TIBS - November 1976 268

as substrates, the frequency of trinucleo- tide sequences in the polymer could be cal- culated and their correspondence to the amino acid sequence in polypeptides, synthesized by their direction, deduced.

Synthesis of artificial RNAs by polynuc- leotide phosphorylase generated an in- terest in how a natural RNA is assembled. A series of studies on the mechanism of replication of RNA bacteriophages deli- neated stages in copying of the viral strand and copying of the copy to produce true replicas of the original viral chromosome.

Investigation of mechanisms of protein synthesis stemmed naturally from his work on the genetic expression of RNA, both as artificial messenger and viral chromo- some. Concern with the factors that influ- ence and direct initiation of the polypeptide chain now includes the development of the brine shrimp (Artemia salina) from its dormant state. Official retirement two years ago meant only mov- ing his laboratory from New York to the Roche Institute in nearby Nutley, New Jersey from which novel scenes of bio- chemistry keep unfolding under his dir- ection.

To have done so much, required the par- ticipation of a large cast of actors. These were post-doctoral fellows, and a few graduate students, whom he trained and guided in the art of resolving and reconsti- tuting the enzymatic components of the cellular machine. In the 1940s these inclu- ded Mehler, Kornberg, Grisolia, Blan- chard, Veiga Salles, Korkes and Stern.

In the 1950s they were Kaufman, Sha- piro, Gunsalus, Grafflin, Harary, Banfi, de1 Campillo, Vishniac, Strecker, Korey, Zelitch, Coon, Rose, Grunberg-Manago, Alivisatos, Flavin, Jakoby, Brummond, Raw, Castro-Mendoza, Tietz, Maley, Lengyel, Beljanski, Beck, Mii and Staehelin.

In the 1960s and up to 1974, his associa- tes included Mazumder, Kaziro, Leone, Koivusalo, Elorriaga, Chen, Sasakawa, Hass, Grossman, Focesi, Cannata, Krakow, Basilio, Burma, Kroger, Weill, Weissmann, Simon, Borst, Burdon, Bil- leter, Viiiuela, Algranati, Feix, Garwes, Speyer, Wahba, Gardner, R. S. Miller, Rendi, Szer, Salas, M.A. Smith, Stanley, Hille, Last, M. J. Miller, Iwasaki, Sabol, Zasloff, Chae, A. Sillero, M.A.G. Sillero, Lee-Huang, McCroskey, Klein, Meier, C. Nombela, Sierra, N. A. Nombela, Merrick and W. F. Anderson.

ARTHUR KORNBERG

A. Kornberg is Professor of Biochemistry of Stanford University Medical School, Stanford, Calrfornia. U.S.A. Sever0 Ochoa and Arthur Kornberg received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1959 for their discovery of the biological synthesis of ribo- nucleic and deoxyribonucleic acids.

Kidney function ~ Biochemical Aspects of Renal

Function, Current Problems in Clinical Biochemistry, Vol. 4 edited by S. Angielski and U.C. Dubach, published by Hans Haber, Bern, Stuttgart, Vienna, 1975. DM46.- (approx. !$19.-) (242 pages)

This papaerback reproduces a series of communications presented at a conference held in Poland in 1973. Although there is reference in the introduction to ‘debates’ the book contains no record of any general discussion of the papers. This is unfortu- nate since the reader is forced to make his own judgements without the help of any comments from the distinguished scientists present at the meeting.

The opening address by Karl Ullrich deals with micropuncture studies on the involvement of sodium in the transtubular movement of sugars and amino-acids and is of the high standard to be expected from the speaker. There follow a series of papers grouped under five headings which broadly cover (1) the localization of enzymic activities within the nephron, (2) adaptation to acid-base disturbances, (3) energy metabolism of the whole kidney, (4) renal pharmacology, and (5) endocrine relations of the kidney both as a gland and as a target.

