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Plant tissue culture: A classified bibliography
312
icals) in combination with in vitro culture techniques for generating variability or mutations. In this case, it is emphasized that the evaluation of induced variation should be done taking into account the spontaneously occurring variation and the genetic background damage due to the mutagenic treatment. Analysis of the stability of expression of variant phenotypes in subsequent generations is considered highly desirable. Furthermore, the need for improved techniques of in vitro culture, plant regeneration and quick mass propagation of new promising genotypes for extensive field-testing is stressed. Finally, some papers and posters deal with genetic engineering of nuclear and cytoplasmic genes through various cellular and molecular methods, such as protoplast fusion, asymmetric hybridization and DNA transformation. It was clear that in all these methods, the availability of markers (phenotypic, genetic/cytological, molecular) is a prerequisite for selection and identification of the transferred genetic material. It has been shown that besides vectors, micromanipulation involving immobilization of protoplasts and DNA microinjection is a promising approach for transformation of plants. The results, scattered in various reports, suggest the potential use of genetic manipulation methods for crop improvement. A better understanding of gene expression and the development of efficient gene transfer techniques are necessary to achieve practical applications in this field. This book is recommended to all those research scientists, with either academic or commercial interests or both, as a practical and theoretical guide to the use of nuclear and in vitro culture techniques in plant improvement. K. SREE RAMULU Research Institute Ital P.O. Box 48 6700 AA Wageningen The Netherlands
PLANT TISSUE CULTURE BIBLIOGRAPHY
Plant Tissue Culture: A Classified Bibliography by S.S. Bhojwani, V. Dhawan and E.C. Cocking. Elsevier, Amsterdam, Oxford, New York, Tokyo, 1986, 789 pp., index to plant names, US $179.75, ISBN 0-444-42663-9. Considering the enormous flood of publications in the form of articles in journals, congress reports, books, etc., it is practically impossible, even in a limited area, to gather and collate all incoming information. Very useful aids to study are the bibliographies, either compiled manually or with the help of a computer. This new bibliography on plant tissue culture is the third that has appeared since Brown and Summer (1974) published their bibliography on gymnosperm
313
tissue culture, and Pierik (1979) published his plant tissue culture bibliography entitled In vitro culture of higher plants. A comparison between the bibliography of Bhojwani et al. (B) and Pierik (P) will illustrate the value and advantages of this new publication. P made use of the computer, which is less accurate and less complete than the system used by B (checking each periodical and book manually). B's book covers all aspects of plant tissue culture of higher plants, whereas P's bibliography was restricted to more practical applications; therefore, B's work is far more complete. B cites full titles, whereas P classified in principle only by journal, book and author's name. B's bibliography (1986) contains 12 000 citations (up to 1984-1986 ); P's book only contained 2400 (up to 1979). Considering the prices and contents (number of citations ) of the two books, it can be concluded that B's bibliography is not extraordinarily expensive. In Bhojwani's bibliography, 12 000 citations with full titles have been classified under the following headings: general techniques and media; cell culture; callus culture; cytology and cytogenetics; cytodifferentiation; regeneration; somatic embryogenesis; anther and pollen culture; gymnosperm and gametophyte culture; endosperm culture; flower, ovary and ovule culture; in vitro pollination; embryo culture; protoplast isolation and culture; protoplast manipulation and genetic engineering; variant/mutant selection; production of pathogen-free plants; micropropagation; germplasm storage; production of industrial compounds; morphogenesis; plant pathology and microbiology; root culture; physiology and biochemistry; specific crops; general articles; books. Under each subject heading, authors are listed alphabetically and chronologically. All references (abstracts are not included) on a page are numbered so that the switch from a plant name in the plant index to a certain citation is easy. An extensive index to plant names at the end of the book refers the reader to the relevant subject headings. The question of whether all classical books and standard periodicals were scrutinized is not easy to answer. A critical check demonstrated that only a few important English handbooks are missing: Arditti (1977, 1982), de Fossard (1976, 1977), Gamborg and Wetter (1975), Gustafson (1984) and Withner (1974). Three important French and 2 German handbooks were also missing. The overall conclusion is that the authors, citing 95 books, have covered the plant tissue culture books very well. The impressive list of periodicals surveyed suggests that most of the relevant ones are covered in this bibliography. A critical check showed that a few important journals are missing: 7 English, 7 French, 3 German, 3 Russian, 1 Chinese, 1 Japanese, 1 Polish and 1 Scandinavian. Despite these shortcomings, the overall conclusion concerning the periodicals is positive, since the authors checked a total of 127 periodicals. It is a pity that the following important journals are missing: Comptes Rendus Academie Sciences Paris; Combined
