With today's biochemists gradually drifting further from their chemical roots, Frey and Hegeman's heroic tome on enzyme mechanisms is very welcome

Enzymatic reaction mechanisms 

Perry Frey and Adrian Hegeman 

Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press 2007 | 848pp | ?60.00 (HB) ISBN 9780195122589 

Reviewed by Paul C Engel

With today’s biochemists gradually drifting further from their chemical roots, Frey and Hegeman’s heroic tome on enzyme mechanisms is very welcome. It not only seeks to explain general principles but also offers ’over 100 case studies’.  

The book is commendably thorough, if occasionally idiosyncratic in topic arrangement. Coverage of the types and basis of enzyme catalysis is good, and such methods as chemical modification, site-directed mutagenesis and isotope effects are well explained and referenced.  

For the student market, the authors perhaps concentrate too exclusively on mechanisms. Frequently a sentence on biological context would not go amiss. A pity, say, to discuss glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase without mentioning the crucial bioenergetic importance of the participation of inorganic phosphate. 

By contrast, experienced enzymologists are probably bound to be disappointed, possibly influenced by their own interests. This reviewer was therefore disappointed with the coverage on flavoproteins. Emphasising their extraordinary versatility, the authors fail to exemplify properly, omitting both flavoprotein hydroxylases and flavodoxins. 

This has the makings of a good book, but one hopes that a new edition will be better proofread so that kand K are not confused, Rossmann and ?ngstr?ms misspelt etc. And is it this reader’s eyes or are the stereo diagrams misplaced so that they don’t merge?  


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