Plant nutritional genomics * Broadley MR, White PJ. eds. 2005. * Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. {pound}115 (hardback). 321 pp.

Plant nutritionis ultimately an applied subject that seeks to understand theprocesses and mechanisms that underpin the uptake, assimilationand internal redistribution of nutrients by plants and thento use this information to improve the yield or quality of harvestedplant parts, be they grains, storage roots or leafy vegetables.The subject now also encompasses the understanding of the responsesof plants to nutrient toxicities (e.g. salinity) as well asnew topics such as metal ‘hyperaccumulation’ and     

Abiotic stresses in plants. * Sanita di Toppi L, Pawlik-Skowronska B, eds. 2003. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. {pound}67 (hardback). 233 pp

Abiotic stress has a very highprofile in the plant sciences at the moment. The problem offeeding many more people (perhaps 4 to even 6 billion by theend of the century) may have a potential solution in the formof molecular biological manipulation. This, it is frequentlyclaimed, will give plants able to produce large amounts of biomassand edible material with minimal resources under what are, currently,very adverse conditions. Well, is it true? I looked to thisbook to find out more     

The plant cell wall. * Rose JKC, ed 2003. * Oxford: CRC Press. {pound}99.50 (hardback). * 381 pp.

Cell walls have long been recognized as important and uniquefeatures of plant cells, contributing not only to the architectureof plant organs but also to the control of growth, to the exclusionof pathogens and to the production and transmission of signallingmolecules. Gross measurements of plant cell composition establishedlong ago that the plant devotes a large     

An introduction to plant structure and development * Beck CB. 2005. * Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. {pound}30.00 (hardback). 464 pp.

This book has beenwritten primarily as a text for a senior plant anatomy course.The initial phrase ‘An introduction to’ is somewhatmisleading as a student would need to have some elementary knowledgeof botany as well as cell structure and physiology to followthe information and the ideas without difficulty. The authordoes     

The ecology of seeds. * Fenner M, Thompson K. 2005. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {pound}26 (softback) {pound}55 (hardback) 260 pp.

This volume is a timely updateand considerable expansion of the small book Seed Ecology, publishedby the first author twenty years ago, and long out of print. Is it useful to separate a particular branch of study such as‘seed ecology’ from the wider field of plant ecology?Aren't seeds just a particular packaged form of the sporophyte,at a certain stage in its life cycle? While some may ask thosequestions, a major strength of this book is the care that theauthors take throughout to set their review in the context ofcurrent ecological     

Intercellular communication in plants. Annual Plant Reviews Vol 16 * Fleming AJ. (ed). 2005. Oxford/Boca Raton: Blackwell Publishing/CRC Press. {pound}105.00 (hardback). 280 pp

Volume 16 of the Annual Plant Reviews series, compiled by AndrewJ. Fleming, focuses on intercellular communication in plants.This is an extremely interesting book that extensively coversten topics related to cell–cell or long-distance communicationin plants. The chapters are written in a clear style and theycompile the most relevant and up-to-date information in a mannerunderstandable for anybody seriously interested in short- andlong-distance intercellular communication. Moreover, besidesblack-and white illustrations and photographs found in all chapters,there are also six separate colour plates. I highly recommendthis book     

Microbial Ecology: An Evolutionary Approach. Edited by McArthur, J. Vaun. Academic Press (Elsevier, Amsterdam). 416 pp. ISBN 0123694914 (hardbound). {pound}39.99, US$79.95, {euro}57.95.

Most microbial ecologists would be surprised to learn that,according to Microbial Ecology: An Evolutionary Approach, ‘Eventhough the importance of bacteria and their products is recognizedin biogeochemical cycles and secondary production, little isknown about the regulation of     

Programmed cell death in plants. * Gray J, ed. 2004. Oxford/London: Blackwell Publishing/CRC Press. {pound}95 (hardback). 287 pp

This book is a timely and updatedsummary of the research that is ongoing in the subject of programmedcell death as it happens in plant systems. In the past 15 years,the necessity and conserved nature of an intrinsic suicide programin cells have been widely recognized by biologists and the studyof cell death mechanisms and signal regulation have become intensiveareas of research. As pointed out in the introductory     

Plant-Pathogen Interactions. Annual Plant Reviews Vol. 11 * Talbot NC. ed. 2004. * Oxford/Boca Raton: Blackwell Publishing/CRS Press {pound}89{middle dot}50 (hardback). 248 pp.

This book is the 11th volume inthe series ‘Annual Plant Reviews’, which is dedicatedto summarizing the most recent achievements in specific fieldsof plant biology. The volume comprises nine different thematicchapters, each written by distinguished experts     

Roots: the dynamic interface between plants and the Earth. * Abe J, ed. 2003. * Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. * {euro}165 (hardback). 460 pp

All but five of the 46 contributionsin this symposium volume have been published already as a specialissue in Volume 255 of Plant and Soil in 2003. They are reproducedin exactly the same format and with the same pagination as inthe journal. To anyone who has access to Plant and Soil thisbook would therefore not be a sensible purchase. This is allthe more true because the editor has not provided any commentaryon the papers or subdivided them     

New frontiers in bryology - physiology, molecular biology and functional genomics. * Wood AJ, Oliver MJ, Cove DJ, eds. 2004. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. {pound}63 (hardback). 203 pp.

This book is a collection of papersfrom the major researchers involved in physiological, molecularand genomic research on bryophytes, mainly, although not exclusively,using the moss Physcomitrella patens. This is a growing areaof research and the book aims to provide ‘... a synopsisof the outstanding basic research being conducted using mossesas a model multi-cellular eukaryote’. Bryophytes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) are an importantand often neglected group     

Handbook of photosynthesis, 2nd edition. * Pessarakli M. (ed). 2005. Boca Raton: CRC Press. $159{middle dot}95 (hardback). 928 pp.

The motto of the PhotosynthesisCongress in Brisbane in 2001 was that ‘photosynthesissimply sustains all life on Earth’. For this reason, photosynthesisis a large, well-researched area, so it is especially ambitiousto put together a handbook that attempts to cover the wholesubject. This volume is definitely not a handbook in the sensethat it provides a compendium for the novice, but instead itis a conspectus of areas of     

Essential Bioinformatics * Jin Xiong * Cambridge University Press; ISBN: 0-521-60082-0; 339pp.; 2006; * {pound}65.00 (hardcover); {pound}29.00 (paperback).

Few would argue the need for today's college biology majorsto have basic skills in bioinformatics. Yet, their undergraduatefaculty faces several challenges in providing these skills,particularly at smaller colleges. First, faculty members whoteach bioinformatics have usually been trained in molecularbiology, genetics or biochemistry. Therefore, most do not haveextensive applied mathematics experience beyond statistics.Second, bioinformatics textbooks for undergraduate biology majorsare rare. Most bioinformatics books are geared to researchers,computer programmers or graduate students. Others are simpleuser manuals, with little coverage of critical evaluation ofthe output. Third, most students today have great ‘point-and-click’computing skills, but minimal understanding or patience forcommand-line computing or programming. In light of these challenges to introducing undergraduate studentsto bioinformatics, it was quite a joy to read and review ProfessorJin Xiong's recent book, Essential Bioinformatics. This compact,economical, first edition of     

Margaret Mee's Amazon. Diaries of an artist explorer. * Margaret Mee. 2003. * Woodbridge Suffolk, UK: Antique Collectors' Club. * {pound}29{middle dot}50 (hardback). 320 pp, 400 colour illustrations

‘Delight’ said CharlesDarwin in his diaries in 1832, ‘is a weak term to expressthe feelings of a naturalist who, for the first time, has wanderedby himself in a Brazilian forest’. These feelings musthave been those which drove Margaret Mee to explore the Brazilianjungles on numerous expeditions between 1958 and 1964, creatingwonderful pictures despite all kinds of difficulties encounteredin this hostile world. And these feelings were also those Ihad when I read this book: delight about her precise drawingsand life-like paintings, which are extremely expressive from     

Plant biotechnology: the genetic manipulation of plants. * Slater A, Scott N, Fowler M. 2003 Oxford: Oxford University Press. {pound}19.99 (softback). 346 pp.

Few areas of science have progressed as rapidly, or have hadsuch an impact on public consciousness and governments, as recentadvances in plant biotechnology. These exciting scientific discoveriesand their increasing application are continuing to generateconsiderable economic, social and ethical considerations. Particularconcerns have been expressed, however, about potential ‘foodsafety’ and ‘environmental impact’ implications,in particular, of this ‘revolution in biology’ inagriculture and the food     

The plant cytoskeleton in cell differentiation and development. Annual Plant Reviews, volume 10. * Hussey PJ, ed. 2004. * Oxford: Blackwell Publishing/Boca Raton: CRC Press. * {pound}99{middle dot}50 (hardback). 325 pp

Over 40 years ago, in what is surelyone of the most famous ‘throw-away lines’ in botany,Ledbetter and Porter (1963) suggested that the similar orientationsof cytoplasmic microtubules and structures considered to becellulose microfibrils in the cell wall was not coincidental.This notion led almost single-handedly to the present and enduringinterest amongst certain plant cell biologists in understandingthe role of microtubules in wall formation. And as a resultof this intense interest in such matters, it has become clearthat microtubules are not only ‘just one’ componentamongst an ever-expanding array of     

Photosynthetic rate and dynamic environment. * Kazutoshi Yabuki, 2004. * Dordrecht/Boston/London: Kluwer Academic Publishers. * {euro}50 (hardback). 130 pp.

In photosynthesis, CO₂ enters theleaf from the atmosphere and moves to the active site of thecarboxylating enzyme, to be bound in an organic compound. Theprocess is largely diffusional and the pathway, although complicatedin detail, is usually split into sections related to differentanatomic structures, such as chloroplasts, cell walls, intercellularair space, stomatal pores and, finally the leaf boundary layer.Biologists have mainly been concerned with those sections thatare embedded within the leaf, considering the boundary layeras something external, not under the control by biological processes.Well, light is also not controlled     

Advances in pectin and pectinase research. * Voragen F, Schols H and Visser R. eds. 2003. The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers. {euro}145 (hardback). 491 pp.

Two indisputable features distinguish plants from animals –one is the chloroplast, the other the cell wall. This volumeis directed to the newest information we have on the cell wall,the major polysaccharide component, pectin, and the ways thatpectins can be changed. A summary of 36 papers presented at the Second InternationalSymposium on Pectins and Pectinases (2001), this book describesaspects of synthesis, chemical constitution, properties andimmunological identification of pectins with the molecular genetics,structure and function     

Instant notes in plant biology, 2nd edn. * Lack A, Evans D. 2005. * Oxford: Taylor and Francis. {pound}18.99 (paperback). 351 pp.

The ‘InstantNotes’ series from Bios will probably be familiar to manyreaders. The series' success is evident in the second editionsthat are appearing, e.g. the current volume—albeit nowunder the Taylor and Francis label. Content This book does what it says on the label; it provides noteson (probably) all of the topics within the compass of present-day‘plant biology’. Primarily, it deals with anatomy,growth and development, physiology, reproduction, and economicuses and ecology of flowering plants (angiosperms). However,it does cover other phyla of the Kingdom Plantae (principallyin two ‘taxonomy/evolution’ sections), and algae(along