Amazon.com description: Product Description: This monograph reflects the continued and growing interest in ergot alkaloids due to their fascinating chemistry, multiple biological actions, their importance as therapeutically useful agents and the innovation of alkaloid biotechnology. As well as giving a brief review of recent literature, the book also illustrates the present problems of ergot research with emphasis on areas where knowledge is lacking and where research should be pursued further. It is hoped that the book will also stimulate integration of the individual fields of ergot alkaloid research. Its usefulness is enhanced by the inclusion of many illustrations, graphs, tables and over 700 references. The book is intended for advanced undergraduates in biochemistry and molecular biology, for graduates embarking upon studies of excessive metabolites of microorganisms, for chemists seeking to find some understanding of the more biological aspects of the subject, for biologists who require some knowledge of the chemical and molecular aspects, and for practitioners in bioindustry. The book is also helpful as a bibliographic source.