since the beginnings of chemistry courses there always were good British books, even on organic chemistry. But very few in the last 50 years. We have been dominated by US tomes—good, well produced—but hardly designed for UK students. Why? It seems to me that unlike our US cousins, British authors are more concerned to impress their peers than to inform the ignorant.

So a new, sparklingly presented text, making excellent use of colour, bang up to date, that is surely a refreshing change? Written by Stuart Warren and some of his enthusiastic young colleagues immediately lends it teaching credibility. Does it achieve the status of the above classic tomes but with the necessary British flavour or will it end up damned by indigestibility? Well, the answer is ‘yes and no’. This book is excellent for the bright and enthusiastic student coming to a University course with a sound basic background in Organic Chemistry from A level studies. Sadly, such kids are not as numerous as they once were, even in 5* departments. The superbly presented mechanistic basis and use of curly arrows chapter, the early introduction of an overview of spectroscopy, the molecular orbital approach to structures and reactions and other topics including nomenclature and carbonyl additions are all packed into the first 1/9 of the book. Lesser students—the large majority—will be daunted, I fear, at the expectations—and examinations—ahead. A structure on p. 19 incorporating 129 carbons, worrying stereochemical and functional group combinations could make them gulp as a starter. Well taught and even better tutorialised students following this course will thrive given the proper start in life that is so often missing at school. Maybe this is the key aspect missing in English University courses—and perhaps in this book—the fact that we need to start from square one in organic chemistry today. This book definitely starts with high expectations of its users.

So to sum up, this book could well be perfect for the bright minority but daunting for the majority of first year chemistry students. This is a great pity, since so much of the book is outstandingly well written, with excellent coverage in a modern and stimulating style and with so few errors [such as on p. 1170 where ‘electrolytic’ should be replaced by ‘electrophilic’]. If this book is introduced after an introductory course, it could be just right and is great value for money. Even peripheral topics such as heterocyclic chemistry, biological and natural products chemistry, polymers and other areas are dealt with in a thorough and effective manner.

Otto Meth-Cohn
University of Sunderland, , UK

The Chemical Synthesis of Natural Products

Karl J. Hale, Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield, 2000, 429 pp., price £99, ISBN 1-84127-039-3 Search PubMedThe total synthesis of natural products occupies a keystone position in organic chemistry. Nature provides a wealth of fascinating and beautiful structures, often in combination with significant biological activity, which offers a continual stimulus to the ingenuity of the synthetic chemist. The challenge provided by the synthesis of these natural products and the unforgiving nature of target directed synthesis severely tests the strategic and methodological foundations of organic chemistry. This in turn can drive the development of new and unprecedented chemical technologies. In short, progress in the synthesis of natural products affords a vital measure of the state of the science.

The aim of The Chemical Synthesis of Natural Products has been to highlight important methodological developments, advances in strategy and significant synthetic accomplishments spanning the decade from the late 1980’s to the late 1990’s. The volume contains twelve chapters contributed by prominent researchers from Europe and the United States and each of these focuses on the synthesis of a separate class of natural products. This includes: the synthesis of complex carbohydrates, macrolides, polyethers, alkaloids, aromatic heterocycles, carboaromatic compounds, terpenes and terpenoids, steroids, enediynes and dienediynes, linear peptides and amino acids, cyclic peptides, and cyclodepsipeptides. Without claiming a comprehensive review of the field, the book covers a truly diverse range of natural product synthesis.

The style of each chapter varies considerably with the approach of the contributing authors and natural product family under review. For example, the chapter concerning the total synthesis of macrolides covers the synthetic approaches taken by different research groups to just four members of this extensive family of natural products. The emphasis is on highlighting thematic and methodological developments, by examining the synthesis of a carefully chosen selection of the wide variety of possible targets. This account is highly readable and effectively draws attention to aspects such as the efficiency of aldol and allylboration methodology for the creation of multiple contiguous stereocentres in macrolides such as oleandomycin and the impressive contribution of transition metal couplings and asymmetric catalysis to synthesis. It is far from comprehensive however, and the dearth of examples limits the use of this chapter as a reference for the field at large.

