Getting germplasm

update Funding for Wisconsin Fast Plants and Bottle Biology has been principally provided by the National Science Foundation, with support from the University of Wisconsin. Additional funding has been provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for the AgriScience Institute (1990-1993), which produced instructional materials, published by the National Association of Biology Teachers, for high school agriculture and science classrooms. Richard Price Homerton College, Cambridge, UK CB2 2PH (~,[email protected])

Paul Williams Dept of Plant Pathology, Universityof Wisconsin - Madison, College of Agriculture& Life Sciences, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA ([email protected])

Dennis Bittisnich Cooperative Centre for Plant Science, Australian National University, GPO Box 475, Canberra, ACT, 2601 Australia ([email protected])

References l Williams, P.H. and Hill, C.B. (1986) Rapid-cyclingpopulations of Brassica, Science 232, 1385-1389 2 Williams, P.H. (1995) Exploring with Wisconsin Fast Plants, Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company 3 Williams, P.H. (1993) Bottle Biology, Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company 4 Williams, P.H. (1994) Using Fast Plants and Bottle Biology in the Classroom, National Association of Biology

Teachers 5 Tomkins, S.P. and Williams, P.H. (1990) Fast plants for finer science: an introduction to the biology of rapid-cycling Brassica campestris (rapa), J. Biol. Educ.

24, 239-250 6 Hewitson, J.F. and Price, R. (1994) Plant mineral nutrition in the classroom, Sch. Sci, Rev. 76, 45-55 7 Miller, M.B. (1993) DNA technology in schools: a straightforward approach, Biotechnol. Educ. 4, 15-21 8 Miller, M.B. (1994) Practical DNA technologyin school, J. Biol. Educ. 28, 203-211 9 Bittisnich, D. and Houghton, F.(1994) Teaching biologywith Fast Plants, Aust. Sci. Teachers J. 40, 47-50 10 Bittisnich, D. and Smith, G. (1995) Teaching and learning biotechnology in Australian schools, Aust. Biotechnol. 5, 16-18

book reviews

Genes to products The Methodology of Plant Genetic Manipulation: Criteria for Decision Making edited by A.C. Cassells and P. W. Jones Kluwer, Developments in Plant Breeding (Vol. 3), 1995. £154.00/$235.00 hbk (x + 476 pages) ISBN 0 7923 3687 9

Some might reasonably argue that plant genetic manipulation must be e a s y - only 13 years have elapsed since the discovery of the technology that makes it possible (the first plant transformation was in 1982) and the launch of the first products of this technical revolution. But those in the know are not fooled. Even though most of the world's important crop species can now be transformed, there are a myriad technical, patent, regulatory and commercial hurdles to be overcome on the path to a new plant product. No one text provides the budding plant biotechnologist, or lecturer who has to teach in this area, with a guide through the process of gene to product. There are plenty of lab manuals that deal with gene huntingoften with direct reference to plants - and with plant transformation. However, to my knowledge, there is nothing that attempts to draw together the early technical phases of a project with the later challenging aspects of bringing the product to the marketplace. At each of the 15 or so steps required to deliver a transgenic plant product 1, there are key decisions to be made. This book's title implies that help is at hand with at least some of these decisions. It is actually a compilation of papers that form the proceedings of a Eucarpia (European Association for Research on Plant Breeding) meeting held at the end of 1994. The papers are reprinted in the exact order that they were first published in Euphytica in 1995. There is no doubting that many of the papers are good; and all are a source of htrther references, albeit now 2 years out of date. The question is whether the stated aims in establishing criteria for decision making are met. The value of the book is clear as a general background source for plant breeders who wish to explore 'nonconventional' approaches to crop improvement, and need help in identifying potential avenues for future investigation. However, many who are more closely involved with plant biotechnology will be misled by the title. Because it is a collection of papers, there is no logical

