Turtles all the way: reflections of Bernard W. Agranoff

Emeritus Professor Bernard W. Agranoff was published in JBC as part of its Reflections series. A year in the laboratory of Feodor Lynen, at the Max Planck Institute for Cell Chemistry in Munich, he recalls “participat[ing] in the exciting search to unravel the biosynthesis of cholesterol.” Later research into the possible phosphomonoesters of myo-inositol, and the possible physiological significance, leads to some rather interesting insights in brain inositol and lithium. Agranoff ends with some speculations regarding the possibility that terrestrial inositol preceded the existence of living organisms. Download the pdf.