Babcock, G., and M. Wikstrom: "Oxygen Activation and the Conservation of Energy in Cell Respiration," Nature, March 1992, pages 301–8. Proteins that carry out proton pumping and oxygen reduction now appear to share a similar but very unusual bimetallic iron-copper reaction center.

Dickerson, R.: "Cytochrome c and the Evolution of Energy Metabolism," Scientific American, March 1980, pages 136–54. A superb description of how the metabolism of modern organisms evolved.

Harold, F.: The Vital Force: A Study Of Bioenergetics, 1986. Freeman Press, New York. A detailed account of chemiosmosis, focusing on the physical basis of the proton motive force.

Hinkle, P., and R. McCarty: "How Cells Make ATP," Scientific American, March 1978, pages 104–25. A classic summary of oxidative respiration, with a clear account of the events that happen at the mitochondrial membrane.

Levine, M., and others: "Structure of Pyruvate Kinase and Similarities with Other Enzymes: Possible Implications for Protein Taxonomy and Evolution," Nature, 1978, vol. 271, pages 626–30. An advanced article, well worth the effort, that explains how the enzymes of oxidative metabolism may have evolved.

Wachtershauser, G.: "Evolution of the First Metabolic Cycles," Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA, 1990, vol. 87, pages 200–4. A suggestion that metabolic cycles played a key role in the evolution of life.