Main description:

The present volume contains 17 lectures of the 41 st Mosbach Colloquium of the Gesellschaft fiir Biologische Chemie, held from April 5-7, 1990 on the topic "The Molecular Basis of Bacterial Metabolism". From the beginning it was not the intention of the organizers to present a comprehensive account, but rather to select new, exciting progress on sometimes exotic reactions of specifically bacterial, mainly anaerobic metabolism. Members of our society had contributed to this progress to an extent that greatly stimulated the scientific exchange with international colleagues during the days in Mosbach. The editors hope that this stimulation will be conveyed to the readers of the articles, which reach from the biochemistry of methanogenesis, via anaerobic radical reactions, metal biochemistry in hydrogen and nitrogen metabolism, conversions of light - and redox energy, to the regulation of metabolic adaptation, and the attempts to bioengineer novel pathways for the degradation of xenobiotica. We believe that the book represents a highly progressive field of over lapping disciplines, comprising microbiology and molecular genetics, chemistry of biomimetic interest, and biophysics, and that it gives insight into the impact modern technologies have on microbiological research today. The colloquium was generously supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the Paul-Martini-Stiftung, and the Fonds fiir Biologische Chemie. A. Trebst, G. Schafer, and D. Oesterhelt were a great help in preparing the program and we wish to thank them for their advice.

Contents:

Novel Coenzymes of Archaebacteria.- Alternatives to the Calvin Cycle and the Krebs Cycle in Anaerobic Bacteria: Pathways with Carbonylation Chemistry.- Amino Acid Fermentation: Coenzyme B12-Dependent and -Independent Pathways.- Anaerobic Pyruvate Metabolism in Enterobacteria: The Radical Enzyme, Pyruvate Formate-Lyase.- Hydrogen Metabolism: Structure and Function of Hydrogenases.- Three Nitrogen Fixation Systems in Azotobacter vinelandii.- From Nonsense to Sense: UGA Encodes Selenocysteine in Formate Dehydrogenase and Other Selenoproteins.- Genetic Construction of Novel Metabolic Pathways: Degradation of Xenobiotica.- Elements of Quinone-Mediated Redox Catalysis in the Photosynthetic Reaction Center Protein.- Relationship of Cytochrome caa3 from Thermus thermophilus to Other Heme- and Copper-Containing Terminal Oxidases.- The Problem of the Electrochemical Proton Potential in Alkaliphilic Bacteria.- Energy Transductions by an Electrochemical Gradient of Sodium Ions.- Phosphorylative Electron Transport Without Quinone.- Regulation of Gene Expression by Oxygen in Escherichia coli.- Regulation of Gene Expression by Oxygen: Phototrophic Bacteria.- Phosphorus Assimilation and Its Control of Gene Expression in Escherichia coli.- Regulation of Gene Expression by Iron.