Brüssow The Quest for Food

A Natural History of Eating
1. Auflage 2007
ISBN: 978-0-387-45461-0
Verlag: Springer-Verlag
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 866 Seiten

When you go into a scientific library or look through the catalogues of scientific publishers, you will quickly find books from food scientists, food technologists, food chemists, food microbiologists, and food toxicologists. Agronomists, nut- tionists, and physicians have written on food, and last but not least cooks. What I missed was a book on food written from the perspective of a biologist. When Susan Safren, the food science editor from Springer Science + Business Media, LLC, invited me to write a book, I decided that I would write this book on food biology. What I had in mind was a survey on eating through space and time in a very fundamental way, but not in the format of a systematic textbook. The present book is more of an ordered collection of scientific essays. Contents.In Chapter 1, I start with a prehistoric Venus to explore the relationship between sex and food. Then I use another lady—Europe—to inv- tigate the strong links between food and culture. I then ask what is eating in a very basic but simple physicochemical sense. In Chapters 2 and 3, I embark on a biochemistry-oriented travel following the path of a food molecule through the central carbon pathway until it is decomposed into CO and H O and a lot 2 2 of ATP. My account does not intend to teach biochemistry, but to use recent research articles from major scientific journals to look behind food biochemistry.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Brüssow, Harald

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Preface;7
2;Acknowledgments;10
3;Contents;12
4;A Nutritional Conditio Humana;18
4.1;A Few Glimpses on Biological Anthropology;18
4.1.1;An Early Venus and Breastfeeding: The Quest for Food and Sex as Driving Forces in Biology;18
4.1.2;Lady Europe's Liaison with a Bull: The Spread of Agriculture and Dairy Cultures;27
4.2;Basic Concepts on Eating;35
4.2.1;Raw Food for Thought;35
4.2.2;Thermodynamics Made Simple;37
4.2.3;Different Ways of Life;38
4.2.4;The Central Metabolic Pathway;40
4.2.5;A Few Words About ATP;42
5;Some Aspects of Nutritional Biochemistry;44
5.1;The Central Carbon Pathway;44
5.1.1;Why is Glucose the Central Fuel Molecule?;44
5.1.2;Glycolysis;45
5.1.3;Variations on a Theme;47
5.1.4;Variant Glycolytic Intermediates;53
5.1.5;Lactate and Ethanol Fermentation: A Bit of Biotechnology;55
5.1.6;A Short Running Exercise;58
5.1.7;Liaison Dangereuse: Lactate, Cancer, and the Warburg Effect;59
5.1.8;Glucokinase at the Crossroad of Cellular Life and Death;61
5.1.9;Metabolic Networks;62
5.2;De Revolutionibus Orbium Metabolicorum;70
5.2.1;Revolutionary Histories;70
5.2.2;Mitochondria as Bacterial Endosymbionts;71
5.2.3;Pyruvate Dehydrogenase: The Linker Between Pathways;73
5.2.4;On the Value of Mutants;76
5.2.5;Why is the Citric Acid Cycle so Complicated?;77
5.2.6;The Horseshoe TCA Pathway;80
5.2.7;History Might Matter: An Argument on Chance and Necessity;83
5.2.8;Metabolic Crossroads in Ancient Landscapes: NAD or NADP---That's the Question;87
5.2.9;The Logic and Adaptive Value of Metabolic Cycles;90
6;Bioenergetics;93
6.1;Oxygen;93
6.1.1;The Origin of the Electrons and Biochemical Cycles: Anatomy of Complex II;93
6.1.2;Fumarate Reductase: The Dangers with Oxygen;97
6.1.3;The Handling of Molecular Oxygen;99
6.1.4;Social Feeding in Worms Explained by Oxygen Avoidance;104
6.2;Electrons;107
6.2.1;The Chemiosmotic Hypothesis;107
6.2.2;Anatomy of the Respiratory Chain;109
6.2.3;Cytochromes bc1 and b6f;114
6.3;Protons and ATP;117
6.3.1;Proton Pumping and O2 Reduction;117
6.3.2;Purposeful Wastefulness;121
6.3.3;Fiat Lux;124