The papers vary greatly in length and in general interest and only an arbitrary and selected sample (about 30”,, of the total) will be individually mentioned here. That by D.P. Simpson of Wisconsin makes a thought-provoking contribution to the vexed question of the biochemical basis of the increased output of ammonia in acidosis. Two papers by Polish authors (who include one of the editors, S. Angielski) describe in some detail the effects of maleate poisoning considered as a model for the Fanconi syndrome which apparently can also be produced by expo- sure to cadmium as reported by Gonick and his colleagues in the succeeding paper. E. Fromter is responsible for a useful account of the electrogenic properties of the rat proximal tubule; he includes results of experiments on the effect of locally applied drugs which cast some doubt on the validity of the common practice of employing the frog skin or toad bladder as surrogates for the tubular epithelia. Frog skin also comes in for attention from other contributors, notably Knapowski and Adam who concentrate on the seaso- nal vagaries of that convenient prepa- ration. A forthright paper from K. Sato is devoted to the forces implicated in proxi- mal fluid reabsorption and leads to the conclusion that extraluminal rather than

intraluminal hydrostatic pressure is the more significant.

The isolated perfused kidney is the sub- ject of three papers. One from an Anglo- American consortium (Ross, Epstein and Leaf), one from a German group (Schurek, Aulbert and Ebel) and one of uncertain provenance since the authors’ names do not appear in the list of participants. All are principally but not exclusively con- cerned with the energizing of sodium transport. Interposed between these and the final group of papers is a cautionary tale by F. Holzer of Vienna about the propagation oferrors in calculations based on more than one measured variable; this contains a number of useful formulae but the text is marred by numerous linguistic aberrations which, though less conspi- cuous, are not infrequent elsewhere in the book. The concluding endocrine section begins with a comprehensive review by F. Kokot of the established and putative hor- monal substances elaborated by the kid- ney. This is followed by papers in which the effects of aldosterone, parathyroid hormone and the elusive natriuretic factor are discussed.

The book is thus very much a medley with many disparate elements in its domain. There will probably be few readers who will be engrossed by the whole of it but many to whom some parts will appeal; however, as a package, it can har- dly be described as a bargain at around &IO.-.

R.V. COXON

R. V. Coxon is Reader in Physiology ut rhe Universiry, of Oxford, O.xford, U.K.

Updated masterpiece Separation Methods in Biochemistry, 2nd edition by C. J. 0. R. Morris and P. Morris, publis- hed by Pitman Publishing Ltd, London, 1976. E32.50 (approx. $60.-) (1045pages)

The first edition of this book appeared in 1964 and is so well known in biochemical circles that this review can be limited to changes and additions. However, so much has happened in 12 years that the authors’ work has not been much less than writing an entirely new book. On the other hand, obsolete material has also been excluded, so the second edition is only 158 pages bigger than the first.

As in the first edition, about two-thirds of the space is devoted to chromatographic methods and the closely related counter- current distribution method. Electrophor- esis takes 20, sedimentation 2, membrane methods 4, differential solubility methods 2.5, and general discussions 3% of the

TIBS - November I976 269

space. The subject index has been subdivi- ded into one general part and one part for separated substances. A list of manufac- turers and suppliers of materials and apparatus with complete addresses is included.

The chromatographic chapters are headed Theory, Experimental Techniques; Adsorption, Ion Exchange, Partition, Molecular Sieve, Gas, and Thin-layer Chromatography, most of them being sub- divided into theoretical aspects, practical aspects, and applications. The chapters on molecular sieve and thin-layer chromato- graphy are new, and in the chapter on adsorption chromatography there is a 10 page new section on affinity chromato- graphy. All chapters are adequately upda- ted with numerous references to literature from the last 12 years. In the chapter on ion exchange chromatography there is new material about liquid, dipolar, ligand- exchange, and ion retardation chromato- graphy.

In the chapter on counter-current distri- bution important new material has been added from recent research of the group round Albertson regarding electrochemi- cal extensions in the method with two water-rich phases.

Chapters 12 and 13 are devoted to theo- retical aspects and experimental techni- ques of electrophoresis. Probably it would have been better to have a main division into the various forms of electro- phoresis with theoretical and experimental subheadings as in the chromatographic chapters.

These two chapters contain much new material. The polyacrylamide gel was rtreated in the first edition, but the vast development in zonal gel electrophoresis that has taken place after 1964 is reviewed in detail in the new edition, methods for estimating molecular size by combined molecular sieving and electrophoresis being included. The SDS electrophoretic technique was invented in 1967, the pore gradient method in 1965.

Isoelectric focusing was only just mentioned in the first edition; in the second this method is well reviewed in 25 pages. The equation for the resolving power is not included, but a number of arguments in favour of a shallow pH course are given. The authors have, how- ever, missed Talbot’s further development of Valmet’s zone convection technique.

