Book excerpt: Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa, Volume I focuses on the chemical and physiological features of Protozoa, including nutrition, metabolism, and growth of phytoflagellates, Trypanosomidae and Bodonidae, biochemistry of ciliates and Plasmodium, and the influence of antimalarials. The selection first offers information on the biochemistry of Protozoa and phytoflagellates, including sexuality in Chlamydomonas, growth factors and chemical asepsis, descriptive chemistry and phylogenetic relationships, evolutionary aspects of photosynthesis, nutrition and biochemistry of Protozoa, and the biochemical evolution of Protozoa. The text then ponders on the nutrition of parasitic flagellates and metabolism of Trypanosomidae and Bodonidae. The publication takes a look at the nutrition of parasitic amebae, biochemistry of Plasmodium and the influence of antimalarials, and the biochemistry of ciliates in pure culture. Topics include carbon metabolism and respiration, nitrogen metabolism, antimalarial compounds and their influence on the metabolism of malarial parasites, metabolism of malarial parasites, and nutrition of the dysentery ameba, Entamoeba histolytica. The selection is a valuable reference for cytologists, geneticists, and pathologists interested in the biochemistry and physiology of protozoa.