Structure and function of the components of the photosynthetic apparatus and the molecular biology of these components have become the dominant themes in advances in our understanding of the light reactions of oxygenic photosynthesis. Oxygenic Photosynthesis: The Light Reactions presents our current understanding of these reactions in thylakoid membranes. Topics covered include the photosystems, the cytochrome b6-f complex, plastocyanin, ferredoxin, FNR, light-harvesting complexes, and the coupling factor. Chapters are also devoted to the structure of thylakoid membranes, their lipid composition, and their biogenesis. Updates on the crystal structures of cytochrome f, ATP synthase and photosystem I are presented and a section on molecular biology and evolution of the photosynthetic apparatus is also included. The chapters in this book provide a comprehensive overview of photosynthetic reactions in eukaryotic thylakoids. The book is intended for a wide audience, including graduate students and researchers active in this field, as well as those individuals who have interests in plant biochemistry and molecular biology or plant physiology.

The plant cell wall plays a vital role in almost every aspect of plant physiology. New techniques in spectroscopy, biophysics and molecular biology have revealed the extraordinary complexity of its molecular architecture and just how important this structure is in the control of plant growth and development. The Second Edition of this accessible and integrated textbook has been revised and updated throughout. As well as focusing on the structure and function of plant cell walls the book also looks at the applications of this research. It discusses how plant cell walls can be exploited by the biotechnology industry and some of the main challenges for future research. Key topics include: architecture and skeletal functions of the wall; cell-wall formation; control of cell growth; role in intracellular transport; interactions with other organisms; cell-wall degradation; biotechnological applications of cell-walls; role in diet and health. This textbook provides a clear, well illustrated introduction to the physiology and biochemistry of plant cell walls which will be invaluable to upper level undergraduate and post graduate students of plant physiology, plant pathology, plant biotechnology and biochemistry.

Here are two physicists looking over the fence of physics, getting thrilled by the life and growth of trees, taking an altogether different, exciting view of wood: trees produce wood for their own benefit. They do not live for the benefit of man who builds his world using wood as a raw material. Timber is revealed in a different light, and the reader is taught to stop thinking of it in terms of defective beams and boards. Wood only fails as a part of the living tree. To us, the tree and wood biologists, this new definition is a real, inspiring challenge, which is just what Kubler and Mattheck intended it to be. Their answers may seem too simple or little logical to some of us; but the authors are not at a loss for sound and solid arguments. Their field studies prove the incredible, their hypotheses makes us want to get to the bottom of the un proven unbelievable. The authors' answers and arguments are bold and cour ageous. They arouse our curiosity and force us to fathom the facts. It seems as if Kubler and Mattheck wanted to trick us into believing that trees only live and react following mechanical rules and strategies. To tell the truth, that was what I first suspected the authors of: but I was wrong."

This book is the first comprehensive volume on the computer simulation of plant development. It contains a full account of the algorithms used to model plant shapes and developmental processes, Lindenmayer systems in particular. With nearly 50 color plates, the spectacular results of the modelling are vividly illustrated. "This marvelous book will occupy an important place in the scientific literature." #Professor Heinz-Otto Peitgen# "The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants will perform a valuable service by popularizing this enlightening and bewitching form of mathematics." #Steven Levy# " ... the garden here is full of delights and an excellent introduction to L-systems, ..." #Alvy Ray Smith, IEEE Computer Graphics and its Applications#

This manual comprises a range of techniques for research workers in the fields of cell and molecular biology, physiology, plant breeding and propagation, and genetic engineering. Both applied and more fundamental uses of cell, tissue and organ culture are covered, and the ring-binder design allows the manual to be updated regularly with supplementary chapters. Each chapter, discussing a single technique or protocol, is written by an authority in the field and provides background information, references to the relevant literature and a guide to troubleshooting in addition to a thorough methodology. This Sixth Supplement to the Plant Tissue Culture Manual expands the existing sections B: Tissue Culture & Transformation of Crop Species, C: Propagation & Conservation of Germplasm, F: Mutant Selection, and H: Tissue Culture Techniques for Fundamental Studies.

The second edition of this popular work provides a comprehensive account of all aspects of stomatal biology. The substantially revised text is thoroughly up to date and well illustrated with numerous line illustrations, photographs and comprehensive tables. The theory of gaseous diffusion through stomata is reviewed in a new chapter and sections on signal perception and transduction, guard cell ionic relations and guard cell metabolism have been added. A concluding chapter reviews the genetics and molecular biology of stomata. This work provides a comprhensive reference text which will appeal to advanced students, post-graduates and lecturers in plant physiology.

