FUNCTION 



4. H. E. Carter, R. K. Clarke, B. Lytle and G. E. McCasland, /. Biol. 



Chem., 1948, 175, 683. 



5. D. W. Woolley, Science, 1940, 92, 384 ; /. Biol. Chem., 1940, 136, 



113 ; 1 94 1, 139, 29 ; /. Nutrition, 1941, 21, Suppl. 17. 



6. S. Kirkwood and P. H. Phillips, /, Biol. Chem., 1946, 163, 251. 



7. H. W. Burton, S. E. Jacobs and A. Goldstein, Nature, 1946, 158, 



22. 



16. FUNCTION OF INOSITOL 



Nothing is yet known with certainty concerning the function of 

 inositol. According to R. J. Williams et al.} the amount of inositol 

 in pancreatic amylase (4 mg. per g.) is sufficient to suggest that it 

 may be an integral part of the enzyme, even if the molecular weight 

 is no more than 44,000. The suggestion was strengthened by the 

 observation that lindane inhibited the action of pancreatic a-amylase 

 and the inhibition was competitively prevented by inositol.^ 



A. J. Rosenberg ^ observed that the growth of Clostridium saccharo- 

 hutyricum was inhibited by malonate and that the inhibition was 

 counteracted by boron and meso-inosiio\ ; d- and /-inositol and quer- 

 citol were inactive. He therefore suggested that malonate inhibited 

 the synthesis by the organism of the w^so-inositol necessary for 

 growth. 



It is quite possible that inositol may not be a prosthetic group of 

 an enzyrae, as most other members of the vitamin B complex have 

 proved to be, but merely a structural component of living tissue ; 

 in this event inositol (and also choline) are anomalous members of 

 the vitamin B complex possibly serving as a link between the vitamins, 

 which act as metabolic catalysts, and the amino acids, which are 

 essential in the building up of animal and plant tissues. 



References to Section 16 



1. R. J. Williams, F. Schlenk and M. A. Eppright, /. Amer. Chem. 



Soc, 1944, 66, 896. 



2. R. L. Lane and R. J. Williams, Arch. Biochem., 1948, 19, 329. 



3. A. J. Rosenberg, Compt. rend., 1^946, 222, 13 10. 



581 



