Growth Patterns in Vascular Plants by M. IqbalReview by: Jana AlbrechtováFolia Geobotanica & Phytotaxonomica, Vol. 31, No. 1, Adaptation Strategies in Wetland Plants:Links between Ecology and Physiology. Proceedings of a Workshop (1996), pp. 165-166Published by: SpringerStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4181431 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 09:13

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Springer is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Folia Geobotanica&Phytotaxonomica.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.181 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 09:13:32 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Bookreviews 165

A.R. Hoeizel [ed.]: MOLECULAR GENETIC ANALYSIS OF POPULATIONS. A Practical Approach; The Practical Approach Series, IRL Press at Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York, Tokyo, 1992, 315 pp. Price GBP 36.-, ISBN 0-19-963278-2

The book reviewed is a very useful laboratory manual. It presents a broad range of protocols mostly concerning methods based on the analysis of DNA. Only the first chapter - starch electrophoresis of allozymes - deals with proteins. Unfortunately, only starch electrophoresis, not polyacrylamide electrophoresis, is described in the protocols presented in this chapter. Two chapters contain protocols for DNA isolation - Plant DNA isolation and Mitochondrial DNA isolation. The former describes many techniques of total DNA and chloroplast DNA isolation ranging from PCR minipreps to caesium chloride ultracentrifugation techniques. Mitochodrial DNA isolation and Detection of mitochondrial DNA fragments are two chapters that will be more iriterestil,g for zoologists and criminologists, than for botanists because the protocols concern treatment of blood samples.

The chapter on RFLP analysis using heterologous probes is very instructive and provides the researcher with various methods of DNA transfer to membranes and labelling of probes. The isotope labelling of DNA probes is stressed. Only one technique of non-radioactive labelling (biotin) is mentioned.

Single-locus and multilocus DNA fingerprinting contains protocols describing construction and screening of the genomic library using charon vectors. The preparation of species-specific probes for individual use is highly recommended. Another chapter - Genomic libraries and the development of species-specific probes - is dedicated to various cloning procedures using cosmids and charons.

The main drawback of the book reviewed is the absence of information about RAPD (random amplification of polymorphic DNA), now dominating method in molecular genetic analysis of populations. In 1992, when this book was published, RAPD was just emerging. Nevertheless, as a whole, the book is a very useful laboratory manual containing many techniques important in DNA analysis.

Helena ?torchova

M. Iqbal [ed.]: GROWTH PATTERNS IN VASCULAR PLANTS; Dioscorides Press, Oregon, 1994, 480 pp. Price USD 59.95, ISBN 0-931146-26-7

This book deals with plant growth processes, combining views of different disciplines with the main emphasis being on the interdependence of structure and function. The book is dedicated to Prof. Abdul K.M. Ghouse, an eminent Indian plant anatomist. His student Prof. Muhammad Iqbal took charge of editing the book and called upon scientists who remarkably contributed to the study of plant growth, differentiation and phylogeny, to participate.

The content of the book does not cover exhaustively all fields of plant growth processes, but is a nice example of how to approach plant physiological processes. It provides a valuable contribution to the current trend of multidisciplinary studies in science and is a sound attempt to view plant growth patterns in their structural as well as functional context.

The presented volume is divided into four sections including altogether sixteen chapters. Section I. Primary vegetative growth: 1. From cell to system: Repetitive units of growth in the development of roots and shoots (P.W. Barlow), 2. Root tip organization and the spatial relationships of differentiation events (T.L. Rost), 3. The dynamics of root growth and gravitropism (R. Moore), 4. Shoot apical configuration in gymnosperms (A. Pillai), 5. The influence of light on leaf development (N.G. Dengler), 6. The laticiferous system in vascular plants (S.K. Datta & M. Iqbal), 7. Unique tracheary elements in the haustorium of parasitic angiosperms (B.A.Fineran), Section II. Secondary vegetative growth: 8. Secondary growth in pteridophytes (S. Bhambie), 9. Structural and operational specializations of the vascular cambium of seed plants (M. Iqbal), 10. Adaptive trends in the wood,#natomy of lianas (R.K. Bamber & B.J.H. ter Welle), 11. Stem thickening in monocotyledons (D.D. Demason), section III. Reproductive growth: 12. Correlative mechanisms and controls of flower development (P.S. Srivastava & M. Iqbal), 13. Gametophyte ontogeny: an overview based on Oenothera (I.N. de Halac & I.A. Cismondi), 14. The angiosperms embryo: correlative controls in development, differentiation, and maturation (K.V. Krishnamurthy), 15. Morphogenesis of the angiosperm proembryo and a classification

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.181 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 09:13:32 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

166 Bookreviews

based on phylogenetic trend (K. Periasamy), Section IV. Phylogenetic development: 16. Reconstruction of the phylogeny of seed plants (A.D.J. Meeuse).