In a world of increasing atmospheric CO2, there is intensified interest in the ecophysiology of photosynthesis and increasing attention is being given to carbon exchange and storage in natural ecosystems. We need to know how much photosynthesis of terrestrial and aquatic vegetation will change as global CO2 increases. Are there major ecosystems, such as the boreal forests, which may become important sinks of CO2 and slow down the effects of anthropogenic CO2 emissions on climate? Will the composition of the vegetation change as a result of CO2 increase?
This volume reviews the progress which has been made in understanding photosynthesis in the past few decades at several levels of integration from the molecular level to canopy, ecosystem and global scales.

Post-translational modifications are now known to play a fundamental role in regulating the activity, location and function of a wide range of proteins. In plant cells work on different types of post-translational modifications has progressed largely along independent lines. This book brings research workers together to allow an exchange of ideas, and reflects a diversity of interest whilst also revealing common ground. An introductory chapter reviewing recent progress in the field is followed by reviews of protein phosphorylation in bacteria and animals which provide a useful perspective on this subject in plants. Consideration is then given to plant protein kinases and the processes they control. Acylation and glycosylation, and their functions in protein targeting and folding are reviewed, along with the roles of glycoproteins in plant development and of ubiquitination in plant senescence.

The application of molecular techniques is rapidly transforming the study of plant systematics. The precision they offer enables researchers to classify plants that have not been subject to rigorous classification before and thus allows them to obtain a clearer picture of evolutionary relationships. Plant Molecular Systematics is arranged both conceptually and phylogenetically to accommodate the interests not only of general systematists, but also those of people interested in a particular plant family. The first part discusses molecular sequencing; the second reviews restriction site analysis and the sequencing of mitochondrial DNA. A third section details the analysis of ribosomal DNA and chloroplast DNA. The following section introduces model studies involving well-studied families such as the Onagraceae, Compositae and Leguminosae. The book concludes with a section addressing theoretical topics such as data analysis and the question of morphological vs. molecular data.

The study of solute transport in plants dates back to the beginnings of experimental plant physiology, but has its origins in the much earlier interests of humankind in agriculture. Given this lineage, it is not surprising that there have been many books on the transport of solutes in plants; texts on the closely related subject of mineral nutrition also commonly address the topic of ion transport. Why another book? Well, physiologists continue to make new discoveries. Particularly pertinent is the characterisation of enzymes that are able to transport protons across membranes during the hydrolysis of energy-rich bonds. These enzymes, which include the H + -A TPases, are now known to be crucial for solute transport in plants and we have given them due emphasis. From an academic point of view, the transport systems in plants are now appreciated as worthy of study in their own right-not just as an extension of those systems already much more widely investigated in animals. From a wider perspective, understanding solute transport in plants is fundamental to understanding plants and the extent to which they can be manipulated for agricultural purposes. As physiologists interested in the mechanisms of transport, we first set out in this book to examine the solutes in plants and where are they located. Our next consideration was to provide the tools by which solute movement can be understood: a vital part of this was to describe membranes and those enzymes catalysing transport.

In the preface to the first edition ofthis book, we expressed a conviction that there was a need for a short book that highlighted important advances in the new discipline of plant molecular biology. The rapid development of this topic has been brought about by the recognition of the unique properties of plants in the study of growth and development together with the application of recombinant DNA techniques to tackle these problems. Plant cells contain DNA in nuclei, plastids and mitochondria, and so ofTer the unique challenge of studying the interaction of three separate genetic systems in a single organism. The molecular approach has provided, in recent years, a wealth of important information about how plants function, and how they interact with bacteria, fungi and viruses. Furthermore, plant development involves the regulation of gene expression in response to internal and external signals, and plant molecular biology has provided a fundamental insight into how this development is regulated. This is not only of considerable scientific interest, but also has important implications for the production of plants and plant products in agriculture, horticulture and the food industries.

Plant cell and tissue culture comprises a broad range of techniques of great value to research workers in the fields of cell and molecular biology, physiology, biochemistry, plant breeding and propagation and genetic engineering. This manual provides protocols for the major techniques in such a format that they can be followed step-by-step at the bench. Both applied and more fundamental uses of cell, tissue and organ culture are covered, and the ring-binder design allows the manual to be updated regularly with supplementary chapters. Each chapter, discussing a single technique or protocol, provides background information, references to the relevant literature and a guide to troubleshooting in addition to a thorough methodology. This second Supplement to the core text of the "Manual" provides important techniques to be added to the Sections on "Basic Techniques, Tissue Culture & Transformation of Crop Species and Reproductive Tissues".

