Bioenergetics 3

by David G. Nicholls

This new edition of Bioenergetics presents a clear and up-to-date explanation of the chemiosmotic theory and covers mitochondria, bacteria, and chloroplasts. It takes account of the many newly determined structures, such as ATP synthase and the two photosystems of photosynthesis, that provide molecular insight into chemiosmotic energy transduction. This edition includes additional color figures of protein structures and many newly drawn illustrations designed to enable the reader to grasp the fundamental insights that are derived from knowing the structure. Every chapter has been extensively revised and updated and a new chapter on the study of the bioenergetics of mitochondria in the intact cell is included to satisfy the enormous interest in this topic. Written for students and researchers alike, this book is the most current text on the chemiosmotic theory and membrane bioenergetics available.

Key Features
* Chapter on the study of bioenergetics of mitochondria in the intact cell
* Appendix listing protein structure resources
* Additional colour plates of protein structures
* Many newly drawn illustrations
* Website

Genres: Science

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

I have been researching into bioenergetics and mitochondrial function for almost 50 years, and have published more than 280 research papers and reviews. The first edition of Bioenergetics, published in 1982, was designed to introduce the novel concepts that Nobel Laureate Peter Mitchell put forward – his “Chemiosmotic Hypothesis”- to a general audience of biochemists, physiologists and biologists, and to explain the beautiful simplicity of the basic concepts. This seems to have been successful, since the first 3 editions, published at roughly 10 year intervals, have sold an aggregate 16,000 copies. From the second edition onwards, I have worked with my co-author, Stuart Ferguson, to combine functional and structural information into a single volume. This current edition, Bioenergetics 4, published in June 2013, is not only completely updated to include the proliferation of crystal structures now available, but contains an entire section on ‘mitochondrial physiology’, reflecting the explosive growth in the investigation of the roles of mitochondria in the normal physiology of the cell and in pathological changes associated with aging and disease. I continue research, but am increasingly focusing on teaching the principles of bioenergetics to as wide an audience as possible – and that is the impetus behind this book.

Reviews

[Martina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. I went back and forth between three and four stars, but in the end, I decided to be lenient and give it a higher grade, in the hopes that people will pick this book up more readily if it had a higher rating. But let me explain.

This is no easy, bubbly read. I actually anticipated something lighter than my regular reads (physics books), and I was surprised when I discovered it was not so. For a physicist in training, bioenergetics is something considerably different than the usual fare, and I kinda expected this book to be proportionately, er, different read:easy. Instead, I got a book that is written densely, packed with information, and the writing style is the typical textbook one. But fortunately, that means that as a textbook, it works. It's true that I had to read chapters multiple times to grasp all the intricacies of bioenergetical mechanisms and systems. Despite the fact that I had to battle with each chapter, I ended up with decent knowledge of bioenergetics in the human body and beyond. So I'd say it was worth it - it's quite a "heavy" book, so to speak, but a willing student can get a lot out of it.

A note: the more one knows of biochemistry, the better off he/she will be with this book. I wouldn't recommend Bioenergetics3 to people without some previous knowledge of biochemistry, because reading and digesting this baby would take a ridiculous amount of time.