Evolution and Human Behavior

The large number and variable quality of recent research papers in the field of protein biosynthesis often has made it difficult for readers to discern clearly the experimental basis (or lack thereof) of the interpretation put on the results that are presented. A new series of volumes has been initiated, therefore, to provide critical discussions of the methods used in this active area of biochemistry. In Chapter 1, the editors have provided a sound and clear introduction to the present status of the problem of protein biosynthesis. Chapter 2 (by A. von der Decken) is a valuable discussion of the methodological problems in the study of protein synthesis in mammalian systems, and Chapter 3 (by J. R. Sargent) summarizes thoroughly the techniques and results in experiments on the biosynthesis of specific proteins (hemoglobin, serum albumin, etc.) in animal tissues. Chapter 4 (by M. S. Bretscher and 0. W. Jones) provides an excellent discussion of the experimental basis of the genetic code. The methodological aspects of work with ribopolynucleotides (prepared with polynucleotide phosphorylase or derived from such products by partial enzymic hydrolysis) are well summarized; the recent chemical and enzymic methods used by Khorana's group for the synthesis of copolymers with defined repeating sequence are not described, however. Chapter 5 (by K. S. Kirby) is an excellent account of the techniques used in the isolation of ribonucleic acids. The volume concludes with a useful appendix (prepared by the editors) containing miscellaneous techniques widely employed in experiments on protein biosynthesis, and with a serviceable index. The proliferation of expensive multi-volume series on biochemical topics has been widely deplored, and some may question the need for this recent addition to the list. If the contents of the first volume are an index of the quality of succeeding ones, however, the series will be an essential component of every biochemical library, and will amply fulfill the hope of the editors to help "those readers who are not able to learn the techniques at first hand and who may welcome some general guidance to the literature."