Biochemistry of Vitamin B6

The ~ecent Vitamin Be-Meeting in Tu~ku, FinLand, has continued a Long-standing t1'O.dition; it ws the seventh intemationaL congNss devoted to the "ChemicaL and BioLogicaL Aspects of Vitamin Be-Cata- Lysis". The fi~st meeting ws heLd 1962 in Rome foUo1JJed by the meetings in Moscow (1966), Nagoya (1967), Lening1'O.d (1974), To~onto (1979), and Athens (1983). The p~oceedings of a meeting p~ovide a "snapshot" of a pa~ticuLa~ fieLd of science. Not unLike the photog~phic p~oduct they affo~d a topicaL ~eco~ of the goings-on, at pe~haps the expense of some inforrmation on detaUs. These Proceedings focus on the st~uctu~L and mechanistic aspects of vitamin B6-dependent enaymes; h01JJeve~, othe~ topics discussed ~nge f~om nonenaymic ~eactions of vitamin B6 compounds to nut~tionaL, medicaL, and even appLied indust~aL as- pects. The Opening Session of the Meeting ws dedicated to the memo~y of the Late ALe:x:ande~ E. B~unstein, who fifty yea~s ago discove~ed t~nsamination as a metaboUc ~eaction. The contT'ibutions honoT'ing P~ofesso~ B~unstein and his Ufewo~k a~e coUected in the fi~st section of the ~oceedings.