General Biochemistry

GENERAL BIOCHEMISTRY. By Joseph S. Fruton and Sophia Simmonds. New York, John Wiley and Sons; London, Chapman and Hall, Limited, 1953. xii + 940 pp., illus. $10.00. This excellent textbook, as the title states, treats the subject of biochemistry from a general point of view, rather than from that of agriculture, medicine, or any other applied discipline. Thus the authors have drawn impartially and extensively from the vast biochemical literature on plants, animals, and micro-organisms. The book is designed primarily for graduate level courses where the student has a substantial chemical background; the authors, however, have reviewed and developed in the early chapters those aspects of physical chemistry most important to an understanding of protein behavior and enzyme activity. In accordance with the rapid expansion of our knowledge of intermediate metabolic processes in recent years, the emphasis in this book is placed on "biochemical dynamics" rather than on structural biochemistry. This is evidenced by the seven major sections into which the book is subdivided, namely: (1) proteins, (2) enzymes, (3) biological oxidation, (4) intermediate metabolism of carbohydrates, (5) intermediate metabolism of lipids, (6) intermediate metabolism of nitrogen compounds, and (7) general aspects of metabolism. It will be noted that the authors have departed from the more traditional order of presentation followed by most texts on the subject. In the opinion of the reviewer, however, this new arrangement is a very sound and teachable one. After a short introductory chapter on the scope, history, and literature of biochemistry, the proteins are discussed with regard to their structure and properties and their component amino acids. The conjugated proteins, including the metallo-proteins and nucleo-proteins, are also considered. Then follow three chapters dealing with the general chemistry of enzymes, equilibria, and enzyme kinetics. Under biological oxidation, a general chapter on oxidation-reduction precedes discussion of the pyridine nucleotide-dehydrogenase systems, the flavoproteins, metallo-oxidases, and coupled enzymecatalyzed reactions. The section on intermediate metabolism of carbohydrates includes a chapter on various methods for studying intermediate metabolism and another on the general chemistry of carbohydrates, after which consideration is given to the enzymatic formation and splitting of glycosidic bonds, anaerobic and aerobic metabolism, and photosynthesis. The next five chapters are concerned with the chemistry and metabolism of the fats and fatty acids, phospholipids, steroids, and the carotenes, terpenes, and related compounds of plant origin. In connection with the metabolism of nitrogen compounds the authors discuss the utilization of inorganic nitrogen, and various aspects of the metabolism of proteins and amino acids, porphyrins, and nucleic acids. The final section on general aspects of metabolism includes the metabolic r6le of inorganic ions, heat changes in metabolism, hormonal mechanisms, and the vitamins. The book is rich in structural formulas and equations and contains many helpful diagrams, metabolic schemes, and tables. It is also replete with