m MISCELIANEA

Vivian F. Irish

Dept of Biology, Yale University,

PO Box 208104, New Haven,

CT 06520-8104, USA.

Tony Jackson

Dept of Biochemistry,

University of Cambridge,

Tennis Court Road, Cambridge

UK CB2 IQW.

120

morphological phenomena. For in- stance, Franklin et al. point out in their review of Papaver self-incom- patibility that the Papaver S (self- incompatibility) locus does not appear to encode a ribonuclease. This obser- vation contrasts with the situation in Nicotiana, which has a genetically similar self-incompatible response that is mediated by an S-locus- encoded ribonuclease. Furthermore, van Tunen and colleagues show that, in Petunia, organ-specific homeotic mutations can be identified. These observations indicate that the mol- ecular mechanism of specifying floral organ identities in Petunia may be distinct from that of the more exten- sively characterized Arabidopsis and Antirrhinum systems, where similar homeotic mutations generally affect two whorls of organs.

Despite the attempt at breadth, this volume is uneven. I should have liked to see a more extensive devotion of space to egg biology, which is only addressed briefly in one article. It is a little curious to see a volume on plant reproduction without any mention of double fertilization or endosperm development. The diversity of systems presented means, unfortunately, that the species in which extensive genetic, and now molecular biological, analy- ses are beginning to define the mecha- nisms of floral development and func- tion are given short shrift. Owing to the sidestepping of systems such as maize, Nicotiana and Arabidopsis, the reader is left with an incomplete view of areas in which great strides have already been made. However, several chapters highlight potentially exciting areas, such as the progress made by

Green and colleagues in identifying cell surface moiecules on Fucus gametes, which may lead to new avenues of investigation.

There are some promising seeds to be gleaned from this volume; but it does not serve well as an up-to-date summary of research progress. Some chapters represent short research updates from a particular laboratory, whereas others are more global reviews. Although the volume is advertised as a review for students, it is probably more useful for researchers who would like to catch up on some of the details of a particular system. Other volumes, such as the 1993 special issue of The P/ant Cell that was devoted to plant reproduction, do a much more comprehensive job of reviewing many of the recent exciting advances in this field.

SNAPS and SNARES and so on...

The Dictionary of Cell Biology (2nd edn)

edited by]. M. Lackie and /. A. T. Dow, Hat-court Brace, 1995.

f15.00 (388 pages) ISBN 0 72 432563 7

Cell biology is still a fairly young sub- ject, but has already spawned its own specialist vocabulary. Although noth- ing like as fearsome as some areas of biology, there is nonetheless a rich col- lection of jargon and acronyms. One of the first things I encountered when teaching this subject at undergradu- ate level was having to explain basic words and concepts and being sur- prised at the gaps in the knowledge of even good students. A good, basic dictionary of cell biology was clearly needed - so I was delighted to come across the first edition of this book and thankful to the editors for producing a well-priced and comprehensive work ideal for the undergraduate market.

Of course, the problem with this undertaking is that cell biology is such

a rapidly evolving field that any such dictionary is going to age pretty quickly and will require regular updat- ing. So now we have the second edi- tion, apparently with over 1000 new entries - testament enough to this fast-moving subject. The first thing I did was simply to trawl through the book looking for definitions of con- cepts that have emerged since the first edition was published four years ago. The new edition is indeed as up to date as is possible given the time con- straints of publishing, with COPS and SNARES and many other components of the alphabet soup of cell biology making an appearance. The defini- tions are generally of the same high standard of the first edition, that is, possessing a simple and direct quality and also managing to include, where appropriate, synonyms and cross- references. Another good feature is the inclusion of tables to summarize, for example, the properties of related classes of molecules. Unfortunately, it is unclear to me what criteria have been used in choosing particular top- ics for inclusion into extended tables. Surely, if we can have ten whole pages devoted to a table of CD antigens, I would have thought a table detail- ing, say, the set mutants or the cdc mutants would be worth including and probably of more general interest.

I suppose that differences of empha- sis like this are unavoidable and this leads me into the other major point

that comes to mind with this book. Cell biology means different things to different people. The subject acts as a kind of interface between all manner of biological sciences, from genetics, biochemistry, neuroscience and immunology, to zoology and plant sciences, often merging into these adjacent disciplines. The editors of any dictionary of cell biology are going to have to accept a messy overlap but will have to draw the line somewhere and this will have to be somewhat arbitrary. The editors acknowledge this upfront, even admitting that some of their choices will seem idiosyncratic (perhaps, this explains why ‘ecstasy, slang for MDMA, a drug of abuse’ is included!). On the whole, though, I think the editors have made a good job of keeping a reasonable focus. Still, I detect a greater number of entries in this edition from related fields compared with the first edition and I suspect that the dictionary will be useful to students in related areas, as well as to ordinary cell biologists. The inclusion of a report form at the end of the book is another good idea that invites a wider contribution to the entries, presumably for the inevitable third edition.

In summary, this is a great addition to the library. Although probably most useful to students and to be recom- mended to them, buy yourself a copy and keep it close by, so you too can keep up.

trends in CELL BIOLOGY (Vol. 6) March 1996