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Neuromethods, Vol. 16: Molecular Neurobiological techniques
Gene, 88 (1990) 127-130 Elsevier
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GENE 03469
Book Reviews F.M. Ausubel, R. Brent, R.E. Kingston, D.D. Moore, LG. Seidman, LA. Smith, K. Struhl (Eds.) [with P. Wang-Iverson and S.G. Bonitz]: Short Protocols in Molecular Biology. A Compendium of Methods from Current Protocols in Molecular Biology. Greene Publ. and John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1989, xxii + 38"/pp. ($39.95) ISBN 04"/1-514"/0-5. The new compendium includes all basic techniques described in CurrentProtocols in Molecular Biology, chapters I to 10, plus any revisions and corrections that have been incorporated within the first two years of updating. The following topics are covered in this manual: Eschevichia coli plasmids and bacteriophages; preparation and analysis of DNA; enzymatic manipulation of DNA and RNA; preparation and analysis of RNA; construction of recombinant DNA libraries; screening recombinant DNA libraries; DNA sequencing; mutagenesis of cloned DNA; introduction of DNA into mammalian cells; and analysis of proteins. Appendices include information on reagents and solutions, standard measurements, abbreviations, commonly used biochemical techniques, selected suppliers of reagents and equipment, references. A short, but also incomplete list of key references follows. This version of the Current Protocols in Molecular Biology should be a very useful manual for all students of genetic engineering, at a rather affordable price.
D.E. Berg and M.M. Howe (Eds.): Mobile DNA. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC, 1989, xii + 9"/2 pp. (ASM member $75.00, nonmember $95.00) ISBN 1-55581-005-5. Seventy contributors to this book wrote 43 chapters, which cover the transposon field starting with viruses and simple prokaryotes through Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Drosophila melanogaster and up to mammals, documenting the amazing mobility of DNA. According to the editors, this book describes the 'ability of various DNA segments to move to new sites, to invert and to undergo deletion or amplification, generally without the extensive nucleotide sequence homology needed for classical recombination. Its chapters describe the variety of mechanisms by which these rearrangements occur, how they are regulated, their biological consequences, and ways in which transposable elements can be exploited as potent research tools'. The book consists of the following chapters: regulation of bacteriophage Z site-specific recombination; bacteriophage Mu; retroviruses; bacterial insertion sequences; Tn3 and related
transposable elements: site-specific recombination and transposition, transposons TnS, "In? and Tnl0; transposable elements in Gram + bacteria; SLPI: a paradigm for plasmids that site-specifically integrate in Actinomycetes; transposable elements and genome structure in halobacteria; Agrobacte~qum~ plant cell DNA transfer; transposable elements in Saccharomyces cemvisiae; maize transposable elements; consequences and mechanisms of transposition in Antirrhinum majus; P elements in DmsophYa melanogaster; retrotransposons and the FB transposon from Drosophila melanogaster; the I factor and I-R hybrid dysgenesis in Drosoph~ melanogaster; F and related elements in Drosophila melanogaster; the transposable element hobo ofDrosophila melanogaster; transposable element marinerin Drosophila species; mobile elements in Caenorhabch'tis elegans and other nematodes; mobile genetic elements in the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum; transposable elements in Xenopus species; TU elements and puppy sequences; LINEs and related retroposons: long interspersed repeated sequences in the eukaryotic genome; SINEs: short interspersed repeated DNA elements in higher eukaryotes; bacterial DNA inversion systems; DNA inversion in the 2 pm plasmid of Saccharomyces cere~siae; the interconversion of yeast mating type: Saccharomyces ceeev[siaeand $chizosaccharomycespombe ; immunogiobulin heavy-chain class switching; site-specific chromosome breakage and DNA deletion in ciliates; excision of elements interrupting nitrogen fixation operons in cyanobacteria; mechanisms for variation of pili and outer membrane protein II in Neisse~a gonorrhoeae; DNA rearrangements and antigenic variation in African trypanosomes; antigenic variation in relapsing fever Borrelia species: genetic aspects, high.frequency switching in Candida albicans; illegitimate recombination in bacteria, illegitimate recombination in mammalian cells; mitochondrial DNA instabilities and rearrangements in yeasts ~ d fungi; transposable elements and the genetic engineering of bacteria; retroviral tagging in mammalian development and genetics; and population dynamics of transposable elements. The editors should be congratulated on this carefully prepared and very timely opus.