For the past twenty years I have worked as an applied plant virologist, attempting to identify and control virus diseases in field crops. During the last ten years it has been my privilege to present short courses in plant virology to final-year students studying plant pathology, micro biology and general botany. Throughout the period I have been lecturing, it has been possible to recommend several excellent 'library' books for further reading in plant virology, but there has been no publication covering applied plant virology that a student might consider purchasing. With teaching requirements in mind this book has been written to provide a concise introduction to applied plant virology based on the experiences I have gained working on virus diseases, both in an applied laboratory and in the field. The text concentrates on introducing the reader to aspects of plant virology that would be encountered every day by an applied virologist trying to identify viruses and develop control measures for virus diseases of crop plants. Although a brief introduction to virus structure and its terminology is given in the opening chapter of the book, no attempt is made to cover in detail the more fundamental aspects of virus structure, biochemistry and replication. Similarly, the symptoms caused by individual viruses are not described, although the various types of symptoms that plant viruses cause and which might be encountered by a student or research worker are described."

This supplement, containing six chapters, is the first in a series of important works designed to be integrated into the text of the Plant Tissue Culture Manual to maintain it as a valuable source of laboratory methodology

capable of providing at least a relative measure of stomatal aperture were first used shortly thereafter (Darwin and Pertz, 1911). The Carnegie Institution of Washington's Desert Research Laboratory in Tucson from 1905 to 1927 was the first effort by plant physiologists and ecologists to conduct team research on the water relations of desert plants. Measurements by Stocker in the North African deserts and Indonesia (Stocker, 1928, 1935) and by Lundegardh (1922) in forest understories were pioneering attempts to understand the environmental controls on photosynthesis in the field. While these early physiological ecologists were keen observers and often posed hypotheses still relevant today they were strongly limited by the methods and technologies available to them. Their measurements provided only rough approximations of the actual plant responses. The available laboratory equip ment was either unsuited or much more difficult to operate under field than laboratory conditions. Laboratory physiologists distrusted the results and ecologists were largely not persuaded of its relevance. Consequently, it was not until the 1950s and 1960s that physiological ecology began its current resurgence. While the reasons for this are complicated, the development and application of more sophisticated instruments such as the infrared gas analyzer played a major role. In addition, the development of micrometeorology led to new methods of characterizing the plant environments."

This handbook is intended as an introductory guide to students at all levels on the principles and practice of plant growth analysis. Many have found this quantitative approach to be useful in the description and interpretation of the performance of whole plant systems grown under natural, semi-natural or controlled conditions. Most of the methods described require only simple experimental data and facilities. For the classical approach, GCSE biology and mathematics (or their equivalents) are the only theoretical backgrounds required. For the functional approach, a little calculus and statistical theory is needed. All of the topics regarding the quantitative basis of productivity recently introduced to the Biology A-level syllabus by the Joint Matriculation Board are covered. The booklet replaces my elementary Plant Growth Analysis (1978, London: Edward Arnold) which is now out of print. The presentation is very basic indeed; the opening pages give only essential outlines of the main issues. They are followed by brief, standardized accounts of each growth-analytical concept taken in turn. The illustrations deal more with the properties of well-grown material than with the effects of specific environmental changes, even though that is where much of the subject's interest lies. However, detailed references to the relevant parts of more com prehensive works appear throughout, and a later section on 'Inter relations' adds perspective. Some 'Questions and answers' may also help to show what topics will arise if the subject is pursued further."

This book presents edited and revised papers from the seventh International Workshop on Seeds, held in Salamanca, Spain, in May 2002. The key topics addressed include seed development, germination and dormancy, as well as desiccation, seed ecology and seed biotechnology.

The first edition of The Science of Photobiology was published in 1977, and was the first textbook to cover all of the major areas of photobiology. The science of photobiology is currently divided into 14 subspecialty areas by the American Society for Photobiology. In this edition, however, the topics of phototechnology and spectroscopy have been com bined in a new chapter entitled "Photophysics." The other subspecialty areas remain the same, i.e., Photochemistry, Photosensitization, UV Radiation Effects, Environmental Photobiology, Photomedicine, Circadian Rhythms, Extraretinal Photoreception, Vision, Photomorphogenesis, Photomovement, Photosynthesis, and Bioluminescence. This book has been written as a textbook to introduce the science of photobiology to advanced undergraduate and graduate students. The chapters are written to provide a broad overview of each topic. They are designed to contain the amount of information that might be presented in a one-to two-hour general lecture. The references are not meant to be exhaustive, but key references are included to give students an entry into the literature. Frequently a more recent reference that reviews the literature will be cited rather than the first paper by the author making the original discovery. The chapters are not meant to be a repository of facts for research workers in the field, but rather are concerned with demon strating the importance of each specialty area of photobiology, and documenting its relevance to current and/or future problems of man."

