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The biology of the chemotactic response — Society for experimental biology seminar series 12
229
TIBS -June 1982
Good but unbalanced review of chemotaxis The Biology o f the Chemotactic Response - Society for Experimental Biology Seminar Series 12
edited by J. M. Lackie and P. C. Wilkinson, Cambridge University Press, 1982. £20.00 (hardback) £8.95 (paperback) (xiii + 177 pages) 1SBN 0 521 23305 4 (hard) 0 521 298970 (paper) This book is the result of a Society of Experimental Biology meeting in Aberdeen in 1980, the review papers from which have been written as Volume 12, of these B seminar series. 'The Biology of the Chemotactic Response'. This series is produced to provide an introduction to specific topics, but at a not-too-simple level. Most books that result from meetings are difficult to review because they are invariably highly specialized, very variable in the standard of their writing, and expensive. This book has been difficult to review for very different reasons, it is relatively inexpensive (£8 paperback), the content of each chapter is not obscure and each chapter is excellently written; the problem is with the balance of the book, which makes the title misleading. It deals only with unicellular chemotaxis, and at least half the book centres on leucocyte motility and taxis. Although leucocyte chemotaxis is a well studied field and principles established in it may well have a lot of bearing on reception and response in many other systems it seems somewhat unbalanced to spend half a book on leucocyte motility and chemotaxis and only part of one chapter on flagellate protozoan motility. As a result some chapters cover all aspects of motility and
chemotaxis in one group of organisms, while other chapters concentrate on one small area of leucocyte motility and response. The first chapter concerns the theoretical problems involved in interpreting patterns of movement in populations of cells. Theoretical papers on tactic responses are often difficult to follow but this review, although concentrating on leucocytes and fibroblasts, is presented in a way which makes extrapolation to the directed behaviour of other organisms straightforward. The next three reviews cover different aspects of the motile and chemotactic behaviour of leucocytes and together provide an excellent overview of the current state of the field, although I was disappointed to see that none of the authors tackled the controversial problem of what type of signal is sent from the cell surface receptors to control the direction of motility and how the change in cytoskeleton may come about. One review deals with the relationship between surface adhesion and chemotaxis and chemokinetic responses in leucocytes. The next chapter tackles what type of chemoeffector brings about each of these responses, concentrating on formylated peptides and the complement derived chemotactic peptide C5a, and the third chapter on leucocytes deals with the role played by receptor occupancy in eliciting a response. The last half of the book covers many diverse aspects of chemotaxis among unicellular organisms. Peter Newell covers
Comprehensive muscle contraction The Structural Basis of Muscular Contraction
by John Squire, Plenum Press, 1981. $65.00 (xvii + 698 pages) ISBN 0 306 40582 2 A number of books have appeared in recent years that present topics and ideas in the area of muscle contraction from a biochemical or physiological point of view. The particular value of Squire's book is that it presents muscular contraction from a structural point of view. In order to accomplish this he presents a number of topics which were previously available only in specialized journals or texts. Topics such as diffraction by helical structures, image averaging by optical diffraction, and detailed models of
myosin filaments are thus made accessible to non-specialists. While as stated by the author in his preface this is not an 'introductory text', it is nevertheless written in such a way that those interested in muscle contraction can, with a little effort, become well informed in areas of muscle structure. The author's main goal, that of providing a stimulus for thought and future work, is generally attained. The book opens with an elementary introduction to muscle physiology and proceeds, in the second chapter, to present a review of x-ray diffraction theory and methods as applied to muscle research. This chapter is difficult for the nonspecialist and is therefore most useful for individuals familiar with this material. Chapter Three is a useful review of pre-
the fascinating world of the cellular slime moulds, reviewing the field from the viewpoint of chemotactic involvement in all phases of their life cycle, feeding, aggregating and within aggregates, presenting the evidence and problems of each stage. It is then left to Gooday to review chemotaxis in the rest of eukaryotic microbes, a task which he accomplishes well, although obviously in less detail than some of the previous chapters, choosing diverse examples of organisms and chemotactic systems. The final two chapters are given over to a field often ignored by eukaryotic microbiologists but one in which a complete system, from the genetics though the biochemistry and biophysics, of the response and adaptation processes is much closer to being described. Hazelbauer writes an excellent chapter succinctly describing all aspects of the behaviour of flagellate bacteria. This is followed by the final chapter on the gliding bacterium Myxococcus and the aspects of gliding involved in normal motility and aggregation. Although it may eventually be shown that, at a molecular level, there is much in common between all types of receptorlinked phenomena, in higher organisms as well as microorganisms, there is no real feeling of unity within this book. It is a book for the library shelf, for dipping into, not a review to give the uninitiated a feel of a whole field. JUDITH ARMITAGE
J. Armitage is at the Department of Botany and Microbiology, University (~)llegeLondon. Gower Street. London WCIE 6BT. U.K.
