Horizons in Biochemistry

A select and distinguished group of physicists, chemists and biologists are the contributors to this book dedicated to Albert Szent-Gyorgyi. The expression of new and philosophical viewpoints projected towards the future of molecular biology is stressed throughout this volume. The book is divided into six sections, each devoted to one of the most intensive areas of current biochemical investigation. The first section deals with biochemical evolution. Calvin traces the work in his laboratory on photosynthetic mechanisms and suggests that heme and its oxidative function preceded the appearance of large amounts of oxygen in the earth's atmosphere produced by photosynthesis. Gaffron, using evidence from bacterial physiology, believes that respiratory mechanisms evolved from parts of an already existing complex photosynthetic apparatus. The existence of bioluminescence in the plant, animal and microbial world is attributed by McElroy and Seliger as a struggle for anaerobic existence of primitive organisms which led certain organisms to produce luciferase which rapidly removed molecular oxygen. The aerobic organisms came subsequently by gradual selection and evolution of electron transport processes. Rich has put forward the challenging idea that the transfer of genetic information and protein synthesis was carried out in primitive organisms by a stem polynucleotide molecule which was like an RNAlike polymer. The second section covers biochemical genetics. Ingram and Pauling independently focus our attention upon the differences in the hemoglobin molecule in the normal, fetal and certain disease states and discuss the problem of the existence and activation of "dormant genes." Ochoa summarizes the current concepts on the transmission of genetic information. The third section on biochemical catalysis opens with a chapter by Eyring, Jones and Spikes who pose the question of why the universally present L-amino acid protein helices and D-pentose nucleic acid helices evolved as code-containing entities and why D-amino acids are present in certain polypeptide antibiotics. Koshland considers the catalytic power of enzymes, Krebs discusses the relation of enzymic activity to cellular structure and Kornberg discusses the role of pyrophosphorylases in biosynthetic mechanisms. The fourth section, on molecular organization, concerns the semiconductor properties of biological systems such as the cytochrome systems, chloroplasts and retinal rods. The mitochondrion is considered as a biological transducer by Green while Lehninger outlines the role of the mitochondrion in the active transport of ions and the mechanical changes associated with the uptake and extrusion of water. F. 0. Schmitt examines the various promising areas of research using the methods of physics which may lead to a correlation between memory and macromolecular organization and emphasizes the importance of the study of satellite cells in the nervous system. In the last two sections dealing with biochemical molecular structure and quantum biochemistry, chapters are included on