BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION
3 59
Biochemistry of Carbohydrates
E d i t e d by W. J. W h e l a n . 1975, p p 441. Medical a n d
Technical P u b l i s h i n g Co. I n t e r n a t i o n a l Review of Science:
Biochemistry Series 1, Vol. 5. P u b l i s h e d by B u t t e r w o r t h
& Co. Ltd., L o n d o n , U . K . a n d University P a r k Press,
Baltimore, U . A . A . Price £10.45.
Although the title of this book might suggest at first sight that it
is a general text-book of carbohydrate biochemistry, it is in fact a
collection of eight fairly long (35-70 pp.) essays on carefully selected
topics coming under this overall heading, making no claim to be
comprehensive but, in accordance with the planning of this new
Series of twelve volumes entitled Biochemistry Series One, laying
great emphasis on aspects where recent progress appears to be
greatest. The editorship of this volume, together with the series
consultant editorship of H. L. Kornberg and D. C. Phillips, has on
the whole achieved this difficult aim very successfully, though in his
Preface the volume editor admits to bias in selection of subjjcts,
while maintaining that carbohydrates are quite the most important
of biological molecules, beginning from the standpoint that the
nucleic acids are substituted polysaccharides.' Apart from
stretching the usual definition a good deal, this statement is
perhaps slightly irrelevant, since the nucleic acids are not discussed
here but in Vol. 6 of the present Series under the editorship of
K. Burton.
For the contents of this book and the way in which it has
developed its purpose of indicating in some detail the main
directions of current research in this field, there can be nothing but
praise. The choice of contributors is a very happy one, all of them
being active and leading research workers as well as having the gift
of clear exposition. The book is also very well produced and most
chapters are well illustrated, and all have quite full and up-to-date
bibliographies. There is a subject index which is reasonably
comprehensive. The price, especially that of the whole collection, i s
daunting; so an attempt will be made here to outline the main
contents as a guide to intending purchasers of this volume. It
should be noted at the outset that emphasis is strongly on the
mammalian polysaccharides; indeed only one of the eight chapters
(that by Clark and Lardy) is devoted to simple sugars and their
metabolic control.
The opening chapter, by D. A. Rees, is noteworthy for developing
an original viewpoint on the stereochemistry and binding behaviour
of various types of carbohydrate chains, including binding to non-
carbohydrate materials, and its relation to biological function. It is
suggested that the finer points of structure need to be studied as far
as possible on these substances in their native state, when it appears
likely that while their inter-relationships are less involved than those
of say proteins or nucleic acids, they nevertheless contain more fine
detail having biological significance than we have hitherto
appreciated. It is worth mentioning that the series of stereo-pairs,
based partly on diffraction evidence, showing some known
configurations of alternating copolysaccharide helices (Fig. 1.1),
require a special stereoviewer as they are in black and white. The
model recommended is from U.S.A., but the reviewer obtained
reasonable results with a normal type of stereoviewer as used for
viewing miniature camera transparencies. This is a valuable basic
chapter and one that breaks new ground.
Next, K. W. Talmadge and M. M. Burger discuss in detail
Carbohydrates and Cell-surface Phenomena. As is well-known,
mammalian cell surfaces, unlike those rigid walls of micro-
organisms and plants, possess mucopolysaccharide and
glycoprotein or glycolipid components as essential elements. The
structure and metabolism of these compounds is well described,
followed by an account of their origins and possible functions in a
wide variety of cell types, including virns-transformed cells. Recent
promising work on lectins as tools for the study of cell surfaces, on
surface antigens for revealing the organization of cellular
membranes, and on the role of surface carbohydrates in cellular
recognition processes is concisely described. These properties and
intercellular adhesion phenomena are related to the probable
underlying enzymic basis, a fascinating recent development.
July 1976 Vol. 4 No.
Two chapters following this are concerned with connective tissue
proteoglycans - - their biosynthesis described by L. Roden &
N. B. Schwartz and their structures and properties by Helen Muir
& T. E. Hardingham. As the Editor points out in his Preface, this is
a field where advances in methodology have at last made possible a
much closer understanding of these complex molecules and their
probable functions: 'which include situations where carbohydrates
are seen to carry and transmit information in as clear a fashion as
the genetic code.' These two chapters together occupy almost one
third of the volume, but the authors are to be congratulated on such
a clear exposition of a difficult subject.
The Regulation of Intermediary Carbohydrate Metabolism, an
excellent chapter by M. G. Clark & H. A. Lardy, follows. Although
a highly compressed account of a subject about which volumes have
already been written, the authors have succeeded in presenting a
remarkably complete synopsis of the main features, filling to some
extent a gap in the remaining sections of the book, in that it traces
step-by-step the enzymic regulatory mechanisms starting with the
glucose molecule. (The metabolism of glycogen is the subject of
another chapter.) Dietary and hormonal factors are not so much
considered as the regulatory effects of isoenzyme and allosteric
forms and modification of them by interaction with other enzymes,
substrates, cofactors, phosphorylation and dephosphorylation; all
very well brought out.
The Chemistry and Biochemistry of Starch is excellently surveyed
by D. French in a highly readable account of which the first half is
chemical and physical, the latter half enzymic and metabolic,
relating to animals, plants and micro-organisms. It is interesting
that the role, if any, of phosphorylase in plant biosynthesis is still
considered enigmatic, in spite of the 36 years since its discovery in
peas and potatoes by Hanes.
A very satisfying review by E. G. Krebs & J. Preiss follows,
covering Regulatory Mechanisms in Glycogen Metabolism, in
animal tissues and in micro-organisms. The authors distinguish
between potential regulatory mechanisms arising from the
enzymologists' studies in vitro and those which probably take
control in specific physiological situations. Again, allosteric forms
and interconversion of enzymes, e.g. of phosphorylases a and b, are
fully dealt with, and endocrine and genetic aspects are not
overlooked.
The final chapter, some Inborn Errors of Carbohydrate
Metabolism, by D. H. Brown & Barbara I. Brown, is admittedly
highly selective in its choice of recent subjects for review: 'many
other diseases of equal importance, such as galactosemia, have not
been mentioned'. Instead, glycogen storage diseases, errors of
fructose metabolism, and the technically difficult field of giycos-
aminoglycan (acid mucopolysaccharide) metabolism receive full
and valuable new treatment. In the last mentioned, modern
techniques using cultures of fibroblasts from patients are not only
revealing more of these disorders, but also shedding new light on
the catabolic pathways existing for these materials, hitherto very
obscure.
As a member of this Series, 'designed to provide a comprehen-
sive, critical and continuing survey of progress in research', the
present volume lives up to this high standard, and will be warmly
welcomed.
F. Dickens.
15 Hazelhurst Crescent
Findon Valley
Worthing, England.
Fislologia Vegetal
Carlos V i n c e n t e C o r d o b a . P p 440. H. B l u m e ediciones,
M a d r i d . 1976. P a p e r b a c k , 1,000 pesetas. (Text in Spanish.)
This book aims to present the student of biology with an account
of our current knowledge of the physiology of the higher plants. The
author has planned his text around the changes occurring during
the complete life cycle of the plant; thus the early part of the book
deals with the process of germination of the seed and follows the
events of growth and differentiation. The main sections of the book