Meyerhof’s Aldolase — 35 Years Later

Abstract

Meyerhof’s genius lay not only in his ability to integrate chemical and physiological observations into broad, often revolutionary, biological concepts, but also in his emphasis on the value of quantitative data and the development of methods for obtaining such data. His early interest in the problem of utilization of chemical energy for life processes led him to the discovery that the lactic acid which Hopkins [1] had shown to be formed during muscle contraction arose from the breakdown of muscle glycogen, and that the resynthesis of glycogen from lactic acid was an endergonic process which depended on energy derived from the complete combustion of a portion of this lactic acid. These concepts of the breakdown and resynthesis of glycogen from lactic acid led him to the search for an enzyme which would catalyze the formation of carbon-carbon bonds and specifically for a reaction in which three-carbon precursors could give rise to six-carbon sugars.

The original work reported in this article was supported by a grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health (GM 11301). This is Communication No. 207 from the Joan and Lester Avnet Institute of Molecular Biology.