Rainer Jaenicke - Böcker

These volumes are of interest to bioscientists and to historians alike. Many authors, both as individuals and as scientists, lived and worked in the 'age of extremes' in the so-called 'short 20th century', and yet contributed significantly to the unprecedented development of life sciences in this period. These 'oral histories', set against a backdrop of the Second World War, Holocaust, and Stalinist terror, are thus of interest and relevance to older and younger generations alike. Perhaps the lessons learned from these first-hand accounts may contribute in some way to ensuring that future scientists can enjoy the fascination of science undisturbed by the avoidable tragedy of man-made events.

The contributors to this volume in the Comprehensive Biochemistry series encompass a wide variety of experiences in many different countries and in very different fields of biochemistry. Some have worked close to the laboratory bench throughout their scientific life and are continuing to do so. Others have been closely engaged in organizational matters, both nationally and internationally. All mention incidents in their own career or have observed those in others that will be of interest to future historians who will record and assess the period in which our contributors have lived and worked. It was an extremely exciting time for the life sciences. It was also a period of major and often tragic historical events that deeply affected the life and work of the generation to which our contributors belong.

The Editors invited selected authors who had participated in or observed the explosive development of biochemistry and molecular biology particularly in the second half of this century to record their personal recollections of the times and circumstances in which they did their work. The authors were given a completely free rein with respect to both content and style and the editors have made no attempt to impose any sort of uniformity in the chapters. Each reflects the flavour of the personality of the author.

The contributors to this volume encompass a wide variety of experiences in many different countries and in very different fields of biochemistry. Some have worked close to the laboratory bench throughout their scientific life and are continuing to do so. Others have been closely engaged in organisational matters, both nationally and internationally. All mention incidents in their own career or have observed those in others that will be of interest to future historians who will record and assess the period in which our contributors lived and worked. It was an extremely exciting time for life sciences.

The present volume contains the proceedings of the 23rd Mos- bach Colloquium on "Protein-Protein Interactions". It includes the paper by Prof. S. LIFSON who unfortunately was unable to attend. Discussions were included whenever possible in order to make the complete proceedings accessible to the future reader. The colloquium was generously supported by the firms who are corporate members of the Gesellschaft fur Biologische Chemie. Dr. W. B. GRATZER and Dr. L. JAENICKE, as weIl as some of the invited speakers, were a tremendous help in preparing the program and we wish to thank them for their helpfuI suggestions and advice. Our appreciation extends to Prof. E. AUHAGEN and Prof. H. GIBIAN, and their secretaries, who shared the burden of organizing the colloquium. In addition, we wish to express our gratitude to Springer-Ver- Iag, and especially to Dr. H. MAYER-KAUPP for editoriaI help and for the rapid publication of this volume. We hope that the reader, Iike the audience in the Mosbach market hall, will gain an impression of the present state of protein research and of the way in which intermolecular interactions hold specific implications for the structure and function of proteins.Regensburg and Wurzburg, autumn 1972 R. JAENICKE E. HELMREICH Contents Introduction. R. JAENICKE (Regensburg) 1 Molecular Forees. S. LIFSON (Rehovot) ...3 Structure, Function and Dynamics of a ReguIatory Enzyme: Aspartate Transcarbamylase. H. K. SCHACHMAN (Berkeley) 17 Discussion ...54 ...