structure to the chapter headings (although the papers are split into six categories), and there is no index to aid the reader in finding specific topics. It doesn't provide ready access to information on which to base technical decisions, which, considering the title, should be a primary objective. In addition, although plant transformation is well coyered, other areas (such as trait genes) are poorly represented. Overall, this bound collection of papers will be nice for some to have sitting on their bookshelf as a reference, particularly when there is no local library copy of Euphytica. Most readers, though, will be disappointed it fails to deliver the structured description of plant genetic engineering that its title suggests, and that could have been so useful to us all and to our decision making. Andy Greenland Plant Biotechnology,ZENECA Agrochemicals, Jealott's Hill, Bracknell, UK RG42 6EY

References 1 Strauss, S.H. et aL (1995) Genetic engineering of reproductive sterility in forest trees, Mol. Breeding 1, 5-26

Getting germplasm Collecting Plant Genetic Diversity: Technical Guidelines edited by L. Guarino, V.R. Rao and R. Reid CAB International, 1995. £65.00/$120.00 hbk (xx + 748 pages) ISBN 0 85198 964 0

Concerns over genetic erosion and the possible extinction of potentially valuable plant species have renewed interest in the collection of plant germplasm for conservation and breeding away from the natural habitat. Those who believe that acquiring such material is simply a question of arriving in the field and placing a few seeds in a bag, however, should think again. The process of collecting plants is highly complex, and includes strategic, legal, logistic and resource considerations. The need for import licences, and the necessity for material to be passed through quarantine, make collection trips across international boundaries particularly difficult. Thus, even comparatively modest plant collecting expeditions have to be carefully planned and meticulously executed. This book provides a detailed step-bystep guide on how to overcome most of the problems that are likely to face a prospective collector. It is divided into four main July1996,VoL1, No,7

243

update sections, which describe: the preparative phase of an expedition ('Before setting out'); the field activities ('In the field'); data collation and dissemination ('Back at base'); and a series of worked examples ('Case studies'). Each section is further divided into a series of self-contained chapters written by various authors. These can be read in isolation, although the extensive cross-referencing and skilful editing for style and continuity has ensured that, unlike some titles, the book is more than just a collection of invited papers. The editors have defined the scope of each chapter very clearly and there is little duplication of information. Indeed, the abundance of practical information is perhaps the book's most notable asset. Most chapters contain a mixture ofpractical advice and technical information. For example, the contribution by Maxted and Crust ('Aids to taxonomic identification') includes a clear explanation of the different types of identification keys used in the literature, and also gives a critical evaluation of the key-generating programs and interactive, multiaccess ('polyclave') programs that are available commercially. Several chapters also include annexes that contain lists of key references and useful addresses of contacts for further information. Inexperienced workers will find chapter 3 particularly valuable. In it, Engels, Arora and Guarino provide a brief but excellent summary of all the stages involved in planning and executing a collecting trip. The ordering of the succeeding chapters also provides a clear framework on which to base an expedition. I expect that more experienced collectors will be selective in the chapters they choose to read, although the logic of the layout will doubtless provide a useful aid to memory. My only real criticism of the work is purely practical. The book contains over 700 pages and weighs about 1.5 kg. In consequence, it could hardly be described as a convenient item for field work. This can be attributed, in part, to the large quantity of valuable information presented, and to the extensive cross-referencing between chapters (both of which are fully justified). Nevertheless, some chapters could have been more succinct, and I found the repeated attempts to justify germplasm collection and conservation both unnecessary and out of place in an essentially practical work. That said, this is a book that I believe will provide a timely replacement for the fine but now dated works by Frankel and Bennett 1 and by Frankel and Hawkes 2. I anticipate that it will become a standard text for all those seeking to collect plant germplasm, and expect that it will also find 244

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favour amongst workers in related fields such as plant population genetics and plant systematics. M.J. Wilkinson Dept of Agricultural Botany, The Universityof Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 221, Reading, UK RG6 6AS References

