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Phytohormones and related compounds: A comprehensive treatise, vol. 1. The biochemistry of phytohormones and related compounds
N
TIBS - April 1979
94
Chapter 4 is the most unconventional part of the book, and in my opinion, together with chapter 3, also the best. Chapter 4 probes beyond the visual field allowed by the usual immunoglobulinblinkers of immunologists. It looks at alternative, or additional, mechanisms by which cell membranes may feel their way around in dealing with macromolecules on other cells (be they self or foreign), This means including not only the major histocompatibility systems of vertebrates but also invertebrate cell-cell recognition systems, carbohydrate binding proteins of plant and animal origins, and an excellent account of the fantastic potential for diversity which is invested in the ways by which a low number of monosaccharides can be arranged in the oligosaccharide moiety of glycoproteins or glycolipids of cell membranes. The book is on the whole particularly good in its attempts to integrate current knowledge of immunoglobulins, histocompatibility immunogen-
etics, and cell membrane biology into an evolutionary perspective. In spite of its apparent medical bias the book is in fact very far from being a textbook of clinical immunology. For example, chapter 2 on immunopathology is not so much an application of immunology to disease control as it is an account of ways in which the study of human deviations from normality in the immune apparatus has contributed to current understanding of immunology. Chapter 5 is rather more dogmatic than many tumour biologists would like in respect of the belief that spontaneous tumours are usually immunogenic in their host of origin. Naturally, this belief is indispensable for the further belief in immuno-surveillance, but how well does the latter concept stand up to current facts? Each of the five chapters is composed of four sections, namely (a) Essential Concepts, which present the most important general principles of each subject first,
Scholarship not sacrificed ,for readability Phytohormones and Related Compounds: A Comprehensive Treatise, Vol. 1. The Biochemistry of Phytohormones and Related Compounds edited- by D. S. Letham, P. B. Goodwin and T. J. V. Higgins, published by Elsevierl North- Holland Biomedical Press, Amstetdam, New York and Oxford, 1978. $99.50 (Of/. 224.00) (xxvi + 641 pages) ISBN 0 444 80053 0
I viewed this volume with some apprehension when it first arrived on my desk, for I have come to expect the worst of ‘comprehensive’ surveys of the biochemistry of plant hormones. This is a field of research which has been beset by collectors and cataloguers who show little concern for the functions of the hormones they identify. I need not have feared, for the editors have succeeded in presenting us with an informative and challenging series of reviews which deal not only with the biochemistry, but also begin to probe into the physiological functions of the major and minor phytohormones. Editing this treatise was by no means a sinecure, because the editors themselves have written or contributed to no less than seven of the eleven chapters. It is probably this degree of involvement of the editors that has led to a uniformly high standard
of achievement which is rare in multiauthor works. There are separate chapters dealing with auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins, ethylene and abscisic acid, followed by an invaluable survey of the numerous growth regulators which do not come within these five principal groups. The last four chapters then deal with functions at the subcellular level, covering topics such as receptor sites, action on membranes, organelles and cell walls, and there is a survey of effects on photosynthesis, respiration and several aspects of metabolism. Responses to hormones in terms of enzyme activity are concisely summarized in a nine-page table which deals with over 100 different enzymes. The last two chapters deal with hormone-stimulated acids and postchanges in nucleic transcriptional events. Perhaps the most impressive feature of this book is its readability. An enormous
amount of material drawn from thousands of original papers is presented in a style which will appeal to students, without any sacrifice of the level of scholarship demanded by research workers. The chapter I enjoyed most was the first, entitled ‘Phytohormones in Retrospect’, written by the three editors and J. V. Jacobsen. This is described in the Preface as “a historical and somewhat critical essay which is intended primarily for ‘be
followed by more detailed information in subparagraphs, (b) Selected Bibliography, which is far from exhaustive and not properly correlated with the text but which gives useful suggestions to the reader who wants to know more, (c) Problems, and (d) Answers. The problem (and answer) sections are perhaps the most valuable parts of the book. They take up about one-third of each chapter and range from quite simple problems, which require no more than having read the text contained in Essential Concepts, to real research problems, which are presented in connection with experimental data from the literature. The problem sections do in fact give the reader a good deal of information over and above that contained in the preceding text, but their principal value lies in the intellectual education of problem-solving. MORTEN Morren
Simonsen
SIMONSEN
is Professor
and Chairman of the Institute for Experimental Immunology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
ginners’ “. I suspect that there are pienty of ‘beginners’ that have been immersed in this field for many years who should regard this as compulsory reading; I count myself among them. I have not yet seen volume 2, which promises to probe into the hormonal control of growth and development, and will tackle controversial areas such as ‘florigen’ and the ‘senescence factor’. If it comes up to the high standards of volume 1, the two will soon be regarded as essential reading for plant biochemists and physiologists alike. T. A. MANSFIELD
T. A. Mansfield is Professor of Plant Physiology in the University of Lancaster, U.K.
Book Review Supplement The September issue of Trends in Biochemical Sciences will contain a major book review supplement. Publishers who wish to have their new and forthcoming books considered for review in the supplement are requested to send details to: The Staff Editor, Trends in Biochemical Sciences, Elsevier/North-Holland Biomedical Press, 14A Regent Street, Cambridge CB2 IDB, U.K.