314
Proceedings Plant Propagators Society; Journal Japanese Society Horticultural Science. Finally, the authors should be congratulated on the completion of their enormous task of composing this bibliography. The value of such a work is enormous, as judged by the reactions I got to my bibliography of 1979 with only 2400 citations. The authors do not claim that it is complete, and it is a good idea of the Editor in Chief to update this bibliography with a supplement after 2 years. My advice is to seek a number of tissue-culture specialists (with knowledge of French, German, Russian, etc. ) to make this bibliography really as complete as possible. A few senior specialists could possibly enlarge the bibliography with important older literature, especially in the French language. Another piece of advice is not to include only articles with an English summary, because there are tissue culturists who speak more languages. R.L.M. PIERIK
Department of Horticulture Agricultural University Wageningen The Netherlands
EMBRYOGENESIS IN ANGIOSPERMS
Embryogenesis in Angiosperms: A Developmental and Experimental Study, by J. Raghavan. Developmental and Cell Biology Series 17, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, London, New York, New Rochelle, Melbourne, Sydney, 1986, 303 pp., 34 figs., author and subject index, £27.50/US$39.50, ISBN 0-521-26771-4. This book on embryogenesis in angiosperms is in fact the successor to Raghavan's first book on Experimental Embryogenesis in Vascular Plants, published by Academic Press in 1976. Although his first book on the subject contained 603 pages, this contains only 302 pages, a reduction of 50%, despite the enormous developments which have taken place from 1976 to 1986. The intention to produce a condensed book is the reason for the reduction. The author has mainly concentrated on papers published between 1976 and 1986, although many publications from before 1976 have been included to give an up-to-date review of embryogenesis. Raghavan's intention was to write a book on plant embryogenesis with a multi-disciplinary approach that deals with the normal development of the embryo as well as with the apparently similar processes that form embryo-like structures from somatic cells and pollen grains. The author, an expert in this field, has been successful in presenting an integrated version of all the facts about the morphology, ontogeny, biochemistry and genetics of the different
icals) in combination with in vitro culture techniques for generating variability or mutations. In this case, it is emphasized that the evaluation of induced variation should be done taking into account the spontaneously occurring variation and the genetic background damage due to the mutagenic treatment. Analysis of the stability of expression of variant phenotypes in subsequent generations is considered highly desirable. Furthermore, the need for improved techniques of in vitro culture, plant regeneration and quick mass propagation of new promising genotypes for extensive field-testing is stressed. Finally, some papers and posters deal with genetic engineering of nuclear and cytoplasmic genes through various cellular and molecular methods, such as protoplast fusion, asymmetric hybridization and DNA transformation. It was clear that in all these methods, the availability of markers (phenotypic, genetic/cytological, molecular) is a prerequisite for selection and identification of the transferred genetic material. It has been shown that besides vectors, micromanipulation involving immobilization of protoplasts and DNA microinjection is a promising approach for transformation of plants. The results, scattered in various reports, suggest the potential use of genetic manipulation methods for crop improvement. A better understanding of gene expression and the development of efficient gene transfer techniques are necessary to achieve practical applications in this field. This book is recommended to all those research scientists, with either academic or commercial interests or both, as a practical and theoretical guide to the use of nuclear and in vitro culture techniques in plant improvement. K. SREE RAMULU Research Institute Ital P.O. Box 48 6700 AA Wageningen The Netherlands
PLANT TISSUE CULTURE BIBLIOGRAPHY
Plant Tissue Culture: A Classified Bibliography by S.S. Bhojwani, V. Dhawan and E.C. Cocking. Elsevier, Amsterdam, Oxford, New York, Tokyo, 1986, 789 pp., index to plant names, US $179.75, ISBN 0-444-42663-9. Considering the enormous flood of publications in the form of articles in journals, congress reports, books, etc., it is practically impossible, even in a limited area, to gather and collate all incoming information. Very useful aids to study are the bibliographies, either compiled manually or with the help of a computer. This new bibliography on plant tissue culture is the third that has appeared since Brown and Summer (1974) published their bibliography on gymnosperm
313
