PREFACE 



Ten years ago the first volume of Currents in Biochemical 

 Research made its debut. The cordial reception which was 

 given this volume by biologists, chemists, biochemists, and 

 clinicians indicated clearly that at appropriate intervals there 

 exists a real need to pause and reflect on what has been accom- 

 plished, to distinguish between tree and forest, to learn the 

 lessons of the years which have passed, and to prepare intellec- 

 tually for the years to come. Once again a distinguished group 

 of twenty-seven contributors has been invited to make a de- 

 cennial survey of progress in most, although by no means all, 

 important fields of biochemical research. They have been 

 asked to write as simply and as lucidly as the requirements of 

 scholarship permit. The objectives of these essays have been 

 to communicate to nonspecialists an overall impression of the 

 present status of the significant problems in each field, to point 

 up the broad strategy of current research, and finally, to specu- 

 late on the likely paths of future research. Above all, the essays 

 were intended to bring light without overwhelming the reader 

 with tedious detail. It would be too much to expect that each 

 of the twenty-seven essays has met all these exacting stipulations, 

 but at least I have high hopes that enough of them come sufl^- 

 ciently close to justify the aims of this second volume. 



The past decade has witnessed a rate of progress vastly 

 greater than in any comparable period since the early beginnings 

 of biochemistry as a science more than 100 years ago. There is 

 little doubt that this phenomenal rate of development has been 

 sparked by a revolution in methodology. The emergence of 

 filter paper chromatography as a tool for separating minute 



