at around 105% and psychrophi!cs at -I YC; halophites in 20% (w/v) salt; acidopt9ilcs at pH I and alkatiphi!es at pH 11.5: deep-sea organisms at hydrostatic pressure of 1000 atmospheres and coping with anaerobic conditions at very lcw or _ near thermal vcntx - very 19igl9 temperatures; organisms that resist or cmnsform toxic compounds i99cluding organic and inorginic hrnvy metal and 99wtalloid co999pounds sucl9 as Icnd, cadmium, copper, mcrcuiy, arsenic or uranium; l~cinococcaceac that are resistant to radiation and dcssication; and the great ra99gc of anaerobic organisms that cany out f~xnrntations {including I9:cthanogencsis), anaerobic rqiraticin ar9d photosynthesis. Thcrc is x9 enormous vairty of exlrcmnphilic microorganisms: bacteria (‘cubactcria’. including so99;c’ cyanobactcria), archxa (‘archaebnctcria’ or. as this book has it, ‘archacobactcria‘). and cucaryn (especially algae and yeasts).

1~. A. Hcrbcrt and R. J. Stnrp have edited a most cscellrnt and compnthcnsivc set of articles dealing with all the n9ajor types of cstremophilic microor~nisna. The chapem, by all inttxnauonal (although prcdomina9ltly British) set of aul-hors, deal w.th each oft-he 999ajor en zironmental ,:onditic~ns in turn. and 1910st of thcti9 consider the environmental rolrc of the organisms involved, touch on their tasononly, nnd atw999pt to esplain the physiological at:.! biochemic31 basis oftl9c various adaptations. Much work remains to bc done 3t the molecular level, however, bcforcl we 1~x9 adequately understand features such as protein ttxwnostabil, ty or the cnzymc- protective e&cts of con9patible solutes and describe t!wir molecular biology (in sornc casts fairly advanced but in others very rudimentary). in order to discuss thrir past, prewnt and posiiblc future biotechnological applications.

The book i:; well produced. it has good iIllustrations and useful indicts, and it iias been carefully edited so that thrrc is little ur9ncccssq rep&ion amongst chapters and the: T.X wry f&y 19linor errors. My only 999isgiving is that they - or thr publishers - hwc fallen prey to tjsi9ion cw fad and have used a title which does not adcquatcly represent the wide

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coverage of most of the chapters and so is in danger of unnecessarily restricting the range of rcndcrs 490 will - or should - be nttracccd either to browcc through the book or to use it as a source of infomlation and rcfcrcnccs.

That brings us to the question of what is - or may be - the rolr of cxtrcmophi:cs in biotechnology. The answer is that maw of thct99 cls~~ly hwc been (and &ill arc) of great biotect9nological signiticancc. The halophilic S@tlinn was at9 early take-aw9y food, catrn by the Aztecs and now by Olympic athletes and xtronauts. Other halopl9i!rs arc mvolvcd in the production of sauerkraut arid soy Sauce, while still orhcrs cause food ~poilagc. Detergent snqmcs arc produced by alkatiphiles. Anaerobes are important in waste &.posal. And where would rnoleculrr biologists bc without 7’q polymcrase? ProcL-sscs involving cstrcmophilcs that arc under dcvc!opmcnt or discussion range from metal rccovcry and the production of now1 antibiotics and biodcbTadabic plastics, through the production of bulk che.nicals and high- and low-temperature biotransfonnations, to tumour diagnosis, ice-nucleation in crop protection and dosinrctecn for sterilizing radiation. However, it i< a pity that, on sot99e occziona. enthusiasts hauc made extravagant claims fix tl9e biotechnological

potential of cstrcmophil :s. To take one simple csamplc, it i: now clor that thcmmphilicity of cazymes is not necessarily accompa! ;icd by correspondingly high car.Ilytic raws. Ovcnelling may well bc councerproductwc in the long term, but it is diabmostic .of the current sad need to justify a11 rcsearrh in terms of immcdiatc apphcability. Estrcmophilcs arc among the most sstraordinaty and fascinating organisms in rhc world: surely that is sufhcicnt justification for studying them? Ox of the great mcrirs of this book is that possible future biotcchnological applications are dealt with radona!ly and criticallv. It is hcxtcning to conc!udc that the overall mcwgc is that some ofthc~ nrganisn~~ will inderd tind practicrt qpti, ations, and some ofthctc applications will undoubwdly become apparent only a&r a gcat deal 999orc’ f~nrdamcntal rcscarch has been done.

On thr wl;~:,!:, the editors haw succ~&d admirably in their aim of p:oducrng a volurnc ‘aimed primarily* at established rcscarch workcn in univcrsitics, recranh institutions and industry’, and in providing ‘a stirnuLating introduction to the subject for scoior undrrgraduatcs and pos:gradnatcs’.

Charles A. Fewson Depament of Biochemistry,

University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK 612 SQQ.

This bcok pnxnts the procccdizqs of thr UWIsracl Rcscarch Con&rcncc in ‘Advances in App!icd 13i~tcchnolog~ hdd in 19?):1. What is particularly int_resting about the procrcdi99F is nc t so much the quahty ofthc scirncc contained in them (as ,A1 of thr more-witnulatin~ papers ha*;e slrcady bcrn published in variour journals), but the insight rhx the

procwding give to the ,\lilio~‘s view of biorcchnology. Unlike most hiot~chnolog confcrcncc~ in xrhich the sponsors arc‘ usually intercstcd companicr, the sponson of this paticular contircncc arc the US Annv. &VT. Air Force. and the Is&i Minist,m. ofl~~~&ncc. In addition. nearly -t&% cf the pxticipanh wcrt’ iron9 999ilitxy age:enciru. So how dottc this book

_I __.. ___-- -_--I_.- - TL5?SH SEPTEh4EEpI 1992 PC% .! 01

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differ horn run-of-the-mill bioccchnoloby confcrrnce proceedings, which typically contain sections on fermentation, gene cloning and expression, and protein engineermg (usually in that order)? This meeting has sessions on biological detectors, molecular biology in the field, biological decontamination and material biotechnology (i.e. biosensors and protein engineering). From the contents of this book, it seems that the matters that are of great military interest (if indeed this is what the contents of the proceed@ really reflects) are primarily in the areas of biological detectors.