A contrasting approach is adopted in the chapter dealing with the synthesis of alkaloids, which traverses recent progress in over 25 structurally complex members of this natural product family. The emphasis here is on the wealth of synthetic approaches to these targets rather than the development of themes or strategy over the decade. The need for brevity that is required in covering this material is evident. Indeed, the sheer diversity of alkaloid chemistry covered defies the imposition of order based on structure or methodology; however the chapter is more comprehensive and provides a useful entry into the primary literature.

Perhaps it is not surprising that the most clearly structured chapters in this volume are those covering areas that underwent the greatest development over the last decade, or those with clearly identifiable advances in methodology. The chapter concerning the chemical synthesis of complex carbohydrates exemplifies this, by neatly summarising developments in chemical glycosylation technology, strategies such as armed/disarmed glycosyl donors and their impressive application to the one-pot synthesis of complex carbohydrate targets. The chapter concludes with a detour into the developing areas of multivalent carbohydrates and the synthesis of oligosaccharide analogues and glycomimetics. In a similar manner, the chapters concerning the synthesis of linear peptides and amino acids and its relative, concerning naturally occurring cyclic peptides, contains appraisals of important methodological developments that underpin each field. This book provides a highly useful, if somewhat general, resource for researchers and a good introduction to graduate students with an emphasis on recent developments. Each chapter is amply supported by a wealth of references that direct the reader to previous reviews of each chapter topic as well as highlighting important aspects of the subject areas not explicitly covered by the author. The volume is indexed by natural product, reagent and reaction type, which can usefully guide the more casual reader to relevant topics.

The chapter detailing the story of the enediynes and dienediynes neatly illustrates the worth of this volume. Isolated in the 1980’s and 1990’s, the enediynes and related natural products combine striking architectures with significant biological activity, and an unprecedented mechanism of action. This family was the subject of intensive synthetic activity, which required audacious synthetic planning and the development of a raft of new approaches to access the novel functionality. Who could fail to be enchanted, as one after another, these structures succumbed to total synthesis? In reading this volume one is struck not just by the creativity of researchers, and the recent strides made in methodological development in one short decade, but also by the power of organic synthesis to grant access to virtually any structure. How will natural product synthesis be conducted ten years from now? We are entering an exciting phase in the development of total synthesis, where efforts of synthetic chemists in the pursuit of a synthetic challenge frequently provide scarce metabolites in large quantities for biological and medical evaluation. Many of us will observe the continual development of the field in incremental steps over the next decade but a useful perspective is gained by casting our eye back over recent history. I therefore look forward to the next instalment of The Chemical Synthesis of Natural Products.

Malcolm McLeod
University of Sydney, , Australia

Perspectives in Nucleoside and Nucleic Acid Chemistry

M. V. Kisakurek and H. Rosemeyer, Wiley-VCH, Zurich, Weinheim, x + 420 pp., price £80, ISBN 3-906390-21-7 Search PubMedAlmost 50 years after the discovery of the DNA double helix the chemistry of nucleic acids continues to be an area of increasing interest and intensity. In medicine, monomeric nucleoside analogues are now widely used as antiviral and anticancer agents and oligonucleotide drugs based on the antisense and antigene therapeutic principles are starting to emerge in the clinic. Our fundamental understanding of basic biological processes has advanced precociously through genome-sequencing and our ability to solve the structure of complex biological macromolecular assemblies such as the ribosome. In every case these rapid developments have been stimulated through basic chemical research in nucleic acid chemistry which has resulted in: new synthetic strategies; new analytical techniques based on combinatorial approaches and novel protecting groups and labelling techniques.

This volume details some recent developments in the field of nucleoside and nucleic acid chemistry through thirty-three original manuscripts and provides a snapshot as to where the subject is heading at the start of the twenty-first century. Each manuscript is a fully documented piece of research containing an introduction, a results and discussion section, full experimental details and a list of references. Without exception the articles are written by internationally recognised scientists, are of a high scientific standard and quality of presentation, indeed many of the manuscripts have already been published in Helvetica Chimica Acta.

Part I of the book contains thirteen articles concerned with the chemistry of nucleosides and nucleotides. Coverage of this section is reasonably comprehensive with articles devoted to the synthesis of base- and sugar-modified nucleosides through both classical approaches and more innovative synthetic strategies. Manuscripts are also included which describe recent developments in protecting group chemistry, as applied to the synthesis of oligonucleotides, and the synthesis of phosphate modified nucleotides.