A.A. Boulton, G.B. Baker and A.T. Campagnoni (Eds.): Neuromethods, Vol. 16: Molecular Neurobiological Techniques. The Humana Press, Inc., Crescent Manor, Clifton, NJ, 1990, xviii + 295 pp. ($59.50) ISBN 0-89603-140-3. Molecular Neurobiological Techniques is the sixteenth vol-
128
ume from the Neummethods series (Program Editors: A.A. Boulton and G.B. Baker). This book seems to be an essential handbook not only for neuroscientists who would like to apply molecular biology to their investigation, but also for the molecular biologist who would like to study neurobiology. Nineteen contributors discuss the following topics: analysis of brain mRNAs by translation in vitro, preparation of cDNA libraries and isolation and analysis of specific clones, preparation and use of subtractive cDNA hybridization probes for cDNA cloning, analysis of brainspecific gene products, isolation and structure determination of genes, gene-mapping techniques, methods for genetic linkage analyses, linkage analysis and immortalization of neural cells via retrovirus vectors, transgenic mice in neurobiological research, and in situ hybridization. Each chapter contains not only a theoretical overview, but also very detailed protocols and description of methodologies. The book is written by experts who recognize the necessity of applying techniques used in molecular biology to modern neuroscience.
A.H.D. Brown, M.T. Clegg, A.L. Kahler and B.S. Weir (Eds.): Plant Population Genetics, Breeding, and Genetic Resources. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Publishers, Sunderland, MA, 1990, xii + 449 pp. ($36.00 - paper; $60.00 c l o t h ) ISBN 0-87893-117-1, 0-87893-116.3. This volume grew out of a symposium organized at Davis, California in 1988 to review the status and future prospects of plant population genetics. The book contains three main sections: Section 1 --genetic diversity: kinds and amounts; Section 2 - - evolutionary processes; and Section 3 - - applications in plant breeding and genetic resources. It starts with discussing future directions in plant population genetics, evolution, and breeding, and is followed by chapters written by 26 contributors from different countries, whose goal was to stimulate students of genetics to enter plant population genetics and also to provide a guide to current issues, unsolved problems and research opportunities in the field of plant population genetics.
A. Bubel (illustrations by C. Fitzsimons): Microstructure and Function of Cells. Electron Micrographs of Cell Ultrastructure. Ellis Horwood Ltd., Chichester; Hals~d Press, division of John Wiley & Sons Ltd. New York, 1989, 276 pp. ($69.95) ISBN 0470-21176-8. This is one of the books from the Ellis Horwood series in life sciences and is intended by the author 'as a textbook for college and university courses in cell biology and for students who wish to gain a general view of modern cell biology for purposes of teaching or investigations in other fields, such as medicine, physiology, veterinary medicine,
general biology, zoology and botany', k contains 181 figures illustrating the structure and function of organeiles, cells and tissues ofboth animals and plants. The following topics are discussed in the text: cell structure, plasma membrane, intercellular junctions, microvilli, cytospines, nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum and ribosomes, annulate lamellae, Golgi complex, mitochondfia, lysosomes, pinocytosis (endocytosis) and phagocytosis, cilia (flagella), ceil web (terminal web), microtubules, basement membrane, connective tissue, epithelial cells, tendon cells, reflector cells, sensory cells, gland cells, transporting cells, respiratory tissue, nervous tissue, muscle tissue, muscle connective tissue, neuromuscular junctions, myoblasts, vascular system, gametogenesis, chloroplasts, sieve tubes, bacteria, viruses, cell death.
J.W. Dale: Molecular Genetics of Bacteria. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, U.K., 1989, vii + 222 pp. ($27.95) ISBN 0471-92209-9. According to the author 'this book is addressed primarily to the multitude of students for whom genetics is just one of many subjects that has to be undergone in order to achieve, ultimately, some qualifications or other'. The following topics, which just scratch the surface of the subject, are covered in this volume: nucleic acid structure and function, methods and terminology, causes of variation, gene transfer, regulation of gene expression, genetics of bacteriophages and other viruses, extrachromosomal inheritance, movable genes, genetics applied to strain development and to gene cloning. The text is followed by five appendices, including 18 references to various books and reviews and an index, There are no references in the text, which makes it very difficult to check the veracity of information contained in this gospel-like book.
