Bioquímica

Plant Biochemistry
Third edition

Plant Biochemistry
Hans-Walter Heldt in cooperation with Fiona Heldt

An update and translation of the German third edition

AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON NEW YORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO

Acquisition Editor David Cella Project Manager Justin Palmeiro Editorial Coordinator Kelly SonnackMarketing Manager Linda Beattie Cover Design Cate Barr Composition SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong Printer Courier Elsevier Academic Press 200 Wheeler Road, Burlington, MA 01803, USA 525 B Street, Suite 1900, San Diego, California 92101-4495, USA 84 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8RR, UK

This book is printed on acid-free paper. Copyright © 2005, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail:permissions@elsevier.com.uk. You may also complete your request on-line via the Elsevier homepage (http://elsevier.com), by selecting “Customer Support” and then “Obtaining Permissions.” Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Application Submitted British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 0-12-088391-033For all information on all Elsevier Academic Press Publication visit our Web site at www.books.elsevier.com Printed in the United States of America 04 05 06 07 08 09 9 8 7 6 5

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Dedicated to my teacher Martin Klingenberg

Preface

This textbook is written for students and is the product of more than three decades of my teaching experience. It intends to give a broad butconcise overview of the various aspects of plant biochemistry, including molecular biology. I have attached importance to an easily understood description of the principles of metabolism but also have restricted the content in such a way that a student is not distracted by unnecessary details. In view of the importance of plant biotechnology, industrial applications of plant biochemistry have beenpointed out wherever appropriate. Thus, special attention has been given to the generation and utilization of transgenic plants. Since there are many excellent textbooks on general biochemistry, I have deliberately omitted dealing with elements such as the structure and function of amino acids, carbohydrates, and nucleotides; the function of nucleic acids as carriers of genetic information; andthe structure and function of proteins and the basis of enzyme catalysis. I have dealt with topics of general biochemistry only when it seemed necessary for enhancing understanding of the problem in hand. Thus, this book is, in the end, a compromise between a general textbook and a specialized textbook. This book is a translation of the third German edition. Compared to the previous Englishedition, it has been fully revised to take into account the progress in the field. In particular, the chapter about phytohormones has undergone extensive changes. As a year has passed since the third German edition was completed, the text has been thoroughly updated, taking into account the rapid development of the discipline in 2003. I am very grateful to the many colleagues who, through discussions andthe reprints they have sent me on their special fields, have given me the information that made it possible for me to write the various editions of this book. It was especially helpful for me that the colleagues in the following list went to great trouble to read critically one or more chapters, to draw my attention to mistakes, and to suggest improvements for which I am particularly grateful. My...