tissue culture, and Pierik (1979) published his plant tissue culture bibliography entitled In vitro culture of higher plants. A comparison between the bibliography of Bhojwani et al. (B) and Pierik (P) will illustrate the value and advantages of this new publication. P made use of the computer, which is less accurate and less complete than the system used by B (checking each periodical and book manually). B's book covers all aspects of plant tissue culture of higher plants, whereas P's bibliography was restricted to more practical applications; therefore, B's work is far more complete. B cites full titles, whereas P classified in principle only by journal, book and author's name. B's bibliography (1986) contains 12 000 citations (up to 1984-1986 ); P's book only contained 2400 (up to 1979). Considering the prices and contents (number of citations ) of the two books, it can be concluded that B's bibliography is not extraordinarily expensive. In Bhojwani's bibliography, 12 000 citations with full titles have been classified under the following headings: general techniques and media; cell culture; callus culture; cytology and cytogenetics; cytodifferentiation; regeneration; somatic embryogenesis; anther and pollen culture; gymnosperm and gametophyte culture; endosperm culture; flower, ovary and ovule culture; in vitro pollination; embryo culture; protoplast isolation and culture; protoplast manipulation and genetic engineering; variant/mutant selection; production of pathogen-free plants; micropropagation; germplasm storage; production of industrial compounds; morphogenesis; plant pathology and microbiology; root culture; physiology and biochemistry; specific crops; general articles; books. Under each subject heading, authors are listed alphabetically and chronologically. All references (abstracts are not included) on a page are numbered so that the switch from a plant name in the plant index to a certain citation is easy. An extensive index to plant names at the end of the book refers the reader to the relevant subject headings. The question of whether all classical books and standard periodicals were scrutinized is not easy to answer. A critical check demonstrated that only a few important English handbooks are missing: Arditti (1977, 1982), de Fossard (1976, 1977), Gamborg and Wetter (1975), Gustafson (1984) and Withner (1974). Three important French and 2 German handbooks were also missing. The overall conclusion is that the authors, citing 95 books, have covered the plant tissue culture books very well. The impressive list of periodicals surveyed suggests that most of the relevant ones are covered in this bibliography. A critical check showed that a few important journals are missing: 7 English, 7 French, 3 German, 3 Russian, 1 Chinese, 1 Japanese, 1 Polish and 1 Scandinavian. Despite these shortcomings, the overall conclusion concerning the periodicals is positive, since the authors checked a total of 127 periodicals. It is a pity that the following important journals are missing: Comptes Rendus Academie Sciences Paris; Combined
314
Proceedings Plant Propagators Society; Journal Japanese Society Horticultural Science. Finally, the authors should be congratulated on the completion of their enormous task of composing this bibliography. The value of such a work is enormous, as judged by the reactions I got to my bibliography of 1979 with only 2400 citations. The authors do not claim that it is complete, and it is a good idea of the Editor in Chief to update this bibliography with a supplement after 2 years. My advice is to seek a number of tissue-culture specialists (with knowledge of French, German, Russian, etc. ) to make this bibliography really as complete as possible. A few senior specialists could possibly enlarge the bibliography with important older literature, especially in the French language. Another piece of advice is not to include only articles with an English summary, because there are tissue culturists who speak more languages. R.L.M. PIERIK
Department of Horticulture Agricultural University Wageningen The Netherlands
EMBRYOGENESIS IN ANGIOSPERMS
Embryogenesis in Angiosperms: A Developmental and Experimental Study, by J. Raghavan. Developmental and Cell Biology Series 17, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, London, New York, New Rochelle, Melbourne, Sydney, 1986, 303 pp., 34 figs., author and subject index, £27.50/US$39.50, ISBN 0-521-26771-4. This book on embryogenesis in angiosperms is in fact the successor to Raghavan's first book on Experimental Embryogenesis in Vascular Plants, published by Academic Press in 1976. Although his first book on the subject contained 603 pages, this contains only 302 pages, a reduction of 50%, despite the enormous developments which have taken place from 1976 to 1986. The intention to produce a condensed book is the reason for the reduction. The author has mainly concentrated on papers published between 1976 and 1986, although many publications from before 1976 have been included to give an up-to-date review of embryogenesis. Raghavan's intention was to write a book on plant embryogenesis with a multi-disciplinary approach that deals with the normal development of the embryo as well as with the apparently similar processes that form embryo-like structures from somatic cells and pollen grains. The author, an expert in this field, has been successful in presenting an integrated version of all the facts about the morphology, ontogeny, biochemistry and genetics of the different