In Part II there are twenty articles devoted to the chemistry of oligonucleotides. Once again the topic coverage is wide with articles pertaining to: the synthesis and physicochemical properties of modified oligonucleotides; methods for labelling oligonucleotides; structural and computational studies; triple helices and peptide–oligonucleotide conjugates. Whilst it is almost impossible to achieve comprehensive topic coverage in a volume of this type, important new elements of the subject such as; in vitro selection techniques, DNA arrays/chips and the use of DNA in the construction of nano-structured devices, are not dealt with.

Books of this type in which there is no overview of the subject are generally only accessible to dedicated researchers in the area and therefore have a limited appeal. However, as a collection of original manuscripts this volume works better than many similar publications; the editors have gone to the trouble of indexing the volume and the production quality of the text is excellent. It will be a useful addition to the bookshelf of chemists working in the area of nucleosides and nucleic acids.

Richard Cosstick
University of Liverpool, , UK

Recent Advances in Carbohydrate Bioengineering

H. J. Gilbert, G. J. Davies, B. Henrissat and B. Svensson, The Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, 1999, x + 312 pp., price £69.50, ISBN 0-85404-774-3 Search PubMedThis book was developed from the proceedings of the 3rd Carbohydrate Bioengineering meeting held in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, from the 11–14th April 1999. It encompasses different aspects of carbohydrate bioengineering including the chemistry and biochemistry of carbohydrate degradation, structure–function studies of carbohydrate-modifying enzymes, industrial applications, structural studies and enzyme engineering. The aim of the conference is to update advances in a rapidly evolving area; this is also very well done in this book of thirty-two papers from oral presentations at the meeting.

The proceedings are covered in eight sections. The first is the keynote address that covers an integrated database approach to the classification of carbohydrate active enzymes into families developed by B. Henrissat and P. M. Coutinho. The history and sequence similarities as the basis for the classification are nicely reviewed. The web searchable classifications of glycoside hydrolases both glycosidases and transglycosidases, glycosyltransferases, polysaccharide lyases, carbohydrate esterases and carbohydrate binding modules are even more relevant as genome sequences are completed since the sequence basis of classification allows tentative assignments and comparisons of different organisms.

Section two covers structure and synthesis of carbohydrates and carbohydrate analogues. A chapter by D. H. G. Crout et al. covers the principles and use of glycosidases to synthesize glycosides and oligosaccharides by reversal of their normal hydrolytic reactions. The advantages of an enzymatic approach are evident from their comparisons with corresponding multi-step chemical synthetic methods. M. Moracci et al. cover protein engineering of a β-glycosidase from Sulfolobus solfataricus that gave a surprising change in stereochemical reaction course. Section three covers post-translational glycosylation of proteins and Section four covers the biochemistry of carbohydrate modifying enzymes. This includes an excellent detailed article by M. L. Sinnott on physical organic probes of glycosidase mechanisms. The elegant work of S. G. Withers on the pioneering development of “glycosynthases”, enzymes that are capable of oligosaccharide synthesis, derived from mutagenesis of glycosidases is nicely reviewed. This section also covers structure– function relationships of xylanases by A. J. Clarke and polygalacturonases by J. Visser and concepts about the α-amylase family by T. Kuriki.

Section five contains eight articles on the structure of the catalytic domains of carbohydrate modifying enzymes. These include three dimensional X-ray structures of acetyl xylan esterases, β-glucan hydrolases, polygalacturonases, pectin methylesterase and α-amylases. These chapters clearly show how structural studies not only give insights into enzyme catalytic mechanism, but also can guide mutagenesis to alter enzymatic properties. The structure of the sporulation-specific nucleotide diphosphate sugar (NDP) glycosyltransferase, SpsA is also described by G. J. Davies and S. J. Charnock. This is the second NDP glycosyltransferase structure that has been reported though the sugar donor and acceptor specificities of SpsA are unknown.