1 Frankel, O.H. and Bennett, E., eds (1970) Genetic Resources in Plants - their Exploration and Conservation, Blackwell

2 Frankel, O.H. and Hawkes, J.G., eds (1975) Crop Genetic Resourcesfor Today and Tomorrow, Cambridge University Press

Lichenology transformed Lichen Biology

edited by T.H. Nash, III Cambridge University Press, 1996. £50.00/$69.95 hbk, £16.95/$24.95 pbk (xi + 303 pages) ISBN 0 521 45368 2, 0 521 45974 5

Lichens dominate more of the land surface of Earth than tropical rainforests, involve one in five fungi, serve as bioindicators and sources ofbioactive chemicals, are fascinating ultrastructurally and physiologically, and prompted the term 'symbiosis' to be coined by A.B. Frank in 1877. Why then do lichens receive such scant treatment in plant science and microbiology courses? Until ten years ago, one factor was the lack of modern introductory texts. A trio of such books appeared in 1983-4 (Refs 1-3), but since that time, a topical treatment reflecting the subsequent exciting insights into lichen biology and phylogeny was long overdue. The need for Lichen Biology to have ten contributors results from the subject's exponential growth in the last decade. Fundamental concepts in lichenology have been challenged and transformed. Even the deftnition of ~lichen' has been hotly debated, as mentioned by Nash on the first page of the book- a succinct definition is carefifily avoided. Further on, Nash states that 'lichens are classified as fungi', but R. Honegger writes that'their names refer to the fungal partner'. The latter is correct. Lichens, as composites, have no independent name, the two or more partners each having separate names and phylogenies. The integration of lichen-forming fungi into the general system of ascomycete taxonomy has moved apace, as A. Tehler clearly demonstrates. However, the broad view of

Lecanorales adopted merits further scrutiny, especially as molecular data show how basal some lichenized groups are in ascomycete phylogeny4, and the starting date for their nomenclature is stated to differ from other fimgi - an anomaly corrected in 1987. Tehler includes brief but necessarily superficial diagnoses of orders and families, together with lists of accepted genera; the new Dictionary of the Fungi 5 has fuller descriptions and keys to families. D.J. Galloway's welcome chapter on biogeography shows that one result of the geelogical age and relatively slow rates of evolution of lichen fungi is how widespread some species are compared with plants. The fascihating cladistic approaches in relation to plate tectonics could have usefully been expanded, but Galloway stresses long-distance dispersal and invasive 'weedy' species in forming current patterns. A transformation in the concept of the individual in lichenology is encapsulated in a figure by Honegger. Discrete lobules of Xanthoria parietina are depicted growing independently out of a diffuse and unstructured pre-thallial mixture of algae and fungal hyphae; the lobules are destined to coalesce and form an 'individual' comprising, potentially, genotypically different fungal strains. Lichen population biology is developed further in an innovative chapter by D. Fahselt, discussing isozyme polymorphisms, morphological variation and gene flow. Theories of the origin of the rich secondary chemistry in lichens have also changed. These are now established as products only of the hmgal partner, but then, as J.A. Elix states, it is 'surprising that with more than 630 secondary metabolites known from lichens, most are unique to these organisms and only a small minority (about 50-60) occur in other fungi or higher plants'. However, new evidence for the localization of particular substances within different tissues suggests regulation by the internal environment, and suites of compounds that are closely related biosynthetically ('chemosyndromes') can now be detected. The potential of lichens as a source of bioactive chemicals has been a spur to the development of improved methods to culture both intact lichens and their isolated components; this is reviewed, with practical hints, by Honegger. The possibility of producing synthetic lichens also affords a tool for studies of host specificity and morphogenesis, a theme expanded in a recent but largely complementary text~. Advances in lichen ecophysiology, productivity, nitrogen fixation, rock weathering, mineral accumulation and nutrient cycling are incorporated in a trio of lucid chapters by Nash. A table of values for nitrogen fixation