Displacement electrophoresis is descri- bed in about 8 pages, and 4 pages are devo- ted to free solution electrophoresis in a rotating tube. Chapter 14 on sedimenta- tion methods is very short since ultracen- trifugal analysis is excluded from the treatment. Instead emphasis is placed on the new zonal centrifugal techniques in

density gradients, useful for large scale separations. On the whole, the authors pay very much attention to preparative aspects and zone capacity problems. Three short chapters on membrane methods, differen- tial solubility methods, and choice of methods complete the book.

The authors have switched from calories to joules in Table 6.1. The great majority of equations can be used with any.consis- tent system of units, but in cases where this is not true, the mathematical presentation suffers from a deficient dimensional rigour. For example, in Eq. 12.13 for the DebyeeHtickel parameter, the factor 47r shows that the equation has been taken from a source using unrationalized electrostatic equations, and the factor 1000 shows that the concentration is bound to the litre as volume unit, whereas other quantities shall have CGS units. In equa- tions containing numerical factors, such as Wilke-Chang’s equation 12.6, the vari- ables are necessarily bound to a special system of units, but if this is not SI and no information is given, the young genera- tion educated only with SI cannot use the equation. It is not mentioned that Eqs 12.37a and 12.39a-b for Kohlrausch’s regulating function and the conductivity require equivalent concentrations, and in the latter the Faraday constant is also missing. Eq. 13.1 must be in error because the exponent is not dimensionless, and in Eq. 14.8 something is wrong because the dimension to the left is mass, to the right mass/length.

This is the only weakness of the book that I have found. The misprints are very few (e.g. Eichorn instead of Eichhorn; Stensson instead of Svensson), and except a misnumbering on p. 470 everything with the literature references is in very good order.

The order of magnitude of the abthors’ job is perhaps best illustrated by the num- ber of references (25 15) and authors (3 180) in the index. Usually books covering such a wide subject range have an editor and one author for each chapter; it is no less than a masterpiece that these authors have now completed two books with an enor- mous scientific coverage. The second edition is as necessary to every biochemical laboratory as the first edition was, and the authors are to be congratulated on their eminent work.

HARRY RILBE

H. Rilbe is Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Chalmers Institute of Technology and University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Plasma proteins Plasma Protein Turnover edited b_y R. Bianchi, G. Mariani und A. S. McFurlane, published by MacMillan Press Ltd., London and Basingstoke, 1976. E17.50 (appros. $34.-j 1451 pages)

This book gives a detailed account of the Proceedings of the 6th meeting of the Plasma Protein Group which was held in Torino (Italy) in May 1974. The 34 contri- butions by the 33 authors are divided into seven parts each containing 4 to 6 factual presentations followed by a discussion.

Entitled ‘Tracer Preparations’ part 1 discusses some of the common techniques of plasma protein isolation (preparative isoelectric focusing, simultaneous gel filt- ration and electrophoresis and preparative agarose gel electrophoresis), labelling of polypeptide hormones of high specific activity and the application of tracer tech- niques to the study of the IgG turnover in patients with ulcerative colitis and Chrohn’s disease.

Part 2 is devoted to the analysis of ‘Kinetic Models’ and discusses the meth- ods for studying albumin distribution from short-term tracer studies, and for measuring plasma protein turnover by using arginine-6-14C. An analysis of the deconvolution technique is also presented as well as the utilization of protein turn- over studies as a test for liver function. The methodological papers in sections 1 and 2 are followed by a series of presentations on the regulation of synthesis and catabo- lism of plasma proteins (part 3). Of par- ticular interest are the discussions on the fate of asialoprotein, with particular refer- ence to ceruloplasmin, orosomucoid and transferrins. The analysis of nutritional factors regulating plasma protein metabo- lism is presented in part 4. Particular attention is given to disease states such as malnutrition, uremic state and thrombosis with reference to albumin, immunoglobu- lin and clotting factors.

Four papers on the role of plasma pro- teins in hormonal transport with particu- lar reference to the steroid hormone and thyroxine appear in part 5. A brief account is also given on the pro-insulin-insulin system and the C-peptide. Part 6 discusses

1 the pathophysiology of plasma proteins and, in particular, the use of albumin transcapillary escape as an approach to the study of microvascular physiology. There is also a discussion on the catabolism of albumin in uremia and a study of plasma lipoprotein synthesis in nephrotic syndrome and during plasmapheresis.

Part 7 addresses itself to the acute phase plasma proteins, namely those proteins whose plasma concentration is influenced