Chirogenesis in Chemical Science

Chirogenesis in Chemical Science is an exciting new book that takes readers inside the world of chirality and chirogenesis, guided by Victor Borovkov and Riina Aav, both internationally renowned experts on chirality. Chirality is a fundamental property of the universe and has significance in different organic/inorganic materials, living organisms, and human beings. The basic principle of chirality is existence of an object in two mirror image forms, which are not superimposable. This phenomenon is widely seen in various fields of knowledge including mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology and ranging in scale from galaxies to nuclear particles.
In chemical science, chirality is generally associated with a single molecule or group of molecules, which symmetry properties belonging to the Cn or Dn point groups with the simplest example of sp3 carbon atom bonded to four different substituents. The dynamic processes of chirality generation, modulation, transfer, amplification, etc. are termed chirogenesis.
This book provides readers with an integrated knowledge on serine protease prostasin, starting with its discovery, protein isolation, cDNA, and gene cloning, to its functions in physiology and pathophysiology, and to its application in the development of therapeutics. This is the first-of-its-kind book that covers the history, present state of knowledge, and future perspectives of the prototypic glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored epithelial extracellular serine protease prostasin, which is a key player in the regulation and maintenance of the extracellular fluid homeostasis. The chapters encapsulate all that has been learned about prostasin in the technical sophistication, but more importantly, also highlight a critical analysis on the problems with the current state of research and outline the challenges for the future.