Regulation of Cell Metabolism

The book represents the written minutes of the symposium on "Regulation of Cell Metabolism" held in London on July 28-30, 1958, sponsored by the Ciba Foundation. There is no problem of greater importance to the basic understanding of biology than the study of the autoregulatory mechanisms of the cell. The participants in this conference are all leaders in the field of biochemistry and the discussions are the most authoritative possible on the selected topics. A major portion of the book concerns control of glucose metabolism including limiting factors in glycolysis and quantitative aspects of the control of oxygen utilization. Particularly excellent is the discussion by Lehninger on oxidative phosphorylation and the chapter by Lynen on the vital importance of intracellular inorganic phosphate. The electron microphotographs presented by Siekevitz are of the highest quality and his attempt to correlate specific structures with specific reactions is an example of the imagination and forward thinking desperately needed in the study of the cell today. Sir Hans Krebs makes clear in his introductory remarks that the conference is concerned primarily, although not exclusively, with the primitive cellular control mechanisms and no attempt is made to discuss the role of extracellular hormonal influences. The only major criticism of the book is the fact that 12 of the 17 chapters are related to the regulation of carbohydrate metabolism and only 3 are particularly concerned with nucleic acid and protein metabolism. Although the definition of feedback is extensively discussed in the final chapter, there is never any attempt made to cover thoroughly the multiple cellular feedback mechanisms already known. The work mainly involves bacterial metabolism, and such major autoregulatory mechanisms as the process of mitosis in mammalian cells are completely ignored. This reviewer is in complete agreement with the concept that conferences with few people are the most rewarding to both the participants and to the readers of the symposia. The informal discussions at the end of each chapter are only possible with small groups, are most revealing, and provide some of the most useful information. It is hoped that this conference will be a stimulus toward many other such assemblies which over a period of time will eventually broaden the scope of this study to all aspects of cell regulation. DONALD W. KING