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doi: 10.1242/10.1242/jcs.00068
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Book Review |
edited by Dierk Scheel and Claus Wasternack
Oxford University Press
(2002) 324 pages. ISBN 0-19-963879-9 £35.00
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Knowing how plants adapt to changing environments is very important, particularly because these organisms cannot look for shelter during the winter, get help from doctors or priests when sick, or migrate to richer lands when food is scarce. The ultimate goal of this book, as confessed by Scheel and Wasternack in an excellent introductory chapter, is to provide an extended summary of the molecular mechanisms used by plants to communicate with the outside world and how they perceive, transduce and integrate signals to improve, or at least maintain, their fitness. With this purpose in mind, the editors designed a classical layout — a compilation of independently written chapters covering almost all of the environmental factors that can affect plant development and physiology — hoping that the renowned scientists selected to write each section would be expert and clear writers who would be able to `extract the juice' from the mass of information available in scientific journals. As usually happens, the result is a heterogeneous book, uneven in content, style and sharpness, in which the only sense of unity is present in the introductory chapter.
The book starts with a chapter on light perception, which is paradigmatic. Signaling events triggered by light have become quite well understood in recent years and, compared with other signaling pathways described in the book, this one represents a process in which the molecular mechanisms are quite specific to the plant kingdom. Unlike the other chapters, which describe the information according to biological function (e.g. perception of the signal, molecular transducers, final targets), this one is organized according to the methodologies used in the study of light signal transduction. This is a reasonable choice, but it sacrifices the integrative view that one expects from a book intended to be a critical summary of physiological events.
Three chapters are devoted to plant defense mechanisms (wounding, bacterial pathogens and virus resistance). Surprisingly, the approach taken by the authors of each chapter minimizes the overlap between the three processes, avoiding reiteration of terms, explanations and discussion. A related chapter on the role of active oxygen species is one of the most enjoyable sections in the book. Not only is it a well-written piece on signaling mechanisms, but it also provides an idea of how crosstalk between different pathways is exerted through the availability of small signaling molecules.
There are four very uneven chapters dealing with `classical' stress responses: heat, cold, salt and dehydration. Although writing with different styles, all of the authors have produced well-focused reviews. In particular, the chapters on cold acclimation and salt stress are gems that illustrate the power of using a combination of approaches (genetic, molecular biology and biochemical) to solve a signaling puzzle. Unfortunately, the very good description of mutants involved in the abscissic acid-dependent dehydration response is not complemented by a discussion of how the hormone affects the production of intracellular second messengers or alters membrane potential during stomata closure.
The two chapters dedicated to signaling events during symbiotic interactions between plants, bacteria and fungi are a good example of the supplementary effort that plant biologists have to make to let their research interests be understood and appreciated by the rest of the community.
The biological context is set out in a very clear and attractive way, and the relatively slow advance in this field is correctly described. In this case, the poor information about molecules involved in these processes is a direct consequence of the nature of the research carried out to date in this field.
What kind of reader will benefit from this book? Although this volume is publicized as a `comprehensive account', the necessarily limited space reserved for each chapter prevents the thorough treatment that each topic requires for this book to be considered as a desk reference for plant signaling specialists. On the other hand, the detail in which several of the signaling pathways is described and, more importantly, the specialized language that is used throughout the text, do not make this book suitable for students with only a marginal interest in plant signaling or signaling in general. This leaves us with a relatively large crowd of specialists-to-be, and scientists with a requirement for broader knowledge beyond their particular research interests. Even then, several well-known review journals offer tough competition when it comes to getting upto-date information and critical assessment of data, including speculation. Readers eager to learn more about plant hormone signaling pathways, or how the environment modulates plant growth and differentiation, should definitely keep searching the bookstores.
Despite the weak points, several important messages are successfully conveyed. For instance, it becomes apparent that several molecular mechanisms that tranduce signals in other organisms (e.g. calcium release, MAPK) are conserved, independently of what the effectors are and what responses they finally trigger. However, one misses this kind of `generalizing view' throughout the book, which would certainly help plant scientists in neighbouring fields and non-plant specialists to grasp the evolutionary force that has allowed plants to survive in this cruel world.
Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas (CSIC), Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain
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