6.3.4;The Smallest Motor of the World;130
7;The Evolution of Eating Systems;136
7.1;The Beginning of Biochemistry;136
7.1.1;A Soup as a Starter? The Origin of Biochemical Cycles;137
7.1.2;On Timescales in Biology;141
7.1.3;The RNA World;143
7.1.4;The Ribosome is a Ribozyme;146
7.1.5;Demise of the RNA World;148
7.1.6;Metabolic Control by Riboswitches;149
7.1.7;Let Others do the Job: Viral Relics of the RNA Worlds;151
7.1.8;Messengers from a Precellular DNA World?;154
7.1.9;The Importance of Being Lipid Enveloped;159
7.2;Early Eaters;162
7.2.1;What is at the Root?;162
7.2.2;Hydrogen and Bioenergetics;164
7.2.3;Methanogenesis;166
7.2.4;Methanotrophs;173
7.2.5;Sulfur Worlds;178
7.2.6;Metagenomics and the Strange Appetite of Bacteria;181
7.2.7;Nutritional Interactions;185
7.2.8;Hydrothermal Vents as a Cradle of Life?;189
7.2.9;A Photosynthetic Beginning of Cellular Life?;190
7.3;Photosynthesis;195
7.3.1;One Cell for all Seasons: The Nutritional Flexibility of Purple Nonsulfur Bacteria;195
7.3.2;Cyanobacteria and the Invention of Oxygenic Photosynthesis;202
7.3.3;Getting Closer to the Water-Splitting Center: Photosystem II;207
7.3.4;Evolutionary Patchwork: Photosystem I;212
7.3.5;Speculations on the Origin of Photosynthesis;215
7.3.6;The Impact of Oxygen on the Evolution of Metabolisms on Earth;216
7.4;The Acquisition of the Atoms of Life;219
7.4.1;The Easy Acquisitions: HOP;219
7.4.2;A Demanding Step: Photosynthetic CO2 Fixation;223
7.4.3;Recycling in Biochemistry: Rubisco and the Calvin Cycle;228
7.4.4;Alternative CO2 Pathways in Autotrophic Prokaryotes;232
7.4.5;A Few Numbers on the History of CO2 Concentrations;233
7.4.6;A Tricky Business: N2 Fixation;234
7.4.7;Nitrification;240
7.4.8;Closing of the Nitrogen Cycle by Anammox Bacteria;240
7.4.9;Plant Symbiosis for Nitrogen Fixation;242
7.4.10;Sulfur Uptake by Plants;246
7.5;Nutritional Interactions in the Ocean: The Microbial Perspective;248
7.5.1;Stromatolites and Biomats;248
7.5.2;Read my Lips: Cyanobacteria at the Ocean Surface;250
7.5.3;Problems with Nitrogen Fixation for Cyanobacteria;255
7.6;A World of Iron;258
7.6.1;Iron Age in Mythology;258
7.6.2;Another Problem in Cyanobacteria: Iron Limitation;259
7.6.3;Sowing the Sea with an Iron Plow: Where Feeding Impacts on Global Climate;260
7.6.4;Photosynthesis Versus Respiration in the Ocean: The Closing of the Carbon Cycle;265
7.6.5;The Most Abundant Cells on Earth are on a Small Diet;271
7.6.6;Depth Profile;274
7.6.7;Sediments;276
7.7;Early Steps in Predation;280
7.7.1;The Phage Way of Life: Bacterium Eaters;285
7.7.2;Phages in the Microbial Loop of the Food Chain;289
7.7.3;On Starvation, Sporulation, Cannibalism, and Antibiotics: Near Death Experiences;292
7.8;Increasing Complexity;297
7.8.1;The Birth of the Eukaryotic Cell;297
7.8.2;The Story of O and the Malnourished Ocean;305
7.8.3;Vita Minima: The Reductionist Lifestyle of Protist Parasites;307
7.8.4;Primary Endosymbiosis: The Origin of Chloroplasts;310
7.8.5;Predator Protozoa…;317
7.8.6;… And How Bacteria Get off the Hook;318
7.8.7;Algal Slaves;321
7.8.8;Diatoms and the Marine Food Chain, on Toxins and Armors, Art, and Purpose;324
7.8.9;Diatom Nutrition;334
7.8.10;Dinoflagellates;340
7.9;The First Animals;343
7.9.1;The Origins and the Sponges;343
7.9.2;The Ediacaran Fauna;351
7.9.3;Cnidarians: From Sea Pens and Different Feeding Habits…;357
7.9.4;…To Reef Bleaching as Expression of Their Dynamic Symbiotic Relationships;365
7.9.5;The Cambrian Revolution;373
7.10;Vertebrates;377
7.10.1;Toward Vertebrates: An Inconspicuous Beginning as Filter Feeders;377
7.10.2;The Middle Paleozoic Marine Revolution: A Story of Jaws and Teeth;385
7.10.3;Putting Four Feet on the Ground;395
7.10.4;Mesozoic Gigantism: The Crown of the Terrestrial Carnivores?;399
