Extensive and up-to-date review of key metabolic processes in bacteria and archaea and how metabolism is regulated under various conditions.

Metabolic engineering is a rapidly evolving field that is being applied for the optimization of many different industrial processes. In this issue of Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology, developments in different areas of metabolic engineering are reviewed. The contributions discuss the application of metabolic engineering in the improvement of yield and productivity - illustrated by amino acid production and the production of novel compounds - in the production of polyketides and extension of the substrate range - and in the engineering of S. cerevisiae for xylose metabolism, and the improvement of a complex biotransformation process.

Recent determination of genome sequences for a wide range of bacteria has made in-depth knowledge of prokaryotic metabolic function essential in order to give biochemical, physiological, and ecological meaning to the genomic information. Clearly describing the important metabolic processes that occur in prokaryotes under different conditions and in different environments, this advanced text provides an overview of the key cellular processes that determine bacterial roles in the environment, biotechnology, and human health. Prokaryotic structure is described as well as the means by which nutrients are transported into cells across membranes. Glucose metabolism through glycolysis and the TCA cycle are discussed, as well as other trophic variations found in prokaryotes, including the use of organic compounds, anaerobic fermentation, anaerobic respiratory processes, and photosynthesis. The regulation of metabolism through control of gene expression and control of the activity of enzymes is also covered, as well as survival mechanisms used under starvation conditions.

Functional Metabolism of Cells is the first comprehensive survey of metabolism, offering an in-depth examination of metabolism and regulation of carbohydrates, lipids, and amino acids. It provides a basic background on metabolic regulation and adaptation as well as the chemical logic of metabolism, and covers the interrelationship of metabolism to life processes of the whole organism. The book lays out a structured approach to the metabolic basis of disease, including discussion of the normal pathways of metabolism, altered pathways leading to disease, and use of molecular genetics in diagnosis and treatment of disease. It also takes a unique comparative approach in which human metabolism is a reference for metabolism in microorganisms and plant design, and presents novel coverage of development and aging, and human health and animal adaptation. The final chapter reviews the past and future promise of new genetic approaches to treatment and bioinformatics. This, the most exhaustive treatment of metabolism currently available, is a useful text for advanced undergraduates and graduates in biochemistry, cell/molecular biology, and biomedicine, as well as biochemistry instructors and investigators in related fields.

There is no doubt that nowadays, biology benefits greatly from mathematics. In particular, cellular biology is, besides population dynamics, a field where tech niques of mathematical modeling are widely used. This is reflected by the large number of journal articles and congress proceedings published every year on the dynamics of complex cellular processes. This applies, among others, to metabolic control analysis, where the number of articles on theoretical fundamentals and experimental applications has increased for about 15 years. Surprisingly, mono graphs and textbooks dealing with the modeling of metabolic systems are still exceptionally rare. We think that now time is ripe to fill this gap. This monograph covers various aspects of the mathematical description of enzymatic systems, such as stoichiometric analysis, enzyme kinetics, dynamical simulation, metabolic control analysis, and evolutionary optimization. We believe that, at present, these are the main approaches by which metabolic systems can be analyzed in mathematical terms. Although stoichiometric analysis and enzyme kinetics are classical fields tracing back to the beginning of our century, there are intriguing recent developments such as detection of elementary biochemical syn thesis routes and rate laws for the situation of metabolic channeling, which we have considered worth being included. Evolutionary optimization of metabolic systems is a rather new field with promising prospects. Its goal is to elucidate the structure and functions of these systems from an evolutionary viewpoint.

There is a renewed interest in the fundamentals of energy metabolism, yet most people base their understanding on the views of generalists expressed in elementary textbooks. New techniques that enable analysis of thousands of metabolites provide useful data, but do not themselves substitute for an understanding of the fundamentals of metabolism. While classical ideas of metabolism are also valuable, some earlier ideas have not withstood further investigation. This book presents a personal philosophy but rests on what is broadly accepted by metabolic biochemists over the past few decades.