A Guide to the Polyamines

Book excerpt: The polyamines are ubiquitous and essential organic cations in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. This book is a comprehensive survey of the development of knowledge of their physiological and structural roles. Currently, the genetic and regulatory determinants of the amines and their cellular composition are being explored actively as parameters of normal physiology and aberrant pathologies. Cancer, virus infection, and protozoan parasitism are major examples of the later groups. Studies of the control of polyamine metabolism are providing important therapeutic leads. Further, the structural roles of the amines are being determined at molecular levels, contributing to the understanding of polynucleotide and protein organization and interaction, as well as to the solution of problems of genome transfer. These subjects describe a burgeoning biochemical area involving compounds whose roles in cytoplasmic and nuclear function include numerous aspects of organelle structure, polymer synthesis, and interactions.