Biochemistry of Alkaloids

This collection of 13 articles by leading authorities provides a comprehensive survey of alkaloid biochemistry. It discusses their biosynthesis and its regulation, the genetics and enzymatics of alkaloid metabolism, the accumulation of alkaloids and their turnover, and the significance of alkaloid formation for the producer organisms. The book groups the alkaloids according to their biosynthesis and discusses the biosynthetic pathways leading to the most important groups of alkaloids. Some natural products related biosynthetically to true alkaloids are included, e.g., protoalkaloids, heterocyclic non-protein amino acids and antibiotics, cyclic peptides, etc. The book is based on Biosynthese der Alkalode (Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaft, Berlin, 1969).