parative methods including electron microscopy and an especially valuable section on image analysis. The succeeding chapter on protein conformation is highlighted by a discussion of x-ray diffraction from fiberous proteins. The structure of both the thin filament and the thick filament is considered next. Two aspects of this section of the book are of particular interest. The first is the discussion of the x-ray diffraction evidence relating to filament structure and the second is the discussion of regulation in each of the filaments. As is typical of most chapters in the book, these conclude with a short but quite worthwhile summary - a particularly useful feature of the book. An extensive discussion of the current evidence on the transverse structure of the A-band is presented as a part of the discussion on the structure of the sarcomere. This is an area
TIBS -June 1982
Good but unbalanced review of chemotaxis The Biology o f the Chemotactic Response - Society for Experimental Biology Seminar Series 12
edited by J. M. Lackie and P. C. Wilkinson, Cambridge University Press, 1982. £20.00 (hardback) £8.95 (paperback) (xiii + 177 pages) 1SBN 0 521 23305 4 (hard) 0 521 298970 (paper) This book is the result of a Society of Experimental Biology meeting in Aberdeen in 1980, the review papers from which have been written as Volume 12, of these B seminar series. 'The Biology of the Chemotactic Response'. This series is produced to provide an introduction to specific topics, but at a not-too-simple level. Most books that result from meetings are difficult to review because they are invariably highly specialized, very variable in the standard of their writing, and expensive. This book has been difficult to review for very different reasons, it is relatively inexpensive (£8 paperback), the content of each chapter is not obscure and each chapter is excellently written; the problem is with the balance of the book, which makes the title misleading. It deals only with unicellular chemotaxis, and at least half the book centres on leucocyte motility and taxis. Although leucocyte chemotaxis is a well studied field and principles established in it may well have a lot of bearing on reception and response in many other systems it seems somewhat unbalanced to spend half a book on leucocyte motility and chemotaxis and only part of one chapter on flagellate protozoan motility. As a result some chapters cover all aspects of motility and
chemotaxis in one group of organisms, while other chapters concentrate on one small area of leucocyte motility and response. The first chapter concerns the theoretical problems involved in interpreting patterns of movement in populations of cells. Theoretical papers on tactic responses are often difficult to follow but this review, although concentrating on leucocytes and fibroblasts, is presented in a way which makes extrapolation to the directed behaviour of other organisms straightforward. The next three reviews cover different aspects of the motile and chemotactic behaviour of leucocytes and together provide an excellent overview of the current state of the field, although I was disappointed to see that none of the authors tackled the controversial problem of what type of signal is sent from the cell surface receptors to control the direction of motility and how the change in cytoskeleton may come about. One review deals with the relationship between surface adhesion and chemotaxis and chemokinetic responses in leucocytes. The next chapter tackles what type of chemoeffector brings about each of these responses, concentrating on formylated peptides and the complement derived chemotactic peptide C5a, and the third chapter on leucocytes deals with the role played by receptor occupancy in eliciting a response. The last half of the book covers many diverse aspects of chemotaxis among unicellular organisms. Peter Newell covers
Comprehensive muscle contraction The Structural Basis of Muscular Contraction
by John Squire, Plenum Press, 1981. $65.00 (xvii + 698 pages) ISBN 0 306 40582 2 A number of books have appeared in recent years that present topics and ideas in the area of muscle contraction from a biochemical or physiological point of view. The particular value of Squire's book is that it presents muscular contraction from a structural point of view. In order to accomplish this he presents a number of topics which were previously available only in specialized journals or texts. Topics such as diffraction by helical structures, image averaging by optical diffraction, and detailed models of
myosin filaments are thus made accessible to non-specialists. While as stated by the author in his preface this is not an 'introductory text', it is nevertheless written in such a way that those interested in muscle contraction can, with a little effort, become well informed in areas of muscle structure. The author's main goal, that of providing a stimulus for thought and future work, is generally attained. The book opens with an elementary introduction to muscle physiology and proceeds, in the second chapter, to present a review of x-ray diffraction theory and methods as applied to muscle research. This chapter is difficult for the nonspecialist and is therefore most useful for individuals familiar with this material. Chapter Three is a useful review of pre-
the fascinating world of the cellular slime moulds, reviewing the field from the viewpoint of chemotactic involvement in all phases of their life cycle, feeding, aggregating and within aggregates, presenting the evidence and problems of each stage. It is then left to Gooday to review chemotaxis in the rest of eukaryotic microbes, a task which he accomplishes well, although obviously in less detail than some of the previous chapters, choosing diverse examples of organisms and chemotactic systems. The final two chapters are given over to a field often ignored by eukaryotic microbiologists but one in which a complete system, from the genetics though the biochemistry and biophysics, of the response and adaptation processes is much closer to being described. Hazelbauer writes an excellent chapter succinctly describing all aspects of the behaviour of flagellate bacteria. This is followed by the final chapter on the gliding bacterium Myxococcus and the aspects of gliding involved in normal motility and aggregation. Although it may eventually be shown that, at a molecular level, there is much in common between all types of receptorlinked phenomena, in higher organisms as well as microorganisms, there is no real feeling of unity within this book. It is a book for the library shelf, for dipping into, not a review to give the uninitiated a feel of a whole field. JUDITH ARMITAGE
J. Armitage is at the Department of Botany and Microbiology, University (~)llegeLondon. Gower Street. London WCIE 6BT. U.K.
parative methods including electron microscopy and an especially valuable section on image analysis. The succeeding chapter on protein conformation is highlighted by a discussion of x-ray diffraction from fiberous proteins. The structure of both the thin filament and the thick filament is considered next. Two aspects of this section of the book are of particular interest. The first is the discussion of the x-ray diffraction evidence relating to filament structure and the second is the discussion of regulation in each of the filaments. As is typical of most chapters in the book, these conclude with a short but quite worthwhile summary - a particularly useful feature of the book. An extensive discussion of the current evidence on the transverse structure of the A-band is presented as a part of the discussion on the structure of the sarcomere. This is an area