This book is a fascinating overview of one of the first pharmacogenetic traits to be identified as responsible for genetic variation in response to drugs - the understanding of the arylamine N-acetyltransferases (NATs) is linked to many important therapeutic areas, particularly tuberculosis and also cancer. NATs have been important in the metabolism of established anti-tubercular drugs and also in carcinogenesis and susceptibility to bladder cancer. The reach of these enzymes spans pharmacology and therapeutics as well as toxicology and pharmacogenetics. The NAT genes are encoded in a highly polymorphic region of the human genome which has been explored for fine mapping in molecular anthropological studies.The book takes a wide ranging approach covering all aspects of the arylamine N-acetyltransferases from genetics to the chemistry and structural biology of the enzymes in the organisms in which they are found, from humans to bacteria and fungi where they appear to have distinct roles. The coverage is by experts in the field from across the globe.

The student of biological science in his final years as an undergraduate and his first years as a graduate is expected to gain some familiarity with current research at the frontiers of his discipline. New research work is published in a perplexing diversity of publications and is inevitably concerned with the minutiae of the subject. The sheer number of research journals and papers also causes confusion and difficulties of assimilation. Review articles usually presuppose a background knowledge of the field and are inevitably rather restricted in scope. There is thus a need for short but authoritative introductions to those areas of modern biological research which are either not dealt with in standard introductory textbooks or are not dealt with in sufficient detail to enable the student to go on from them to read scholarly reviews with profit. This series of books is designed to satisfy this need. The authors have been asked to produce a brief outline of their subject assuming that their readers will have read and remembered much of a standard introductory textbook of biology. This outline then sets out to provide by building on this basis, the conceptual framework within which modern research work is progressing and aims to give the reader an indication of the problems, both conceptual and practical, which must be overcome if progress is to be maintained.