7.10.5;The Invention of the Egg, Brooding and Parental Care;410
7.10.6;Mammals: Not so Modest Beginnings?;418
7.10.7;Mammals: Seamless Nutrition;422
8;The Ecology of Eating Systems;433
8.1;Eat or be Eaten: Anatomy of the Marine Food Chain;433
8.1.1;Overview;433
8.1.2;Algae and the Story of DMS;434
8.1.3;Copepods and Krill;437
8.1.4;Planktivorous Fish;442
8.1.5;Piscivorous Fish;447
8.1.6;Piscivorous Mammals;450
8.1.7;Killer Whales: Effect of a Top Predator Down the Food Chain;452
8.1.8;The Fall of the Whales;458
8.2;Life Histories Between the Land and the Sea;459
8.3;Nutritional Ecology;466
8.3.1;Trophic Cascades Across Ecosystems;466
8.3.2;The War of the Senses: The Example of Echolocation;469
8.3.3;Antipredation Strategies;476
8.3.4;Mimicry;481
8.3.5;Predator--Prey Cycles: From Chaos in the Food Web to Infectious Diseases;483
8.3.6;Toxic Predator--Prey Arms Races;491
8.4;Herbivory;499
8.4.1;Terra Firma---Bacteria and Plants Conquer the Land;500
8.4.2;Lignin Synthesis and Degradation;504
8.4.3;Taking to the Air: Early Insects;512
8.4.4;Early Herbivorous Vertebrates;523
8.4.5;A Bite of Plant Material by an Omnivore Like us;526
8.4.6;A Bioreactor Fueled by Grass;540
8.4.7;Plant Defense Against Herbivory;546
8.4.8;The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend;555
8.4.9;Herbivores: Patterns of Predation;561
9;Eating Cultures;565
9.1;Choosing Food;565
9.1.1;To Eat or Not to Eat;565
9.1.2;Food Separating Species;578
9.2;Behavior;582
9.2.1;Sharing Food and Other Goods: On Cheating and Altruism;582
9.2.2;Communicating on Food;591
9.3;Animal Technology;597
9.3.1;The Invention of Agriculture: Fungal Gardens of Ants;597
9.3.2;Tool Use and Caches in Crows;605
9.3.3;On Stone Tools and Culture in Apes;608
9.4;Human's Progress?;613
9.4.1;The Diet of Australopithecus;613
9.4.2;From Hominid Stone Tools to the Control of Fire;616
9.4.3;Hunters and Gatherers: The Origin of Grandmother's Recipe;622
9.4.4;On Neanderthals and Cannibalism;627
9.4.5;The Hobbit: Wanderer Between the Worlds;631
9.4.6;Late Pleistocene Megafauna Extinction: An Early Blitzkrieg?;633
9.4.7;The Spread of Early Agriculture;644
9.5;Domestication;647
9.5.1;The Garden of Eden: Domestication of Crops;647
9.5.2;Taming the Beast;661
9.5.3;Domestication of Moulds: Aspergillus;663
9.6;Fishery;665
9.6.1;Contemporary Fishery Problems;665
9.6.2;In Cod We Trust;666
9.6.3;History of Fishing;667
9.6.4;Aquaculture;672
9.6.5;The Lesson of the Lake Victoria;674
9.6.6;On Fishery, Bushmeat, and SARS;678
10;We as Food and Feeders;684
10.1;Prey of Microbes;684
10.1.1;A Lion's Share?;684
10.1.2;The Haunted Hunter…;686
10.1.3;… And the Risks of Animal Farming;689
10.1.4;Problems of Food Safety: BSE;697
10.2;Going for our Blood;701
10.2.1;Real-life Draculas;701
10.2.2;Hitchhiking the Blood Sucker;705
10.3;Going for our Gut;711
10.3.1;The Land Where Milk and Honey Flows;711
10.3.2;The Thin Line Between Symbiont and Pathogen;719
10.3.3;Janus Faces: The Case of Vibrio cholerae;727
10.3.4;From Gut to Blood: The Battle for Iron;734
10.4;Viruses Going for Gut or Genome;740
10.4.1;Portrait of a Killer Virus;740
10.4.2;A Glimpse into the World of Retroelements;748
10.4.3;The Sense of Life;751
11;An Agro(-Eco)nomical Outlook: Feeding the Billions;755
11.1;Malthus: Doomsday Versus Science and Technology?;755
11.2;From the Green Revolution to Organic Farming;760
11.3;From Biodiversity to the Wood Wide Web: On Rice and Grassland Productivity;765
11.4;The Rice Blast Fungus: A Threat to World Food Security?;771
11.5;Sowing Golden Rice in the Field?;775
11.6;A Story Without End?;782
12;References;786
13;Biochemical Back-ups;847
13.1;Web References;847
13.2;Chapter 1;848
13.3;Chapter 2;848
13.4;Chapter 3;849
13.5;Chapter 4;850
13.6;Chapter 5;855
13.7;Chapter 6;856
13.8;Chapter 7;857
13.9;Chapter 8;858
14;Index;859