Microbial Metabolism. Volume 5

I can think of only two reasons for publishing a collection of annotated reprints, such as this volume represents. One is to make available important papers which are otherwise difficult to obtain; the other is to provide the students in a course with assigned reading material for which they would otherwise have to compete at the college library. The first of these functions is certainly served by this collection, which provides (some in their original languages, and all in translation) the earliest papers on fermentation by Schwann, Cagniard-Latour, Liebig, Pasteur, and Buchner, as well as some of Winogradsky's and Beijerinck's early papers on autotrophic metabolism. The remainder of the forty-odd reprinted papers are readily available in college libraries, however, and it is difficult to conceive of a course in which any significant number of them would be assigned reading. Suppose, however, one were to offer a course dealing with the history of research on microbial metabolism. Dr. Doelle has chosen five areas for documentation: The early stages of fermentation; carbohydrate metabolism; the metabolism of inorganic compounds; aromatic carbon metabolism; and anaerobic fermentation. Whole areas of microbial metabolism are thus omitted, including the entire subject of biosynthesis. (Dr. Doelle's coverage of this topic is restricted to a 1968 review on the biosynthesis of aromatic compounds, a 1949 review on amino acid metabolism of mutant strains of microorganisms, and a 1958 Harvey lecture on the enzymatic synthesis of the purine nucleotides, much of which deals with work done on pigeon liver extracts). The metabolism of microorganisms other than bacteria receives little attention being represented mainly by: The nineteenth century papers on yeast, and Tatum's 1949 review on mutant microorganisms (which includes some Neurospora work). In fact, mammalian muscle and avian liver receive more attention than fungi, protozoa, and algae do collectively. In addition to these unexplained omissions, the organization of the areas which Dr. Doelle has selected for presentation is difficult to understand. Thus, Tatum's review of amino acid metabolism in mutant strains of microorganisms and Buchanan's Harvey Lecture on the enzymatic synthesis of the purine nucleotides (both of which deal with biosyntheses in aerobic organisms) are included in the section entitled "Anaerobic Fermentation." All in all, the selectivity of the subject matter, and the way in which it is organized, detract from the usefullness of this book as a teaching reference.