Biochemistry and molecular biology (3rd ed.): Elliott, W. H., and Elliott, Daphne C. (2005)

Elliott, W. H., and Elliott, Daphne C., Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005, xxxiii + 582 pp., ISBN 0-19-927199-2, $85.00 (paperback). This is a text that is “designed for undergraduates in science and health-related courses” and is written as a first text on the subjects. It is unusual, in my experience, in being titled both “Biochemistry” and “Molecular Biology” as most of the texts will be titled one or the other, even though they will have considerable cross-over material. The organization is in five parts, with appropriate chapters under each: 1) basic concepts of life, 2) structure and function of proteins and membranes, 3) metabolism, 4) information storage and utilization, and 5) the immune system, cell cycle, apoptosis, and cancer. As a beginning text it omits and simplifies a good deal of material that would be found in a more comprehensive book but that, according to the authors, is not much taught anyway. Thus, most of amino acid metabolism is missing (the chapter is only 17 pages long), and cholesterol and steroid biosynthesis and metabolism are presented in the sketchiest detail. The organization is rather unusual in that there is an extraordinary amount of repetition “ … to enable instructors to present topics in any desired order…. ” Thus one finds the same figures and diagrams in many different chapters, repeated in the same chapter, and even in one case the same equation is on facing pages. Aspects of carbohydrate metabolism are presented in five different chapters (“Digestion,” “Glucose Traffic in the Body,” “Energy Release,” “Glycolysis,” and “Gluconeogenesis”), with metabolic regulation and control of carbohydrate and fat metabolism presented in one massive and overwhelming chapter on metabolic regulation. Similar issues arise in the presentation of other aspects of metabolism. The text has a decidedly biological bent, with some very detailed cell and developmental biology (“Cell and Viruses,” Chapter 2) and in Part 5 with chapters on “The Immune System” and “Cell-Cycle Control, Apoptosis and Cancer.” There are also many references to clinical conditions, but in many cases the biochemistry behind them is omitted because the fundamental part of the biochemistry is not presented. For example, Zellweger's Syndrome is mentioned with the associated high levels of long-chain fatty acids and defective peroxisome assembly, but because there is no discussion of phospholipid plasmalogens or glycerylethers the known enzyme defect in glycerylether formation goes uncited. The molecular biological aspects represent the strength of the text. They are presented clearly, with great detail and with excellent schematics and diagrams to clarify the discussion. However, one will look in vain for enzyme mechanisms (chymotrypsin only in a very simplified form), anything beyond the simplest enzyme kinetics, or much in the way of protein structure, so that the chemical aspects of biochemistry are not present. The text also reads as if it were simply a transcript of the authors' lectures as there are many of the circumlocutions that one uses in lecturing but not normally found in written English. Thus, there are many instances of the phrases: “ … we have described …,” “It would be useful for you to refresh your memory of …,” “We will first deal with …,” etc. If the text were cleaned up a bit, there would be much more room for many of the things that are missing without appreciably lengthening the text. Every text has its strengths and weaknesses. This one is strong on the biology and weak on the chemistry, but my main concern is the potential interference between the text and an instructor who might be using it. Several times the authors justify minimizing coverage of certain material by stating that most biochemists don't carry around such details (e.g. of metabolism) in their heads. That may be true, but I could say the same thing about some of the material that is presented here in great detail. It should be up to the instructor to inform the students what they are expected to learn for a course; the text should not make that judgment.