D.L. Hartl and A.G. Clark: Principlesof Population Genetics (Second edition). Sinauer Associates, Inc., Publishers, Sunderland, MA, 1989, xiii + 682 ($39.95 cloth) ISBN 0-87893-302-6. This second edition of Principles of Population Genetics is a comprehensive revision and update. It is intended for use in a primer course in population genetics taken by upperlevel undergraduates and beginning graduate students who have some background in genetics and population biology. The book contains the following nine chapters: Darwinian evolution in Mendelian populations, random genetic drift, mutation and the natural theory, natural selection, inbreeding and other forms of nonrandom mating, population subdivision and migration, molecular population genetics, evolutionary genetics of quantitative characters, and ecological genetics and speciation. It ends with suggestions for
127
GENE 03469
Book Reviews F.M. Ausubel, R. Brent, R.E. Kingston, D.D. Moore, LG. Seidman, LA. Smith, K. Struhl (Eds.) [with P. Wang-Iverson and S.G. Bonitz]: Short Protocols in Molecular Biology. A Compendium of Methods from Current Protocols in Molecular Biology. Greene Publ. and John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1989, xxii + 38"/pp. ($39.95) ISBN 04"/1-514"/0-5. The new compendium includes all basic techniques described in CurrentProtocols in Molecular Biology, chapters I to 10, plus any revisions and corrections that have been incorporated within the first two years of updating. The following topics are covered in this manual: Eschevichia coli plasmids and bacteriophages; preparation and analysis of DNA; enzymatic manipulation of DNA and RNA; preparation and analysis of RNA; construction of recombinant DNA libraries; screening recombinant DNA libraries; DNA sequencing; mutagenesis of cloned DNA; introduction of DNA into mammalian cells; and analysis of proteins. Appendices include information on reagents and solutions, standard measurements, abbreviations, commonly used biochemical techniques, selected suppliers of reagents and equipment, references. A short, but also incomplete list of key references follows. This version of the Current Protocols in Molecular Biology should be a very useful manual for all students of genetic engineering, at a rather affordable price.
D.E. Berg and M.M. Howe (Eds.): Mobile DNA. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC, 1989, xii + 9"/2 pp. (ASM member $75.00, nonmember $95.00) ISBN 1-55581-005-5. Seventy contributors to this book wrote 43 chapters, which cover the transposon field starting with viruses and simple prokaryotes through Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Drosophila melanogaster and up to mammals, documenting the amazing mobility of DNA. According to the editors, this book describes the 'ability of various DNA segments to move to new sites, to invert and to undergo deletion or amplification, generally without the extensive nucleotide sequence homology needed for classical recombination. Its chapters describe the variety of mechanisms by which these rearrangements occur, how they are regulated, their biological consequences, and ways in which transposable elements can be exploited as potent research tools'. The book consists of the following chapters: regulation of bacteriophage Z site-specific recombination; bacteriophage Mu; retroviruses; bacterial insertion sequences; Tn3 and related
transposable elements: site-specific recombination and transposition, transposons TnS, "In? and Tnl0; transposable elements in Gram + bacteria; SLPI: a paradigm for plasmids that site-specifically integrate in Actinomycetes; transposable elements and genome structure in halobacteria; Agrobacte~qum~ plant cell DNA transfer; transposable elements in Saccharomyces cemvisiae; maize transposable elements; consequences and mechanisms of transposition in Antirrhinum majus; P elements in DmsophYa melanogaster; retrotransposons and the FB transposon from Drosophila melanogaster; the I factor and I-R hybrid dysgenesis in Drosoph~ melanogaster; F and related elements in Drosophila melanogaster; the transposable element hobo ofDrosophila melanogaster; transposable element marinerin Drosophila species; mobile elements in Caenorhabch'tis elegans and other nematodes; mobile genetic elements in the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum; transposable elements in Xenopus species; TU elements and puppy sequences; LINEs and related retroposons: long interspersed repeated sequences in the eukaryotic genome; SINEs: short interspersed repeated DNA elements in higher eukaryotes; bacterial DNA inversion systems; DNA inversion in the 2 pm plasmid of Saccharomyces cere~siae; the interconversion of yeast mating type: Saccharomyces ceeev[siaeand $chizosaccharomycespombe ; immunogiobulin heavy-chain class switching; site-specific chromosome breakage and DNA deletion in ciliates; excision of elements interrupting nitrogen fixation operons in cyanobacteria; mechanisms for variation of pili and outer membrane protein II in Neisse~a gonorrhoeae; DNA rearrangements and antigenic variation in African trypanosomes; antigenic variation in relapsing fever Borrelia species: genetic aspects, high.frequency switching in Candida albicans; illegitimate recombination in bacteria, illegitimate recombination in mammalian cells; mitochondrial DNA instabilities and rearrangements in yeasts ~ d fungi; transposable elements and the genetic engineering of bacteria; retroviral tagging in mammalian development and genetics; and population dynamics of transposable elements. The editors should be congratulated on this carefully prepared and very timely opus.
