Ergebnisse der Enzymforschung

Abstract

THESE “Ergebnisse” once more contain valuable summaries of selected sections in the continually expanding field of biochemistry included under the term ‘enzymes'. The contributions are as international as ever, but only the minority are from German laboratories: it is an interesting question whether this denotes a falling off in scientific activity there under present political conditions. Prof. Alex. McKenzie of Dundee gives the complete story of asymmetric synthesis, a subject to which he has devoted his energies and which has not been monographed as yet. Very opportune is an account written by Folley and Kay, fifty-four pages in length, of the phosphatases, since the substrates on which they act, the phosphoric esters, hold a key position in many of the processes taking place in living organisms: thus they are concerned in alcoholic fermentation, muscular contraction, bone formation and lactation, whilst the many phospho-organic compounds in living matter are probably all dependent on the activity of phosphatases. At present there is no real understanding of the true role of these enzymes, but much progress can be reported in the accumulation of facts: the summary should help to arouse fresh interest in the subject. It is followed by an article on lecithase, the mixture of enzymes which hydrolyse lecithin in a variety of ways: this is from Milan and is written by Messrs. Belfanti, Contardi and Ercoli. No less than seven different enzymes take part in the simplification of lecithin by a series of steps which thus afford a very interesting biological problem.

Ergebnisse der Enzymforschung

Herausgegeben von F. F. Nord R. Weidenhagen. Band 5. Pp. xi + 378. (Leipzig: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H., 1936.) 30 gold marks.