Section six covers the structure and function of non-catalytic carbohydrate binding modules in five articles. Carbohydrate binding modules (CBM’s) are reviewed by R. A. J. Warren et al. This paper is an excellent guide to CBM’s that covers their definition, family classification system, nomenclature, structure and function, biological roles and biotechnological applications for the purification and immobilization of fusion proteins. Other articles in this section cover phylogenetic analysis of cellulosomes, avicel-binding protein analysis, the characteristics of chitin-binding proteins, and structure–function of xylan-binding domains. Industrial use is reviewed in two articles in Section seven on amylosucrase and α1,4-glucan lyase for 1,5-anydro-fructose production. Major industrial uses are also given in the last section on the engineering of carbohydrate modifying enzymes. Protein engineering is used not only to enhance the industrial performance of carbohydrate modifying enzymes but also to gain better insights into their catalytic mechanisms. The potential for using thermophylic amylase and xylose isomerases for processing starch to glucose and high fructose corn syrup is covered by J. G. Zeikus et al. B. W. Dijkstra et al. report successes in the engineering of cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase that improve product specificity, thermostability and decrease product inhibition. The other chapters deal with biophysical characterization of glucoamylase, α-amylase and mutagenesis of glucosyltransferase, β-glucanases and cellobiohydrolases. The quality of all of the articles is high and there are only a few minor typographical errors in the text. The book is a useful resource for academic and industrial researchers with interests in carbohydrate bioengineering.

Monica M. Palcic
University of Alberta

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2nd Edition

William H. Elliott and Daphne C. Elliott, Oxford University Press, Oxford, xxvii + 586 pp., price £22.99, ISBN 0-19-870045-8 Search PubMedThe greatest challenge, in writing non-specialist textbooks for first year University undergraduates in any science, is trying to be comprehensive in covering different topics while at the same time delivering information in a concise and simple manner to an audience with an ever-fragmenting academic knowledge. The problem is compounded even more in Life Sciences that have witnessed an explosion of technological (and hence scientific) achievements in the past few years, culminating in the publication of the complete sequence of the human genome. Degree courses have struggled to keep up with all the recent advances. The ongoing fragmentation of knowledge (modularisation of degrees), in the form of short ‘bits’ of information (modules), has resulted in students failing to make the connections between the different modules in order to obtain an overall clear view of their degree subjects. Perhaps the biggest tribute to this book is that it attempts to make these connections between different topics that might very well be representative of different first year modules in any modern degree in Biomolecular Sciences.

Elliott and Elliott followed the conventional layout for the majority of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology texts, starting with basic chemical energetics in relation to enzymatic reactions and then moving on to introduce the structure of proteins and cell membranes. Explaining some of the important aspects of the classic mechanism of action of serine proteases, as well as explaining how the structural features of proteins such as collagen, elastin and proteoglycans make them ideal ‘structural proteins’ illustrate the importance of structure–function relationships. The authors also present in a simple manner some basic protein biochemistry techniques such as chromatography, SDS-PAGE, protein sequencing and introduce the reader to the concepts of bioinformatics and proteomics. However, they shy away from explaining in simple terms some of the more complex techniques such as X-ray crystallography and NMR. Both of these are just mentioned briefly at the end of chapter 3 and one might easily imagine first year students wondering: What on earth is X-ray diffraction or NMR? Wisely, the structure of DNA binding proteins is dealt with later on in the text and after explaining the structure of DNA, thus making it easier for students to relate the structure–function relationships of this class of very important proteins. In a similar manner, although protein denaturation and folding are mentioned briefly at the beginning of Chapter 3, it is not until later on (Chapter 24) that the role of chaperons in protein folding is discussed as part of the overall discussion of protein synthesis.

Part 3 deals with what students usually find a more tedious and ‘heavy going’ topic, that of metabolic biochemistry. Elliott and Elliott made an admirable effort of not only being ‘economical but also uncompromising on quality’ while at the same time making metabolic biochemistry rather interesting for students with topics like the regulation of glycogen synthase by insulin and the molecular mechanism of action of the ‘Nobel Prize winning’ F₁F₀ATP synthase.

