Wiley-Blackwell Cyanide Compounds in Biology: 140 (Novartis Foundation Symposia)

Cyanide Compounds in Biology Chairman: E. E. Conn 1988 This book provides an international, multidisciplinary approach to the biology and biological chemistry of cyanide and related compounds. It contains contributions by chemists, biochemists, biotechnologists, biologists, toxicologists and physicians. The topics discussed at the symposium fall into four groups. The first consists of three papers on the microbial metabolism of HCN and organic nitrile compounds. Knowledge of this subject has expanded significantly in recent years. The second group of papers deals with cyanogenesis in higher plants. Recent biosynthetic studies, the compartmentalization and metabolism of cyanogenic glycosides, studies of the simultaneous production of ethylene and HCN, and the molecular biology of cyanogenesis are reviewed. The third part of the meeting covered the role of cyanogenic glycosides as defence compounds used both by animals and by plants. A review of qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis of cyanogenic glycosides is included because of the need to know the kind and amount of cyanogen involved in plant - herbivore relations and in insect - predator interactions. The fourth group of papers discusses the detoxification of HCN by animals. The role of sulphur in HCN detoxification by sulphur transferases is described; the practical subject of treatment of HCN poisoning is reviewed; and, finally, some nutritional consequences of metabolic interactions between cyanide, sulphur and selenium are discussed. The practical implications of research in the field of cyanide in biology are clear. This book records the presentations and discussions that proved to be a timely forum for the exchange and updating of information and ideas and for the exploration of future developments. Related Ciba Foundation Symposia: No 126 Selective neuronal death Chairman: H. M. Wisniewski 1987 ISBN 0 471 91092 9 No 133 Plant resistance to viruses Chairman: B. D. Harrison 1987 ISBN 0 471 91263 8 No 137 Applications of plant cell and tissue culture Chairman: Y. Yamada 1988 ISBN 0 471 91886 5