TIBS - April 1979
94
Chapter 4 is the most unconventional part of the book, and in my opinion, together with chapter 3, also the best. Chapter 4 probes beyond the visual field allowed by the usual immunoglobulinblinkers of immunologists. It looks at alternative, or additional, mechanisms by which cell membranes may feel their way around in dealing with macromolecules on other cells (be they self or foreign), This means including not only the major histocompatibility systems of vertebrates but also invertebrate cell-cell recognition systems, carbohydrate binding proteins of plant and animal origins, and an excellent account of the fantastic potential for diversity which is invested in the ways by which a low number of monosaccharides can be arranged in the oligosaccharide moiety of glycoproteins or glycolipids of cell membranes. The book is on the whole particularly good in its attempts to integrate current knowledge of immunoglobulins, histocompatibility immunogen-
etics, and cell membrane biology into an evolutionary perspective. In spite of its apparent medical bias the book is in fact very far from being a textbook of clinical immunology. For example, chapter 2 on immunopathology is not so much an application of immunology to disease control as it is an account of ways in which the study of human deviations from normality in the immune apparatus has contributed to current understanding of immunology. Chapter 5 is rather more dogmatic than many tumour biologists would like in respect of the belief that spontaneous tumours are usually immunogenic in their host of origin. Naturally, this belief is indispensable for the further belief in immuno-surveillance, but how well does the latter concept stand up to current facts? Each of the five chapters is composed of four sections, namely (a) Essential Concepts, which present the most important general principles of each subject first,
Scholarship not sacrificed ,for readability Phytohormones and Related Compounds: A Comprehensive Treatise, Vol. 1. The Biochemistry of Phytohormones and Related Compounds edited- by D. S. Letham, P. B. Goodwin and T. J. V. Higgins, published by Elsevierl North- Holland Biomedical Press, Amstetdam, New York and Oxford, 1978. $99.50 (Of/. 224.00) (xxvi + 641 pages) ISBN 0 444 80053 0
I viewed this volume with some apprehension when it first arrived on my desk, for I have come to expect the worst of ‘comprehensive’ surveys of the biochemistry of plant hormones. This is a field of research which has been beset by collectors and cataloguers who show little concern for the functions of the hormones they identify. I need not have feared, for the editors have succeeded in presenting us with an informative and challenging series of reviews which deal not only with the biochemistry, but also begin to probe into the physiological functions of the major and minor phytohormones. Editing this treatise was by no means a sinecure, because the editors themselves have written or contributed to no less than seven of the eleven chapters. It is probably this degree of involvement of the editors that has led to a uniformly high standard
of achievement which is rare in multiauthor works. There are separate chapters dealing with auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins, ethylene and abscisic acid, followed by an invaluable survey of the numerous growth regulators which do not come within these five principal groups. The last four chapters then deal with functions at the subcellular level, covering topics such as receptor sites, action on membranes, organelles and cell walls, and there is a survey of effects on photosynthesis, respiration and several aspects of metabolism. Responses to hormones in terms of enzyme activity are concisely summarized in a nine-page table which deals with over 100 different enzymes. The last two chapters deal with hormone-stimulated acids and postchanges in nucleic transcriptional events. Perhaps the most impressive feature of this book is its readability. An enormous
amount of material drawn from thousands of original papers is presented in a style which will appeal to students, without any sacrifice of the level of scholarship demanded by research workers. The chapter I enjoyed most was the first, entitled ‘Phytohormones in Retrospect’, written by the three editors and J. V. Jacobsen. This is described in the Preface as “a historical and somewhat critical essay which is intended primarily for ‘be
followed by more detailed information in subparagraphs, (b) Selected Bibliography, which is far from exhaustive and not properly correlated with the text but which gives useful suggestions to the reader who wants to know more, (c) Problems, and (d) Answers. The problem (and answer) sections are perhaps the most valuable parts of the book. They take up about one-third of each chapter and range from quite simple problems, which require no more than having read the text contained in Essential Concepts, to real research problems, which are presented in connection with experimental data from the literature. The problem sections do in fact give the reader a good deal of information over and above that contained in the preceding text, but their principal value lies in the intellectual education of problem-solving. MORTEN Morren
Simonsen
SIMONSEN
is Professor
and Chairman of the Institute for Experimental Immunology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
ginners’ “. I suspect that there are pienty of ‘beginners’ that have been immersed in this field for many years who should regard this as compulsory reading; I count myself among them. I have not yet seen volume 2, which promises to probe into the hormonal control of growth and development, and will tackle controversial areas such as ‘florigen’ and the ‘senescence factor’. If it comes up to the high standards of volume 1, the two will soon be regarded as essential reading for plant biochemists and physiologists alike. T. A. MANSFIELD
T. A. Mansfield is Professor of Plant Physiology in the University of Lancaster, U.K.
Book Review Supplement The September issue of Trends in Biochemical Sciences will contain a major book review supplement. Publishers who wish to have their new and forthcoming books considered for review in the supplement are requested to send details to: The Staff Editor, Trends in Biochemical Sciences, Elsevier/North-Holland Biomedical Press, 14A Regent Street, Cambridge CB2 IDB, U.K.