16 BIOCHEMICAL EDUCATION AUTUMN 1972

(P.O. Box 3489, Amsterdam, The Netherlands). $13.10 p.a. for personal use, $24.00 p.a. for libraries, etc. General articles of more interest to readers in their role as University teachers rather than as biochemists. Articles in the first issue include "The Efficiency of Universities" by C.F. Carter and "Personality and Attainment; an Application of Psychological Principles to Educational Objectives" by H.J. Eysenck.

8. Education in Chemistry. Published bimonthly by The Royal Institute of Chemistry and The Chemical Society. £2.00p.a. to members, £6.00 p.a. to non-members. (Chem. Soc. Publ. Sales Office, Blackhorse Lane, Letchworth, Herts, SG6 1NH). Book and film reviews, informative articles but surprisingly little on biochem- istry or natural product chemistry. Its aim is the improvement of the teaching of chemistry at all levels.

I FILM REVIEWS ]

P R O T E I N SYNTHESIS

A 16 m m co lour f i lm r u n n i n g for 13 minu te s . D i s t r i bu t ed

commerc ia l ly b y Harper R o w , Publ ishers Inc . , 10 East 53 rd

S t ree t , New York , N.Y. 10022.

This film was made in 1971 by a group of first year Medical Students at the Stanford University Medical Center following a course of lectures by Professor Paul Berg on protein synthesis. The students thought that the dynamic nature of the process of biosyn- thesis might be portrayed in dance and song with people taking the part of molecules. Figures in gay costumes represent ribosomal particles, messenger RNA, initiation and release factors, polypeptide chain and so on. The active figure of GTP releases a puff of smoke at the moment of energy transfer. The originality of the idea is to be applauded and it must have been fun to make on the playing fields, and the participants will undoubtedly remember more easily the sequence of events in biosynthesis. But sad to say, the general impression gained by a group of staff and students in England watching the film was that it would be of little help as a visual aid in understanding the protein biosynthesis process since, unlessone knew the topic well beforehand, it was not easy to interpret the stages of the dance.

B.A. Kilby

THE G E N E T I C CODE

16 m m co lou r fi lm wi th opt ical sound sys tem and

r u n n i n g for 17 minu tes . No. 16 in Documenta Geigy Fi lm

series. App l i ca t ions for hire in the UK to The Geigy F i lm

Library , Kings ton Road , Mer ton Park, L o n d o n , S.W. 19.

Outs ide the UK, those in t e re s t ed are advised to c o n t a c t the

Geigy Sales Organ i sa t ion wi th in t h a t c o u n t r y .

This film is an animated cartoon which explains the roles of DNA, RNA and the biosynthesis of proteins in the replication and expression of genes. The scientific ground covered by the film is elementary. There is no reference to any control processes, nor to initiation and termination of protein synthesis. It thus forms an introduction to the complementary of nucleic acid chains, the poly- merases, ribosomes, mRNA and tRNA.

The entertainment value of the film is very high. The jargon of molecular biology is used as the basis for an imaginative and witty presentation. The highlight is the sequence that deals with tranform- ation in Pneumococcus. Capsulated, virulent cells are presented as little knights in armour. Non-capsulated cells are benign little characters, apparently in the nude. Infection of an animal is rep- resented as the assault on a castle. In the experiment of Griffith (in which heat-killed virulent cells and viable, non-encapsulated cells were used for a mixed infection) a column of the non-capsul- ated cells carry the "knights" in on stretchers.

The film is a certain success with any audience. However it is not certain to the reviewer how the film is best used. It is excellent for showing to people likely to be handling nucleic acids with little formal knowledge of their biological role (such as junior technicians). It would also be suitable for showing in schools. As part of a formal teaching course (for example in an introductory biochemistry course in University) it is probably best shown, for revision after the relevant lectures.

The film unfortunately contains several errors and examples of non-standard terminology. It gives the misleading impression that only one example of amino-acid replacement in an abnormal human haemoglobin has been identified. Further one of the "amino acids" shown in the pool used for activation and protein synthesis is labelled "Thy". As examples of non-standard terminology, the commentary refers to transfer RNA as "transferance RNA or RNA-T" and to messenger RNA as "RNA-M".

J.H. Parish