The germination of seeds is a magical event, in which a pinch of dust-like material may give rise to all the power and the beauty of the growing plant. The mechanisms of seed dormancy, of the breaking of seed dormancy and of germination itself continue to remain shrouded in mystery, despite the best efforts of plant scientists. Perhaps we are getting there, but very slowly. This book considers germination and dormancy from the point of view of plant physiology. Plant physiologists attempt to understand the relation ship between plant form and function and to explain, in physical and chemical terms, plant growth and development. The place of germination and dormancy in plant ecophysiology is taken into account with attempts to understand the seed in its .environment, whether the environment be natural, semi-natural or wholly artificial. In due course plant scientists hope to develop a precise understanding of germination and dormancy in cellular and molecular terms, and therefore there is some biochemistry in this book. Biochemists who wish to learn something about seeds should find this book useful."

There are many recent works on the topic of light and plant growth. These have not only been written by experts, but are also, in the main, written for experts (or, at least, for those who already have a fair understanding of the subject). This book has its origins in a six-week course in plant photophysiology, and its aim is to provide an introduction to the subject at an advanced undergraduate level. The imagined audience is simply a student who has asked the questions: In what ways does light affect plant growth, and how does it do it? The book is limited to aspects of photomorphogenesis. Photo synthesis is only considered where its pigments impinge on photo morphogenic investigations, or where its processes provide illustrative examples of particular interactions between light and biological material. Chapter 1 gives a general account of the various ways in which light affects plant development, and introduces topics which are subsequently covered in greater detail. In all the chapters, are special topic 'boxes', consisting of squared-off sections of text. These are simply devices for presenting explanatory background material, or material that I myself find particularly intriguing.

It is perhaps not surprising that plants have evolved with a mechanism to sense the light environment around them and modify growth for optimal use of the available 'life-giving' light. Green plants and ultimately all forms of life depend on the energy of sunlight, fixed in the process of photosynthesis. By appreciating the quality, quantity, direction and duration of light, plants are able to optimize growth and control such complex processes as germination and flowering. To perceive the light environment a number of receptors have evolved, including the red/far-red light-absorbing phytochrome, the blue/UV-A light-absorbing cryptochrome and a UV-B light-absorbing pigment. The isolation and charac terization of phytochrome is a classic example of how use of photobiological techniques can predict the nature of an unknown photoreceptor. The current knowledge of phytochrome is found in Part 2 and that of cryptochrome and other blue/UV absorbing receptors in Part 3. Part 4 concerns the light environ ment and its perception. Part 5 consists of selected physiological responses: photomodulation of growth, phototropism, photobiology of stomatal move ments, photomovement, photocontrol of seed germination and photocontrol of flavonoid biosyntheses. Further topics in Part 6 are the photobiology of fungi, a genetic approach to photomorphogenesis and coaction between pigment systems. Our plan was to produce an advanced textbook which took a broad inter disciplinary approach to this field of photomorphogenesis."

Transgenic Plant Technology for Remediation of Toxic Metals and Metalloids covers all the technical aspects of gene transfer, from molecular methods, to field performance using a wide range of plants and diverse abiotic stress factors. It describes methodologies that are well established as a key resource for researchers, as well as a tool for training technicians and students. This book is an essential reference for those in the plant sciences, forestry, agriculture, microbiology, environmental biology and plant biotechnology, and those using transgenic plant models in such areas as molecular and cell biology, developmental biology, stress physiology and phytoremediation.

The tenth volume of Water-in-Plants Bibl iography includes papers in al I fields of plant water relations research which appeared during the year 1984 - from theoreti cal considerations about the state of water in cel Is and its membrane transport to drought resistance of plants or physiological significance of irrigation. In addition to papers devoted entirely to plant water relations, papers on other topics are in cluded if they contain data on plant hydration level, water vapour efflux, rate of water uptake or water transport, etc., or if they contain valuable methodological in formation (measurement of selected microclimatic factors, soi I moisture etc.). We have tried to cover fully the relevant papers which have been publ ished in important scientific periodicals and books. Articles appeared in local journals, mimeographed booklets, abstracts of thesis and of symposia contributions, etc., were chosen mostly from reprints received directly from authors. The courtesy of those is highly appreciated. The manuscript is usually prepared in May and June of the year fol lowing the year which it covers. Unfortunately some reprints come later and thus the respective references appear in the fol lowing volume, with one year delay. To maximize the value of the bibl iography the references are arranged alphabetic ally according to the authors' names, and each volume is provided with three indexes."

There is at present a surge of interest in plant biochemistry, as the gaps in our knowledge are seen as a major impediment to progress, especially in such areas as genetic engineering. Techniques for the transfer of genes in plants are well advanced, and the question has become not how to transfer the genes, but which genes should be moved. To be able to answer this question, it is necessary to know the pathways, and to have purified and characterized the enzymes that catalyse these pathways. In the cases that have been studied, fundamental differences between the biochemistry of plants and animals have been found. This book discusses the subject of plant energetics as it is known now, and compares our knowledge of plants with that of animals. This book should be of interest to advanced undergraduates and postgraduates in plant biochemistry and physiology.