Preview 
Abo exklusiv
Wissenschaftliche Zeitschriften
Mehr über das wissenschaftliche Verlagsprogramm erfahren Sie im Zeitschriften-Überblick im » Ulmer-Zeitschriftenkiosk
Paul Christou, Harry Klee (eds.): Handbook of Plant Biotechnology (2 Volumes). – John Wiley & Sons, 2004; Price: hard cover € 659,–.
Some books are really heavy. If you feel up to pay more than € 600,- (!), you will get a 4 kg book (two volumes, each 2 kg). Fortunately, only 10 cm of your bookcase will be occupied, and if you don’t have further money to buy other books treating the „green revolution“, you can be sure to hold a comprehensive compendium in your hand. This book consists of a collection of 69 scientific contributions divided into two volumes and eleven parts. Volume one treats the technical aspects of plant biotechnology, whereas volume two rather deals with the social and economic analysis of biotechnology. Each volume begins with the list of contents and is complemented by a detailed list of abbreviations and acronyms. If the reader has a great interest in selected topics, he is invited to consult further literature, which is cited at the end of each chapter.
Volume one starts with a review of classical breeding and genetics (part 1), followed by part 2 and 3 dealing with library construction, isolation and analysis of genes and their regulatory sequences, molecular mapping and marker-assisted selection, gene expression, and plant transformation technologies. Parts 4 to 6 focus on agronomic, quality and developmental traits, such as engineering resistance to herbicides, insect pests, and pathogens or metabolic engineering. Volume two starts with aspects of the production systems for industrial and pharmaceutical proteins (Part 7) and the application of plant biotechnology to non-food crops (Part 8). Part 10 addresses both potential products and the products that are at or near commercialization. Since any new GMO in the field may have an economic and social impact, part 9 deals with a broad spectrum of societal and environmental topics, ranging from risk assessment, promises and pitfalls, intellectual property rights, and factors influencing public policy. This volume ends with an overview about plant biotechnology in developing countries. It also puts the question if plant biotechnology will prevent severe pre- and post harvest losses, and will thus help us to feed the starving masses in the underdeveloped part of our world, or will simply enrich the pockets of major industrial conglomerates as stated in the preface.
Unfortunately, or should I say fortunately, the two volumes cannot be bought separately. This means, if the readers’ interest is restricted to the technical part of this plant biotechnology handbook, he also has to pay for the discussion of the social and environmental impact of biotechnology and the description of the agricultural biotechnology in developing countries. Due to the high price, the reader may be encouraged to read also parts of this second volume.
In spite of the impressive collection of interesting and stimulating chapters, there are some drawbacks: In the view of a plant pathologist (and this is a book review for scientists working in the field of plant diseases and pests), the usefulness of chapter 21 would have been enhanced if not only the use of molecular markers for selection or the use of resistance inducers would be mentioned, but also some more details about defense mechanisms and how easily they may become introduced into new varieties (e. g., genes involved in the phenyl propanoid metabolisms and phytoalexin synthesis, or genes for the formation of wax layers on fruits and leaves to enhance water repellency). Furthermore, this chapter is just a reproduction of a published paper. It would be better to include a newly written chapter treating the plant defense and the respective genes in more detail (including the underlying literature), instead of printing a reproduced paper taken from a journal. In fact, some chapters are not able to give an adequate overview over the respective issues. Chapter 10, for example, describes gene expression profiling methods, which represent an important part of the biotechnologist’s work in just 10 pages (including literature)! Only the array technique is discussed in more detail, whereas other methods, such as differential display, are only briefly handled or completely ignored (e. g., cDNA-AFLPs, subtractive hybridization). Other chapters, such as chapter 6 (Gene regulatory sequences) and chapter 12 (Computational tools), provide in contrast a very valuable insight into the scientific state of the respective topics and are a great help not only for beginners.
Another point of criticism concerns the illustration of each volume: All parts are sparsely illustrated. And although you have to pay heaps of money to get this book, all illustrations are printed in black and white, and some even seem to represent parts of a power point presentation (e. g., page 14, 18, 317/318 and 531). In the next edition, the majority of black and white drawings and grey-shaded figures should be better printed in colour to improve their quality (e. g., fig 1.3) and to get a higher level of information. Nevertheless, both volumes are well structured and produced. Overall, this book can be recommended as a unique reference work for everybody working on plant biotechnology. It is not only heavy regarding its weight but also its content. And if the reader is not willing to buy this handbook, he should induce his library to order it!
A. Kortekamp, Hohenheim
Webseite gestaltet mit 
ULMER CMS | Alle Infos unter