The molecular biology and genetic engineering are included in Part 4 of the book. These topics by themselves are the subject of many other textbooks and trying to include them as part of a more generalised text is a brave thing to do! Simply the large volume of information available and the furious pace of new information appearing continuously, make it a difficult task trying to be comprehensive and yet up-to-date within the restrictions of a moderate size textbook. However, Elliott and Elliott have managed to do both of these things reasonably well. Biophysical and chemical aspects of nucleic acid structure are covered adequately. The description of the molecular mechanisms involved in DNA replication is good but could have been a little more adventurous. The authors deal well with the topological problems (topoisomerases, gyrase, nucleosome melting), the DNA sliding clamps and their loading mechanism as well as the enzymology of DNA ligases but are superficial in their coverage of other replicative enzymes like DNA helicases and the DNA polymerase III holoenzyme. The recent influx of structural and biochemical information warrants a little bit more detail on the molecular mechanism of action of ring (replicative) as well as monomeric/dimeric (repair) helicases. The authors emphasize the point of the complexity of bacterial DNA pol. III and mention the different polymerases in eukaryotes but do not make the clear case of the multi-subunit nature of the replisome (and perhaps the primosome also). A list of the different proteins involved in DNA priming and replication will enable first year students to appreciate the complexity of these processes, as well as being a useful reference list for subsequent years. The same applies for the RNA polymerase later on in the text (gene transcription). Although, sigma (σ) factors are mentioned, the multi-subunit nature of the RNA polymerase has not been made clear. Otherwise, gene transcription and control, protein synthesis, DNA repair and recombination are all covered well. There is a specially deserved mention (including a figure) for the MutH-MutL-MutS mediated methyl directed repair but a rather superficial coverage of the important recombination protein RecA. Perhaps a figure showing RecA filaments might enable students to comprehend better the concept of strand invasion. In their coverage of Holliday junctions the authors might have mentioned RuvB, this remarkable molecular motor that would have linked well with the last part of the book dealing with mechanical motors and mechanical work by cells.

The last two parts of the book cover the traditional topics of oxygen and carbon dioxide transport and mechanical work by the cells. These are beautifully written and illustrated. One minor point, perhaps the authors might have introduced the powerful concept of ‘single molecule technology’ as part of the last section of the book on mechanical work by cells.

Referencing each chapter with ‘easy-read’ review articles is imaginative and will benefit the inquisitive students who might want to find out more about particular topics. However, the text suffers from annoying typographical mistakes like: ‘hypersensensitive’ (page 364), ‘it will be appreciated that that if . . .’ (page 363), ‘at the name implies’ (page 346), ‘. . . that are not translation into protein’ (page 346) and one of the strands of the DNA duplex in Fig. 21.27 should be 3′-5′ and not 3′-3′. These are examples of some of the typographical mistakes that could (should) have been avoided.

Summarising with the authors’ words from the preface: ‘The book is aimed at students embarking on their first university course in the subject. Our hope is that it gives a coherent and up-to-date picture of the state of biochemistry and molecular biology today’. It is fair to say that they have fulfilled these aims. I will certainly be recommending it to my students.

Panos Soultanas
University of Nottingham, , UK

Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, 4th Edition

J. M. Walker and R. Rapley, Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, xxiv + 564 pp., price £39, ISBN 0-85404-606-2 Search PubMedThe editors of this book have taken on quite a daunting task in attempting to produce an up-to-date book in the field of molecular biology in the post-genome era. The dangers are that any such book cannot adequately cover such a wide-ranging area and appears out of date by the time it is published. It is gratifying to find that the 4th Edition of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology does not suffer this fate.

Over 19 chapters the excellent contributions from experts in each field provide the reader with a knowledge of subjects ranging from basic concepts in molecular biology, through to overviews of new areas such as genetically modified foods and bioinformatics. This edition convinced me that molecular biology is an exciting field to work in because of its constantly expanding number of techniques and applications.

It is no surprise that nearly a third of the book is devoted to the basic concepts of recombinant DNA technology and protein expression. After an opening chapter on fermentation technology, Chapters two and three cover DNA purification and the subsequent design and application of the most widely used molecular biology technique, the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The emphasis is firmly on cloning genes as a means to be able to study their protein products and the following four chapters deal with the concepts and techniques that are available to clone genes in bacteria, yeast (Ch. 5), mammals (Ch. 6) and plants (Ch. 7). One slight drawback is that, although the authors give excellent examples of various plasmids to use, it is unfortunate that they cannot give guides to specific manufacturers of state-of-the-art cloning and expression systems available in the highly competitive “molecular biology kit” market.

