Zacharias Dische and the discovery of feedback inhibition: A landmark paper published in the forerunner of Biochimie

Abstract

Zacharias Dische's discovery of feedback inhibition in metabolism was one of the most important in the history of biochemistry. However, his paper was written and published under very difficult circumstances in wartime and passed almost completely unnoticed. It is almost never cited, and the discovery itself is usually attributed to later work of others. Here I provide a discussion of Dische's work, a translation of his paper into English, and a transcription of the original French version, which is almost unobtainable anywhere.

Keywords: Erythrocytes; Feedback Inhibition; Glucose phosphorylation; Glycolysis; Metabolic regulation; Zacharias Dische.