BOOK REVIEW

D-AMINO ACIDS: A NEW FRONTIER IN AMINO ACIDS AND PROTEIN RESEARCH –PRACTICAL METHODS AND PROTOCOLS
Edited byR. Konno, H. Brückner, A. D´Aniello, G. Fischer, N. Fujii, H. Homma
ISBN 1-60021-075-9
Nova Science Publishers, Inc., New York, 2007.
Web site: http://www.novapublishers .com
Gyula Pályia, Claudia Zucchia, and Luciano Cagliotib
Department of Chemistry, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia,
Via Campi 183, I-41100 Modena, Italy. E-mail: palyi@unimo.it, zucchi@unimo.itb
Department of Chemistry and Technology of Biologically Active Compounds, University ”La Sapienza”-Roma,Ple. A. Moro, 5, I-00185 Roma, Italy.
E-mail:luciano.caglioti@uniroma1.it
There were some earlier efforts to account for the
Natural sciences evolve in a cyclic manner:scienticic development concerning D-amino acids
research results first lead to a thesis, additional, more(e.g. 1-6) and related enzymology (e.g. 7-10), but
refined measurements often show, that also thethese could not cover the immense amount ofantithesis should be considered. Reasearch dealingmaterial accumulated. The present book is the firstwith natural amino acids is an excellent example ofall-round enterprize in this new sector and at thethis kind of evolution of results and ideas . First, it
same time it demonstrates with its size and broadhas been established that proteins are polymers ofscientific coverage the birth of a new science, that ofamino acids, secondly (to a great surprize of
the D-amino acids.
scientists) it turned out that natural amino acids occur
The book is composed of 629 pages, 68 Chapters
only as one enantiomer (L-), which led to the concept
divided in 6 Sections and contains a useful Subjectof ”biolgical homochirality” (E. Fisher, end 1800Index.
early-1900), third, evolution in analytical methods
Section 1 is contains only one Chapter, theshowed that some living organisms do contain also
brilliant essay of Kenji Soda of Kansai University
the opposite (D-) enantiomers of amino acids. It(Japan), an Author who made several important
turned out later (last two decades) that this is a fairly
discoveries in the last decades on the field of Dgeneral phenomenon and D-amino acids are present
amino acid enzymology.
in many (perhaps all) living organisms. This turning
Section 2 (16 Chapters) is dedicated analyticalpoint was characterized by a decision made bymethods. These are mainly chromatographic
scientists at the 1st Interdisciplinary Symposium ontechniques but Chapters on derivatization or on
Biological Homochicality (1998, Serramazzoni, Italy),
enzymatic analysis are also present. Continuous
to change name, using instead of ”Homochirality”
development in analytical techniques made possible
only ”Chirality” in the name of the future meetings.
the fast development in D-amino acid biochemistry,
Analytical results on the presence of D-amino
thus for scientists who wish to start new research inacids in many living organisms raised the question
this promising field this Section is of utmost
whether these are only ”contaminations” of theseimportance. Detailed description of frontier
species or have definite biological role. The answer
techniques will facilitate the efforts of these scientists.
came step-by-step: first it has been discovered that
Section 2 contains also „hot” topics, as the reports onthese D-enantiomers have a role in defense
N-methyl-D-aspartate and-D-glutamate (NMDA,mechanisms (cell wall, venoms) as agents whichNMDG) analysis.
are ”alien” to other organisms, soon after it has been
Section 3 (16 Chapters) describes the results on
found, that D-amino acids have also other specificfree D-amino acids in animal tissues and on their
biological roles, one could say behind the large
physiological role. This field is in fast evolution andquantities of the L-enantiomers a ”subculture” of thebrought highly interesting results in the past few
D-isomers is present, acting to solve well-definedyears. The reports in this Section represent the mostbiochemical tasks. These results induced research inchallenging aspect of D—amino acids: the formerly
enzymology leading to the discovery of several
unsuspected, well-defined biological roles of these
enzymes producing or metaboilizing D-amino acids.
agents.
Today, we can say, a new field has been evolved:
Section 4 (4 Chapters) discusses a very practicalthe chemistry and biochemistry of D-amino acids.
point of D-amino acid biochemistry: theThe Editors of the present book are leading
determination of these compounds in foods and thepersonalities of the efforts to obtain and interpret thatnutritional aspects, which are of particularenormous amount of work, which had been done toimportance in all foodstoffs, (entirely or partially)
arrive to this paradigm change.
obtained by fermentation methods. The necessity ofD-amino acid analysis in foods was one of the mostaViva Origino 35 (2007) 148 - 149ⓒ 2007 by SSOEL Japan- 148 -Viva Origino 35 (2007) 148 - 149
important driving forces of the development ofsuitable sensitive and specific analytical techniques,
which then found applications in related basicresearch.
Section 5 (10 Chapters) deals with those D-aminoacids in living organisms which are bound intoproteins. This Section covers several highly
important topics, ranging from medical problems ofeye aging to (suspected) connections withAlzheimer´s disease. These studies led also to somefundamental discovesries of general significance, as
for example the role of chiral spaces generated by allL-protein chains in the biosynthesis of D-amino acids.
Section 6 (21 Chapters) is dedicated to enzymes
involved in the biosynthesis and metabolism of Damino acids. The results reported in this section areof fundamental importance for in vitro studies (andalso for preparative work) with D-amino acids as well
as bear importance for basic and applied enzymology.
The presence or absence of such enzymes in livingorganisms can provide a new and independent sourceof information about taxonomic relationships andother fundamental problems of biological evolution.
On the other hand, these results are and can be in thefuture starting points of new biotechnologicalsyntheses.
Summarizing the opinion of the Reviewers: thebook is of landmark importance in biochemistry,anouncing the birth of a new discipline as well as ofgreat practical utility for those scientists who are
active in, or who intend to start with D-amino acidresearch.
A book review must not overlook some aspects
which can be criticized. First of all, an index of all(many) Authors together with their detailed postal
addresses could have been useful, at the present stage
only one Author per Chapter could be addressed
personally and also these only by e-mail. One shouldnote, that some typing errors survived, e.g. ref. 20 on
p. 605 (the title of the book cited is lacking). A
Chapter on D-amino acid containing opioid peptides
could have been added to complete the picture. Theseare, however, remarks of minor significance, whatreally important is that a group of scientists (theEditors and the Authors) made a (first) systematic
attempt to gather all available information about a
new and important field of biochemistry.