The emphasis changes roughly half-way through the book from a description of the various molecular biology techniques to their applications. Chapter eight deals with the impact of genomic research on our understanding of the molecular biology of disease and on how it has changed the drug discovery process—the “gene to drug” philosophy. It also discusses how research is geared to linking gene identification through to gene function and introduces the hot topics of genomics (studies on the total genetic make-up of an organism) and proteomics (analyses of all the protein components of a cell). Molecular biology now plays its part in identifying drug targets, deciphering complex disease mechanisms, and supporting biochemical screening and structural determination. Gene mutations or deletions can now be used to study their effects on the physiological function of the encoded protein within an animal model. Various total genome sequencing projects are listed which include the human genome, Escherichia coli, yeast and various pathogenic bacteria. It is hoped this information will lead to breakthroughs in the discovery of novel drug targets. Moreover, it will aid in the design of new drugs to treat deadly pathogens that are making a comeback—bacteria that have evolved resistance to many of the currently available antibiotics.

Complete genome sequences of organisms and three dimensional structure of proteins are becoming available on a weekly basis and this is maybe one of the main reasons why any text book in this field could be seen as out-of-date immediately after publication. Indeed, the human genome was published after this appeared but the book encourages the reader to keep abreast of latest developments through interactive www sites.

Chapter nine deals with the sensitive area of genetically modified foods and provides background information, legal issues and covers products already licensed and on the market to protect crops or enhance products. The enzyme chymosin (originally from calf rennet) is now produced by recombinant sources and its role in the cheese-making process is discussed. Future work will impact on food additives, flavourings, vitamins and colourings once the debate between scientists, governments and the consumer reach an understanding.

The theme of the direct impact that molecular biology has had on the public begun in the previous chapter is further developed over the next four chapters which focus on the diagnosis of inherited disease, DNA in forensic science, vaccination and gene manipulation and transgenesis. The first two chapters cover the background and techniques involved in determining the basis of genetic disease citing Huntington’s disease and Fragile X syndrome as examples. This area is under massive public scrutiny since the release of the human genome. Data from forensic science laboratories are now being used in court cases around the world and better ways of analysing and presenting this data, possibly using DNA chip microarrays, are being developed. The impact of vaccination against viral and bacterial infectious disease is covered and a list is given of numerous vaccines and their origin; live attenuated vaccine versus killed. Some diseases which were thought to have been eradicated are making a comeback. It is hoped that a greater understanding of the immune system coupled to the production of antigens via recombinant methods will aid in the design of novel vaccines. The chapter on transgenesis describes how this area has developed through early success with mice through to its consequences for the field of animal model production through nuclear transfer, gene therapy and the commercial production of protein drugs.

The protein engineering chapter deals with techniques to analyse protein structure and function such as site-directed mutageneis (SDM). Novel methods have been developed which will enable a protein with a specific function to be engineered either through a detailed knowledge of its structure or by randomly shuffling the encoding gene, then selecting for a particular biological phenotype. Protein design is still at an early stage but with new gene and protein sequences being constantly discovered through whole genome efforts allied to powerful computing technology, the future looks to be very exciting. Then follows an excellent and very timely chapter (fifteen) on bioinformatics (the application of information technology to biology), and attempts to guide the reader through the enormous amount of information in countless databases throughout the world. It gives details on various www sites and demystifies the jargon associated with this new area of biology.

The last few chapters deal with immobilization of biocatalysts and protein purification on an industrial scale and their impact on the biotechnology industries that use biotransformation reactions. Chapter eighteen describes novel techniques to produce monoclonal antibodies and their use in the diagnosis and treatment of disease such as cancer—a major breakthrough would be achieved through the production of recombinant fully human antibodies to overcome problems with regard to immunogenicity. A final chapter looks into the future and introduces the area of biosensors and molecular machines. These devices, which convert biological actions into electrical signals, have great potential in the diagnostic kit and environmental monitoring field.

Overall, this book will be very useful to everyone with an interest in molecular biology and biotechnology and who wants to know more than just the basics. Experts in specific fields will probably find that the material does not cover each subject in enough depth but they will probably have access to text books dealing specifically with each area such as PCR methodology, antibody production and/or transgenic animals. There are some gaps—there is little mention of the recent developments on the mass spectrometric analysis of proteins and small molecules—but I expect these to be covered in the next edition.

Where it will find the most use will be in the hands of final year undergraduates and post-graduate students in chemistry (or any other non-purely-biological discipline) who wants to get information on a range of molecular biology techniques. It should also find use in many bio-organic/protein biochemistry research laboratories where it will be an excellent reference text for PhD students, post-docs and lecturers. The references cited and more importantly, the www sites listed are very useful for gaining more information on a specific topic or technique.

Dominic Campopiano
University of Edinburgh, , UK

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