Bioelectrochemistry and Bioenergetics, 11 (1983) 257 260 A section of J. Electroanal. Chem., and constituting Vol. 156 (1983) Elsevier Sequoia S.A., Lausanne - Printed in The Netherlands

Book reviews

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Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology. Vol. 47: Structures of DNA. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1983, xxxvi + 1234 pp., ca. 400 figs., US$140.00 (+ 20 % outside U.S.A.).

From its chapters, Vol. 47 looks like a comprehensive monograph on DNA, its interactions and reactions with enzymes, written by 300 authors 30 years after the discovery of the double helix.

Introduction: Right-handed and left-handed DNA (A. Rich). (1) The handedness of DNA. (2) Conformational analysis. (3) Chemically modified DNA. (4) Chemical synthesis of DNA. (5) DNA-Protein interactions. (6) DNA within nucleosomes. (7) DNA methylation. (8) DNA replication. (9) Gyrases and topisomerases. (10) Re- combining and mutating DNA. (11) Transcription of DNA and its regulation. (12) The organization of genes along DNA. (13) Repetitive DNA and pseudogenes. (14) Origins of replication, centromeres and telomeres. (15) Summary: structures of DNA (A. Klug). Everyone of the topics is reviewed in the introduction over at least the past ten years and so most of the important literature is cited.

All aspects of B ~ Z transition (and to other left-handed forms) and their recognition by antibodies are discussed in the first chapter, in the introduction, and in the summary, starting with the observation of F. Pohl, (1970/72). Chapters 2 and 3 deal mainly with the kinetics of other conformational transitions (followed by n.m.r.) and the interaction with drugs (actinomycin, netropsin). Fast heterogeneous techniques of oligonucleotide synthesis, especially of gene-control regions, are de- scribed in (4). In (5) the complex models of CAP and Cro-repressor protein, bacteriophage ~ repressor, lac repressor and RNA polymerase are analyzed with regard to their recognition principles, the bending and unwinding of the DNA operator.

(6) A. Klug et al. stress their nucleosome model with external position of H 1. However, he ignores the ZINKE-model with the H 1, head inside the core, whereas Mirzabekow et al. also show their chromatin model. Comparison with SV40 chro- matin and its splitting patterns was evaluated by A. Varshavsky et al. and S. Elgin et al. For histone genes of Drosophila injected into Xenopus oocytes G. Gargiulo et al. assembled a special chromatin type.

(7) DNA-methylation--essential for gene regulation (H. Cedar et al.)--is now tested in many laboratories, also with human chromosomes (L. Shapiro and T. Mohandas).

(8) Bacteriophages (T 4, T 7, X, q~X174) were the targets for intensive studies of replication leading to modified pathways (B. Alberts; C. Fuller; A. Kornberg; D. Brown. The complete sequence of the Minute Virus of mice (2 X 10 6 Daltons & 5080 bases) has been determined by C. Astel.

0302-4598/83/$03.00 © 1983 Elsevier Sequoia S.A.

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Results of the fascinating trend of sterical models of enzyme reactions with supercoiled DNA are presented in (9) and (10). A broad field nowadays is transcrip- tion (11) and gene structure (12) and the organization of ribonucleoproteins (25 papers), which demonstrates that: DNA structure is no longer a child's game, and those who play with it must be both experienced and of the courage to seek elegance among the almost overwhelming perturbations of its basic double-helical configuration (J.D. Watson). The hormonal control of the protein synthesis turns out to be a fruitful system of differential gene expression in higher eukaryotes (D. Kurtz et al.), including human DNA (repetitive sequences major histocompatibility complex).

A phylogenetic analysis from primeval message (archaebacteria) to present-day gene leads to interesting relations between many different organisms (J. Shepherd) including (13) the distribution of repeats in the genome (G. Georgiev et at.). These proceedings finish with structural models of centromers and telomers of yeast (K. Bloom et al., J. Szostak), and, last but not least, with Klugs's review of the new techniques: --fluorescence video-microscopy of DNA movement in solution (Yanagida); --diagonal electrophoresis (Cantor); and

--improved crystallographic methods (crystallized DNA-Protein); and the landmarks of the symposium, some of them mentioned above. He concluded: DNA does marvellous things in vivo and how little do we yet understand its mechanics.

H. BERG Institute of Microbiology

Academy of Sciences of the G.D.R. Jena

Molecular Biology, Biochemistry and Biophysics. G.F. Springer and H.G. Wittmann (Editors). Vol. 35: Light Reaction Path of Photosynthesis. F.K. Fong (Editor). Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 1982, xi + 342 pp., DM 138.00, US$55.20.

This monograph describes in eight chapters the photosynthetic reaction pattern, from the absorption of light to carbon fixation. Chapter 1 (by F.K. Fong) gives a short description of the primary photochemical reaction and a definition of photo- potential, photooverpotential and free energy change for the preservation of light energy in chemical free energy. Chapter 2 (by H. Scheer) is focussed on the antennae system of cyanobacteria, red algae and cryptophytan algae. In these species phycobiliproteins attached to the membrane absorb light and channel light energy to the reaction centers. The main emphasis lies on the chromophore structure and its interaction with the protein. In Chapter 3 (by G.S. Beddard and R.J. Cogdall) the antennae system in photosynthetic bacteria and higher plants is described, with emphasis on the kinetics of energy transfer measured by fluorescence. In Chapter 4 (by A.J. Hoff) structural properties of the photosynthetic reaction centers of bacteria