A.A. Boulton, G.B. Baker and A.T. Campagnoni (Eds.): Neuromethods, Vol. 16: Molecular Neurobiological Techniques. The Humana Press, Inc., Crescent Manor, Clifton, NJ, 1990, xviii + 295 pp. ($59.50) ISBN 0-89603-140-3. Molecular Neurobiological Techniques is the sixteenth vol-
128
ume from the Neummethods series (Program Editors: A.A. Boulton and G.B. Baker). This book seems to be an essential handbook not only for neuroscientists who would like to apply molecular biology to their investigation, but also for the molecular biologist who would like to study neurobiology. Nineteen contributors discuss the following topics: analysis of brain mRNAs by translation in vitro, preparation of cDNA libraries and isolation and analysis of specific clones, preparation and use of subtractive cDNA hybridization probes for cDNA cloning, analysis of brainspecific gene products, isolation and structure determination of genes, gene-mapping techniques, methods for genetic linkage analyses, linkage analysis and immortalization of neural cells via retrovirus vectors, transgenic mice in neurobiological research, and in situ hybridization. Each chapter contains not only a theoretical overview, but also very detailed protocols and description of methodologies. The book is written by experts who recognize the necessity of applying techniques used in molecular biology to modern neuroscience.
A.H.D. Brown, M.T. Clegg, A.L. Kahler and B.S. Weir (Eds.): Plant Population Genetics, Breeding, and Genetic Resources. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Publishers, Sunderland, MA, 1990, xii + 449 pp. ($36.00 - paper; $60.00 c l o t h ) ISBN 0-87893-117-1, 0-87893-116.3. This volume grew out of a symposium organized at Davis, California in 1988 to review the status and future prospects of plant population genetics. The book contains three main sections: Section 1 --genetic diversity: kinds and amounts; Section 2 - - evolutionary processes; and Section 3 - - applications in plant breeding and genetic resources. It starts with discussing future directions in plant population genetics, evolution, and breeding, and is followed by chapters written by 26 contributors from different countries, whose goal was to stimulate students of genetics to enter plant population genetics and also to provide a guide to current issues, unsolved problems and research opportunities in the field of plant population genetics.
A. Bubel (illustrations by C. Fitzsimons): Microstructure and Function of Cells. Electron Micrographs of Cell Ultrastructure. Ellis Horwood Ltd., Chichester; Hals~d Press, division of John Wiley & Sons Ltd. New York, 1989, 276 pp. ($69.95) ISBN 0470-21176-8. This is one of the books from the Ellis Horwood series in life sciences and is intended by the author 'as a textbook for college and university courses in cell biology and for students who wish to gain a general view of modern cell biology for purposes of teaching or investigations in other fields, such as medicine, physiology, veterinary medicine,
general biology, zoology and botany', k contains 181 figures illustrating the structure and function of organeiles, cells and tissues ofboth animals and plants. The following topics are discussed in the text: cell structure, plasma membrane, intercellular junctions, microvilli, cytospines, nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum and ribosomes, annulate lamellae, Golgi complex, mitochondfia, lysosomes, pinocytosis (endocytosis) and phagocytosis, cilia (flagella), ceil web (terminal web), microtubules, basement membrane, connective tissue, epithelial cells, tendon cells, reflector cells, sensory cells, gland cells, transporting cells, respiratory tissue, nervous tissue, muscle tissue, muscle connective tissue, neuromuscular junctions, myoblasts, vascular system, gametogenesis, chloroplasts, sieve tubes, bacteria, viruses, cell death.
J.W. Dale: Molecular Genetics of Bacteria. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, U.K., 1989, vii + 222 pp. ($27.95) ISBN 0471-92209-9. According to the author 'this book is addressed primarily to the multitude of students for whom genetics is just one of many subjects that has to be undergone in order to achieve, ultimately, some qualifications or other'. The following topics, which just scratch the surface of the subject, are covered in this volume: nucleic acid structure and function, methods and terminology, causes of variation, gene transfer, regulation of gene expression, genetics of bacteriophages and other viruses, extrachromosomal inheritance, movable genes, genetics applied to strain development and to gene cloning. The text is followed by five appendices, including 18 references to various books and reviews and an index, There are no references in the text, which makes it very difficult to check the veracity of information contained in this gospel-like book.
D.L. Hartl and A.G. Clark: Principlesof Population Genetics (Second edition). Sinauer Associates, Inc., Publishers, Sunderland, MA, 1989, xiii + 682 ($39.95 cloth) ISBN 0-87893-302-6. This second edition of Principles of Population Genetics is a comprehensive revision and update. It is intended for use in a primer course in population genetics taken by upperlevel undergraduates and beginning graduate students who have some background in genetics and population biology. The book contains the following nine chapters: Darwinian evolution in Mendelian populations, random genetic drift, mutation and the natural theory, natural selection, inbreeding and other forms of nonrandom mating, population subdivision and migration, molecular population genetics, evolutionary genetics of quantitative characters, and ecological genetics and speciation. It ends with suggestions for