This page contains a review of New Beer in an Old Bottle: Eduard Buchner and the Growth of Biochemical Knowledge by William B. Jakoby published in Analytical Biochemistry 266, 165 (1999)
This short volume celebrates the hundredth anniversary of Buchner’s discovery of cell-free fermentation and, by extension, cloture of the arguments for vitalism. Buchner’s paper, reporting utilization of sugar by an extract of ground yeast, is presented in its original form and in both Spanish and English translation. There follows a series of articles placing the discovery of the first system of soluble enzymes in historical context. Particularly effective is a 50-page review by Herbert Friedmann on the period that includes the chemical synthesis of urea the the debate between Pasteur (the organism is responsible) and the chemists of the day, Berthelot (catalysis) and Liebig (chemical vibrations transmitted from yeast to sugar). As Friedmann and several others develop it, here is the beginning of enzymology in its several aspects. The editor, for example, presents a clever and informative approach to the thermodynamics of the fermentation, and there is brief reference to the beginnings of enzyme kinetics (K. Laidler), work with the purified enzymes (R. Scopes), various aspects of regulation and control (M. L. Cárdenas, M. Cascante, and E. Martí), evolution of metabolic pathways (J. Peretó et al.), and a number of other subjects ranging from anaerobic energy metabolism to pharmacological manipulation of metabolism. A decade ago, I would not be sure that one needed the contribution of Arthur Kornberg in which he points out the usefulness of enzymological approaches, another aspect of the late Efraim Racker’s dictum not to waste clean thinking on dirty enzymes; today, this article may again be appropriate.
William B. Jakoby
National Institutes of Health
Article ID abio.1998.2911