Heme, chlorophyll, and bilins: Methods and protocols: Smith, A. G., Witty, M. (eds.)

Abstract

Heme, Chlorophyll, and Bilins: Methods and Protocols Smith, A. G., Witty, M. (eds.); Humana Press, Totowa, New Jersey, 2001, 340 pp., ISBN 1-588-29-111-1, $112.50. This book contains strategies, detailed procedures, and practical advice for the (bio)chemical characterization of heme, chlorophyll, and bilin. Moreover, the physicochemical and biochemical properties of hemoproteins, chlorophyll proteins, phytochromes, and phycobiliproteins are reported. Tetrapyrrole (bio)chemistry includes methods for the study of tetrapyrroles, synthesis of tetrapyrroles, enzymatic preparation of tetrapyrrole intermediates, and analysis of biosynthetic intermediates. Remarkably, the (bio)chemical characterization of well known heme and hemo-protein model systems, such as tetraphenylporphyrin and octaethylporphyrin, is given, with particular emphasis on solubility, crystallization, and reconstitution of tetrapyrroles. Heme and hemoprotein (bio)chemistry deals with heme, as well as wild-type and recombinant hemoproteins characterization, with particular emphasis on combined use of spectroscopic techniques, such as UV-visible, magnetic circular dichroism, resonance Raman, and NMR. Detailed information concerning the determination of the hemoprotein structure by electron microscopy of two-dimensional crystals is reported. Chlorophyll and chlorophyll protein (bio)chemistry includes synthesis, analysis of intermediates and end products of the chlorophyll (bio)synthetic pathway, and analysis, reconstitution, and crystallization of chlorophyll proteins. Spectroscopic properties of chlorophylls and related (bio)synthetic intermediates are reported in detail. The analysis and reconstitution of phytochrome concerns spectroscopy for quantitation and assembly detection of holophytochrome. Step-by-step protocols for purification of bilins and phycobiliproteins, as well as re-constitution of holoproteins, are given. This is a specialized collection of methods and protocols that should be very useful for novices in the field. Indeed, protocols are optimized in terms of time-saving techniques, tricks, and useful tips. However, anyone who uses this book will still need access to standard works and specialized publications such as Methods in Enzymology. Finally, the editors could have made the compilation more useful from the educational viewpoint if general aspects of heme, chlorophyll, and bilin (bio)chemistry were expanded. A book like this would also benefit if protocols and methods were schematized and made available through the web.