Environmental stresses and nutrients (Inducible gene expression, vol. 1)

power of their resources and plan a effective strategy. Strategies for large insert cloning and analysis comprise the largest single chapter, which covers genomic pulsed field mapping, YAC and Pl library construction, screening large insert libraries and a repetoire of techniques designed to characterize YAC clones. Chapter 6 focuses on the most successful and large-scale approaches of identifying transcribed sequences in genomic DNA developed recently. Appendices include useful information, such as a summary of human repeat sequences and basic techniques, chromosome ideograms and framework genetic maps of each chromosome (updated biannually). Within the list of topics that will be covered in upcoming supplements is a chapter on bioinfomlatics, which it is stated will include locating exons by computer and a guide to the Internet. This might cover, to some extent, the area that seemed conspicuously absent from the current version of the manual.

Genetic markers and contig maps are continually being updated, and much of this information is held in databases and can be accessed electronically. A comprehesive list of such databases, how to access them and who distributes which genetic or clone resources (much more comprehensive than that given in Table 50.1) on a world-wide basis would be invaluable for most positional cloners keen to avoid regenerating markers and clones already in existence. This availability of clone resources is m9re useful information to most positional cloners than, for instance, how to construct a YAC library. Along similar lines, _,rotocols described in Chapter 6 for isolating transcribed sequences from genomic DNA rapidly generate many short sequences, and a chapter describing sequence databases and the range of programs available to search them would be extremely helpful. The Current Protocols series is available both in a loose leaf binder or in a CD-ROM format. Cwreut Protocols in

EnvironmentalStressesand Nutrients(InducibleGene Expression,Vol.1) editedby P.A. Baeuerle Birkhtiuser, 1995, &60.00/$85.00hbk (250 pages) ISBN 3 7643 3728 1

Hormonal Signals(InducibleGene Expression,Vol.2) editedbyP.A. Baeuerle Bid&user, 1995, &60.00/$85.00hbk (250 pages) ISBN 3 7643 3734 6 Book set &98.00/$140.00hbk ISBN 3 7643 3800 8 A mere mention of inducible gene expression immediately brings to mind the action of steroids, which is classified as a paradigm of this regulatory pathway. That steroid hormones are not the only inducers of gene expression is clearly shown by the contents of two recently published books on inducible gene expression. With a general comparison of mechanisms of regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes and prokaryotes, Inducible Gene Expression (Vol. 1) introduces its readers to the concept of regulatable gene expression. This is followed by a description of how certain gene networks respond to heat shock or, more appropriately, stress, because agents like heavy metals, viral and bacterial infections turn on the same set of genes as heat shock. The reader is then taken through some well characterized inducible gene expression systems in which the diversities of transcription factor interactions are revealed. Excellent examples and illustrations of transcription factors that mediate induced expression of several

genes are provided. The systems covered range from dioxine, oxidative stress to fatty acids and their metabolites. As if to remind the redder that inducible gene expression is not just brought about by increased transcription, Vol. 1 ends with a chapter on post-transcriptional regulation of genes by iron. This presentation provides a heralded finale to a well presented documentation of information. The second volume is devoted more to steroid receptors, the transcription factors that bind steroids and mediate their action. In the mid-1980s as a number of the steroid receptors were molecularly cloned and their structural domains became known, it was thought that the secrets of action of these molecules would be quickly unravelled. Things did not appear all that simple. A large part of the regulatory action cannot be accounted for by simple binding of the receptor to DNA. A mechanism of protein-protein interactions has been . described where receptors and nonreceptor proteins influence the activity of each other in a criss-cross manner TIG NOVEMBER1995 VOL. 11 No. 11

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Humarz Genetics was first published in 1994 and the initial subscription includes a core manual and quarterly supplement update package for one year. Further supplements require an additional annual subscription. The supplements cover new chapters, new sections in existing chapters, updated replacements of sections and the necessarily revised contents and indexes. Subscribers are asked to inform the publishers of errors and corrected pages are distributed with the quarterly supplement. One of the problems associated with publishing sets of protocols in such rapidly developing fields is that they can quickly become dated. Current Protocols could not do more to avoid this by creating this ever expandable and updatable format.

Gill Bates Divisiolzof Medicaland MolecularGenetics, Guy’sHospital,London Bridge, Londoq UK SE19RT.

termed cross-talk of transcription factors (or simply cross-coupling of signal tranduction pathways) It is this new message of transcriptional cross-talk that reverberated through a large part of Vol. 2 and, to some extent, Vol. 1 of Inducible Gene Expression. With three examples from the steroid receptor superfamily covering over a third of the contributions in Vol. 2, attention of the reader is drawn to the functional interplay of transcription factors both in negative and in positive regulation of gene expression. Particularly in the section on thyroid and retinoic acid regulation, the complex and fascinating action of receptor hetero- and homodimers decisive in the activation of distinct promoters have been carefully analysed. The rest of Vol. 2deals with a chain of signal transduction pathways that involve one or more protein kiaases. Whether it is the activation of the factors interacting with the serum response element (SRE) of the Fos gene or the activity of CREM,one of rhe proteins that mediates cyclic-AMP response or the nuclear translocation of DORSAL, in all these cases, protein phosphorylation features prominently. These phosphorylation reactions and the cascade of kiiases that mediate their responses are presented in a lucid and an up-to-date fashion. Evidently, it is not in all instances that the role of phosphorylation has been clearly worked-out. For those cases where this is not the case the limitations have been discussed. The overall arrangement of the chapters in the two books is