Presentations are made on alternatives to radioimmunoaxtys and the use of intact luminous bacteria to measure toxicity. One practical aspect of this, one suspects, is the use of these systems to detect poisonous chemicals and other agents of chemical and biological wa&c. Consistent with this view is a paper on the cloning of the human cholinerterase gene, the product of which is a well-known site of action for various nerve gases. The paper by Soreq et 111. describes the sensitivity of difxcnt individuals to organo-phosphorus poisons (used as insecticides). An interc-ting csample of this work was the discovery that in rhe ‘H. family’ (studied by Prody et oI.), one brother was taken into intensive care following parathion spraying in a corn field while, in an unrelated incident, his sister suffered from prolonged apnea following anazsthetic adm%istration during surgery. This variation i- the sensitivity of individuals to environmental agents is a theme reiterated by L. Grossman when he suggests that serious consideration has to be given to populations or groups of people who may be sensitive to particular ‘unknown’ cnvironmmtil agents. Not only is there obvious military interest in detecting chemical or microbial agents on the battlefield, but there is also the more serious current problem in the USA of reducing the stockpile of agent-orange and mustard-related compounds. One approach is to use microbes to destroy these compounds. The agent-orange herbicide is a mixture oftwo esters of 2,4-dichlcrochmoxyacctic acid (&4-E) and 2,4.5-trjchloropheno:;yazctic acid

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(2,4,5-T). While the former is biodegradable, the latter is very stable. Harvey L’I al. now report a strain of P~frtdorrrorras crpacia (AC 1100) isolated by selection over a pe;iod of nine to ten months, that can utilize 2,4,5-T as a sole carbon source. Mustard, on the other hand, offirs more of a problem. It is completely insoluble in nqueow solutiox and highly tosic to bacteria. However, if shaken with water it will slowly hydrolysc to form thiodiglycol, which is soluble and has low toxicity. By collecting soil samples from an arca that had been contaminated with mustard and culturing bacteria for nine mouths in the prescncc of thiodiglycol, a bacterium strain (SH18) related to Px&>rr~otrcrc yirkrttii was isolated. Unfortunately. this strain will not grow on mustard, even at concentrations as low as 2 mg ml-‘. In view of the vast amounts of mustard and other noxious chemicals, there is a real need to produce biological agents for their remova1. Current prog-rammes for removing contaminated sod samples involve incirteration at a cost of USE250-300 per tonne. As some projects involve as much as 100 000 tonnes of contaminated soil, vast cams of money have co bc spent.

Uf Lhe 27 papers presented in thcsc proceedings, perhaps the most inccrcsting are the three which seem to have no apparent military significance, and arc devoted to protein engineering. They cover recognitit..a of the intman CD4 receptor by HIV, antibody- catalysed chem1c.J reactions and substrate specificity o;the protease subtilisin.

An interesting contment is made by C. Cranfield Green, Head of Biomedical Sciences at General Motors. His 10 000-word p,-per on ‘manuiacturing and biotechnology synergisms’ contained numerous corporate-style flow charts and tables on subjects ranging from the generation of biomass to levels of entry for large companies into the biotechnology arena. In the concluding discussion ( p. 445) he xmarks that in the last year hc has studied the subject ofmilitary questions in biotechnology. He then states that biotechnology in the next decade will make physics of the 192Os, electronics of rhe 1930s and 194Os, and computing sciences of the 1950s and 1960s

paic by comparison in terms of rate of change nnd discovery. Green is clearly sold on biotechnolop, and his view that the importance of potential military applications i< not entirely clear in the upper echelons of military or industrial America gives an unfortunate impression of Dr Strangelovc’s purity of essence. Strong views (and unusually naive oues regarding biotccbnoloby) arc not limited to compank: with already established military links. Xvi Ercl from 1nterPharm Laboratories Ltd, Israel, believes that is this century, hiotechnolo_q ( p. 448) has always beru advanced by military needs such as acetone production for the British Navy in World War I, this being the first large-scale anaerobic fcnnentation to produce industrial chemicals, and in Worid War It, penicillin, which was the first large-scale aerobic fermentation system. The third advance, he believes, came during the oil crisis, when government support was made for research irlto cellulose degradation. Amazingly, the only revolution he fin& difficult to link to direct military assistance, is that of genetic engineering. He extends his ‘logical argument’ to suggest that mane: will always be needed to slipport armies as well as fiiturc technology developments. His argument is echoed by R. Shain from the Israeli Directorate of Drfcnce R&D, who parallels the investment in biorxhnology with that of the Star Wars programme!

Dcspl~.- the aspirations of some, these proceedings and the ensuing discussion show Just how little the Military has affected biotechnolohT (as we understand the industry today), and vice versa. This is something that all of us who work in the area should be grateful for and strive to maintain.

Julian Burke Sandy Tfaomm

University of Sussex, Mantell Building, Falmer, Brighton, E. Sussex, UK

BNl 9RF.

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