Not only does the book endeavour to include scientists from different fields to ensure an interdisciplinary approach but the selection of authors covering almost all continents creates a world-wide international interdisciplinary forum. Such an approach has become essential in recent decades yielding new concepts and furthering on understanding of processes. The book is a valuable reference giving a review of a wide-range of aspects of growth processes. It is also very valuable for emphasizing the necessity of incorporating the structural background into the interpretation of physiological and biochemical results in experimental botany. In conclusion the book shows that results of work describing functions are incomplete if structural analysis is ignored.

Jana Albrechtova

R.G. Harrison [ed.]: HYBRID ZONES AND THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSS; Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford, 1993, 364 pp. Price GBP 45.-, ISBN 0-19-506917-X

Hybridization is the theme of this book, which resulted from a symposium entitled "Hybrid Zones and the Evolutionary Process" at the Fourth International Congress of Systematic and Evolutionary Biology (ICSEB) in College Park, Maryland, held in July 1990. It consists of 12 contributions and includes both botanical and zoological studies.

The book is divided into two major parts. Part I "Hybrid zone Pattern and Process", which comprises four articles, concerns general problems and the evolutionary significance of hybridization. Part II "Case studies of hybrid zones" gives a survey of different approaches to the study of various aspect of hybridization using examples of particular groups of both plants and animals.

Part I starts with the article "Hybrids and hybrid zones" by R.G. Harrison. Great attention is paid to a description of the fundamental terms, such as hybrid and hybrid zone, and the major issues in hybrid zone research are also discussed. While Chapter 1 considers the wider questions of hybridization, Chapter 2 "Genetic analysis of hybrid zones" by Barton and Gale focusses on the practical issues involved in genetic analysis of hybrid zones. Using various methods to describe the frequency of genotypes in hybrid zones, the authors illustrate how the research of hybridization between pairs of populations can contribute to our knowledge about the processes that keep them distinct and that presumably form the basis for separating full species. Howard in his article "Reinforcement: origin, dynamics, and fate of an evolutionary hypothesis" summarizes and analyses existing knowledge about the process of reinforcement - the evolution of prezygotic barriers to gene exchange in response to selection against hybrids.

Chapter 4 focusses especially on the problems of hybridization and introgression in plants. Rieseberg and Wendel in their article outline the historical development of ideas regarding introgression in plants, examine the evidence for its extent and discuss its potential consequences for plant diversification and speciation. Special attention is paid to the use of new methods of molecular techniques, such as chloroplast and nuclear DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), in hybridization research. This article is completed by 308 references.

The most useful part of this book is the series of eight case studies devoted to particular questions of hybrid zone research. Despite the fact that hybridization is a widespread phenomenon in plants, the only paper dealing with issues of natural hybridization in plant populations occurs involved in this section: the genetic interaction between species of Louisiana Iris is used as a classic example of plant hybridization and introgression in the paper by Arnold and Bennett. Based on the genetic and ecological data derived from numerous biosystematic methods, including allozyme and nuclear and cpDNA analyses, topics of great importance for every plant biologist, such as sympatric and allopatric introgression, hybrid speciation and, last but not least, the genetic structure of hybrid populations in the hybrid zone and its relationships to microhabitat fluctuations, are discussed.

The following seven chapters address current research on hybridization and hybrid zones in animals. The theory about secondary, postglacial formation of hybrid zones between two subspecies of Chorthippus parallelus in the Pyrenees is very well documented in the paper by Hewitt. Two evolutionary important process - adaptation and speciation - are addressed in a report by Shaw et al. The authors have concentrated on detailed karyotypic

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.181 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 09:13:32 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions