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     

XML for Bioinformatics * Ethan Cerami * Berlin: Springer-Verlag; * ISBN: 0-387-23028-9; 304pp.; * 2005; {pound}42.50

Not until I received this book to review, did I realize thatI had another book on my shelf, ‘Web Services Essentials’,by the same author. This was a good omen. The Essentials bookwas where I first cut my teeth on notions such as XML-RPC, SOAP,WSDLs,     

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     

Whole Genome Amplification * Edited by S. Hughes and R. Lasken * Scion Publishing Ltd, Bloxham, UK; * 2005; ISBN 1-904842-07-0; 193 pp.; * Paperback.

With increasingly powerful methods of genomic analysis becomingavailable in the last few years, the availability of genomicDNA in sufficient quantities can become a limiting factor. Thisrequirement for the unlimited supply of DNA has acceleratedthe development of reliable methods of amplifying the wholegenome. This book outlines various methodologies that could be adoptedto enhance and optimise ‘Whole Genome Amplification’(WGA). Each chapter contains a concise introduction that leadsthe reader into the practical approaches of the     

Vascular transport in plants * Holbrook NM, Zwieniecki MA. eds. 2005. * Amsterdam: Elsvier, * Academic Press. {pound}62.99 * (hardback). 564 pp.

This comprehensivecollection of 26 papers on all aspects of function and structureof vascular tissues will be of interest for anyone working inplant structure/function generally, or to specialists dealingwith physiology of water and sugar movement, leaf functions,wood anatomy and ecophysiology. The work of 52 contributors,including the two editors whose     

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     

Computational Modeling of Genetic and Biochemical Networks. * Edited by James M. Bower and Hamid Bolouri * Computational Molecular Biology, A Bradford Book, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts; 2004; * ISBN: 0 262 52423 6; Paperback; 390pp.; * {pound}22.95/$35.00.

E-mail: schnell@indiana.edu     

Ontologies for Bioinformatics (Computational Molecular Biology). * Kenneth Baclawski and Tianhua Niu The MIT Press; ISBN: 0-262-02591-4; Hardcover; 440pp; 2005; {pound}29.95.

As the amount and variety of available knowledge in the biomedicaldomain grows, we need mechanisms to make our results and conclusionsavailable in an explicit and structured machine-accessible form.Ontologies are viewed as a means to achieve this goal. Thereis much excitement in the scientific community     

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     

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     

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     

The Lakes Handbook, Volume II. Lake Restoration and Rehabilitation. Edited by P. E. O'Sullivan and C. S. Reynolds. Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford, UK, 2005, 560 pp. ISBN 0-632-04795-X (hardback). {pound}125.00.

This is the second of a two-volume set, assembled from the contributionsof many authors. As is true of Volume I, many of the contributorsare luminaries, and the topical coverage is relatively comprehensive.This volume is divided into sections that treat regional studies,human impact on specific lake types, lake and catchment modelsand legal frameworks. Owing     

The Biogeochemistry of Submerged Soils. * Kirk, G. 2004. * Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. {pound}100 (hardcover). 304 pp.

One can learn a lot about thegeochemistry of submerged soils in this book by Kirk. However,it is not, as the title implies, focused on the biogeochemistryof all submerged soils. In Chapter 1 Kirk gives a very briefoverview     

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     

Cancer Bioinformatics--From Therapy Design to Treatment. * Edited by Sylvia Nagl * John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, * Southern Gate, Chichester; * ISBN: 0-470-86304-8; 300pp.; 2006; $130.

In this post-genomic era, a large amount of data such as expressedsequence tag (EST) data, structure data, microarray data, proteomicdata, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data and clinicaldata provide great opportunities to understand cancer, the secondmost common cause of death in the western world. These data,addressing the same problem from different angles, should beintegrated to generate useful     

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     

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