The peroxisome: A vital organelle

Abstract

Book ReviewslFEBS Letters 381 (1996) 262~66265 readership, and would probably be found excessively detailed and specialized by even final-year undergraduates. Most of the reviews cite 51%100 references, dated up to 1994.The first section, on signal transduction, covers the cellular roles of RAS proteins, casein kinase-2, and G-protein coupled P2 purinoreceptors. The next section contains six reviews on membrane traffic, including the import of proteins into mitochondria and of bacterial toxins into eukaryotic cells, the functions of non-clathrin coat proteins in vesicular traffic and of rab5 in endocytosis, the control of autophagy, and the intracellular traffic of glycosphingolipids. The book's stated emphasis on structure-function relationships is rather less obvious in these two sections than in later ones. Rather surprisingly, vesicle targetting and fusion, currently a very hot topic, is not covered perhaps it was decided that the area is already sufficiently reviewed. There follow four contributions on bioenergetics (H+-translocation by the mitochondrial electron-transport chain, the assembly, control and mechanism of ATP synthase, and structures of mitochondrial transporters). The mechanistic controversies that continue to attend the mechanism and stoichiometry of proton-pumping by the electrontransport chain are explored, but are only touched on for F~F 0.The next sections cover some relatively unfamiliar topics -cyclic ADP-ribose in erythrocytes, Mg 2* homeostasis in the heart and the role of mucins in cell adhesion -as well as signal transduction by growthfactor receptors and by fll-integrin.Three contributions on the structures of membrane proteins (intramembrane helix interactions; annexin V; and porin) are preceded by a brief overview of the topic. Finally, a single review in the section on membranes and disease covers the possible involvement in ageing and disease of damage to mitochondrial DNA.In general the clarity and organization of these reviews are excellent. The figures, mostly line-drawings and monochrome of course, are adequate without being beautiful. The editors have done a fine job in achieving balance, breadth and a consistently high quality of content, although there are minor criticisms: the three-page comparison of 65 amino-acid sequences of transporters, for which readers with average vision will need a magnifying glass, could surely have been omitted; the index adds little to the usefulness of the book; and the basis for assigning topics to particular sections is not obvious -as is the reason for division into sections at all, as with one exception there are no overviews, and there is no inter-referencing between reviews. Never mind: each topic covered fulfils the criteria of intrinsic interest and recent progress, and each review contributes handsomly to a very worthwhile collection.David The peroxisome has been the neglected child in text books of cell biology and there has been a void on informative up-to-date texts dealing with this organelle. The last review-book by B6ck et al...