General embryological information service - HPS Repository

The symposium took place in 1977 in Houston, Tex. Of the 28 papers in the
sessions listed above six are by groups or individuals outside North America.
Most are short to medium-length reviews of recent research, sometimes against
a background of older work. Viewed as a whole the volume is a (temporary)
milesrone on the way to further knowledge in a field expanding at a stupendous
rate.
Throughout the book the emphasis is on gene expression in mammalian cells.
The cell surface and the cytoskeleton figure in only a few papers. In section
II. ii two papers deal with amphibian material. Preceding the symposium
proper there is a 27-page "award address" by Mintz entitled Genetic mosaicism
and in vivo analyses of neoplasia and differentiation. The symposium is concluded
by a summary by J.Paul.
The volume is very well produced and profusely illustrated; the quality of
the many half -tones is excellent.
DEVELOPMENTAL BIOCHEiViISTRY, MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (see also 36,42,50,53,57,73,75,
76,78,79,82,84,85,89,102)
Treatises
90.
J.PAUL, ed. 1977. BIOCHEMISTRY OF CELL DIFFERENTIATION II
Univ. Park Press, Baltimore, etc. Internat. Review of Biochemistry, vol.15.
XII, 439 pp., 94 figs., 22 tabs., combined taxonomic & subject index. £ 17.95
Contents: 1. Gene cloning: a new approach to understanding relationships
between DNA sequences (Glover); 2. Cellular and molecular aspects of genetic
expression in Chironomus salivary glands (Case, Daneholt) ; 3. Gene
activity in the lampbrush chromosomes of amphibian oocytes (Sommerville)
4. Programmed information flow in the sea urchin embryo (Weinberg); 5. Biosynthesis
of eye lens protein (Bloemendal) ; 6. The biology of the Friend
cell (Harrison); 7. Muscle protein synthesis and its control during the
differentiation of skeletal muscles in vitro (Buckingham); 8. Teratocarcinoma
cells as a model for mammalian development (Hogan) ; 9. Structural
organization and transcription of the genome of Diatyostelium discoideum
(Firtel, JacoDson)
The first volume of this series was reviewed in Gen. Embryol . Inf. Serv.
16, 1, 1975. Although the design of the series has changed slightly, this
volume fulfills the expectations engendered by the first volume. The chapters
are authoritative and well-organised reviews ranging in length from
about 30 to about 80 pages, and describe the scene as it was by the end of
1976. The numbers of references per chapter range from about 100 to about
300. The first chapter reviews genetic recombinant techniques and serves at
the same time as background material for several other chapters, notably
ens. 4 and 9.
The practice of including editor's comments has been abandoned in this
volume, so that it now almost exclusively addresses the specialist. The book
is well produced and adequately illustrated.
Textbooks
91.
J.D.WATSON. 1976. MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF THE GENE. 3rd edit.
Benjamin, Menlo Park, etc. XXIV, 739 pp., 461 figs., 37 tabs., subject index.
$ 16.95
This book remains the best text for developmental biologists to "read up"
on their molecular biology. In revising and extending it the author has
ventured even further into the domain of cell biology than he did before.
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