8.

Pilone, M. S. D-amino acid oxidase: new findings, Cell. Mol.
Life Sci. 57, 1732-1747, 2000.
9.
Asano, Y. Overview of screening for new microbial catalysts
and their uses in organic synthesis – selection andoptimization of biocatalysts, J. Biotechnol. 94, 65-72, 2000.
10. Fujii, N. Ed., Special issue on D-amino acids, Viva Origino
30, 182-228, 2002.

References
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Meister, A. Biochemistry of the Amino Acids, (2nd Ed.), pp.
113-118, Academic Press, New York, 1965.
Man, E. H. and Bada, J. L. Dietary D-amino acids, Annu.
Rev. Nutr., 7, 209-225, 1987.
Jolles, P. (Ed.) D-Amino Acids in Sequences of Secreted
Peptides of Multicellular Organisms, Birkhäuser Verl., Basel,
1998.
Nagata, Y. D-amino acids in nature, pp. 271-283, in Palyi, G.,
Zucchi, C., Caglioti, L., Eds., Advances in BioChirality,
Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1999.
Friedman, M. Chemistry, nutrition, and microbiology of Damino acids, J. Agric. Food Chem., 47, 3457-3479, 1999.
Fujii, N. D-amino acids in living higher organisms, Origins
Life Evol. Biosph., 32, 103-127, 2002.
Soda, K. and Esaki, N. Pyridoxal enzymes actiong on Damino acids, Pure Appl. Chem. 66, 709-714, 1994.

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