Every year between three and four hundred papers are published on the topic of insulin action. This extraordinary publication rate prevents any author from includ ing an exhaustive bibliography in any review or book. Perhaps due to this there is no single text that attempts to cover the effects and the mechanism of action of insulin. This book is such an attempt. I intend to present a review of the physiological effects of insulin, the pathology of defects in the action of insulin, and the current views on the mechanism of action of this hormone. I make no apology for the fact that the bibliography will not be extensive and that the amount of experimental detail and data discussed will be kept to a relevant minimum. This book is not intended for the expert in the field, but for the second- or third-year undergraduate and graduate student of medicine, biochemistry, physiology or related disciplines, and will be valuable as a reference source for research workers. The book is presented as a guide, a summary of the ideas and facts; it will present a reader with a foretaste of a fascinating and ever-changing field. I have attempted to be up-to-date with published research work. Any significant contributions to the field not included in the first draft have been added as footnotes. I assume a basic knowledge of the metabolic pathways of carbohydrates, fats and proteins."

The originality of this volume is to reveal to the reader the fascination of some unfamiliar sensory organs that are sometimes ignored and often misunderstood. These receptors have only recently been identified and their functional specificity is in some cases still a matter for discussion. The four classes of sensory organs considered here differ widely from one another in many respects. One might even say that the only thing they have in common is that they belong to cold-blooded vertebrates. These classes are: 1. the directionally sensitive lateral-line mechanoreceptors of fishes and amphi bians (Chapter 7); 2. the pseudobranchial organs of some teleosts, equipped with pressoreceptors and at least three other types of receptors (osmo- and chemoreceptors) (Chapter 8); 3. the infrared-sensitive pit organs of some snake families (Chapter 9); 4. the various kinds of electroreceptors found in several marine and freshwater fish families (Chapters 2 to 6). The first three classes of receptors mentioned above thus rate only one chapter each, whereas five chapters are devoted to the electroreceptors. Electroreception has aroused enormous interest among physiologists in specialties ranging from molecular biology to animal behavior. The resulting quantity of research and discussion fully justifies this disproportion. However, it cannot be denied that the contents of the volume must appear unbalanced and heterogeneous, yet it should not be perceived as a mere juxtaposition of particular and unrelated cases."

As editor of the two-part Volume V on photosynthesis in RUHLAND'S Encyclopedia, the forerunner of this series published in 1960, I have been approached by the editors of the present volume to provide a short preface. The justification for following this suggestion lies in the great changes which have been taking place in biology in the two decades between these publications, changes which are reflected in the new editorial plan. Twenty years ago it appeared convenient and formally easy to consider photo synthesis as a clearly separated field of research, which could be dealt with under two major headings: one presenting primarily photochemical and biochemical prin ciples, the other physiological and environmental studies. Such a partition, however, as far as aims and opinions of the authors were concerned, resulted in a rather heterogeneous volume. Today, the tendency in experimental biology is towards a merger of previously distinct disciplines. Biochemists and biophysicists have developed their methods to such an extent that, over and above the analysis of individual reaction sequences, work on the manifold interrelationships among cellular activities has become in creasingly possible. Joining them in growing numbers are the physiologists and ecologists with their wealth of information on activity changes in vivo and on the variability and efficiency of the organisms concerned. Furthermore, biochemists, biophysicists and physiologists also now share a lively interest in ultrastructure research, the results and implications of which, through continually improving methodology, have generated important stimuli for the work in the field of cell function."

The problems associated with the movement of water and solutes throughout the plant body have intrigued students of plants since Malpighi's conclusions in 1675 and 1679 that nutrient sap flows upward and downward in stems through vessels in both wood and bark. Steven Hale's ingenious experiments on the movement of water in plants in 1726 and Hartig's observations of sieve-tube exudation in the mid-19th century set the stage for continued intensive studies on long-range transport in plants. In spite of this interest for more than 200 years in the movement of solutes and water in plants, it has only been within the last 20 to 30 years that extensive research effort has been directed toward a critical evaluation of the interactions among the various cellular organelles. The important roles played by the exchange of metabolites in the control and regulation of cellular processes is now widely recognized, but in most instances poorly understood.

Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute, Pugnochiuso, Italy, June 22-July 3, 1986

Oxygen (O ) appeared in significant amounts in the Earth's atmosphere over 2. 2 2 billion years ago, largely due to the evolution of photosynthesis by cyanobacteria (Halliwell 2006). The O molecule is a free radical, as it has two impaired electrons 2 that have the same spin quantum number. This spin restriction makes O prefer to 2 accept its electrons one at a time, leading to the generation of the so-called reactive oxygen species (ROS). The chemical nature of these species dictates that they can create damage in cells. This has contributed to the creation of the "oxidative stress" concept; in this view, ROS are unavoidable toxic products of O metabolism and 2 aerobic organisms have evolved antioxidant defences to protect against this tox- ity (Halliwell 1981; Fridovich 1998). Indeed, even in present-day plants, which are full of antioxidants, much of the protein synthetic activity of chloroplasts is used to replace oxidatively damaged D1 and other proteins (Halliwell 2006). Yet, the use of the "oxidative stress" term implies that ROS exert their effects through indiscriminate widespread inactivation of cellular functions. In this context, ROS must not be able to react with lipids, proteins or nucleic acids in order to avoid any damage to vital cellular components. However, genetic evidence has suggested that, in planta, purely physicoche- cal damage may be more limited than previously thought (Foyer and Noctor 2005).

There is a paucity of information on the dynamics of Ascorbic Acid (AA) turnover in relation to germination, metabolism, growth, differentiation and development of a plant and in those undergoing stress of various types. in presowing treatment of seeds etc. The turnover of AA plays an important role during the juvenile phase of growth of a plant and has a significant bearing on its subsequent growth, development and maturation. The beneficial effect of presowing treatment of seed with Ascorbic Acid (AA) + H2 O highlights the validity of the AA-nucleic acid 2 protein metabolism concept of growth and development of plan ts. During the course of the last 30 years, work has been undertaken by the author and his collaborators on the meta bolic drifts of regulatory substances during juvenile, vegetative, reproductive and senescent phases. The most important of these growth regulatory substances was found to be Ascorbic Acid. The dynamiC role of AA turnover is revealed by its control of rates of metabolic processes as well as those of enzymic reactions which paves the way to "New Genetics.""

This book gathers contributions presented during an In- ternational meeting organized by the Laboratory of Photobio- logy of the University of Liege, Belgium, on 8 and 9 August 1983. The general topic of the discussions was protochlorophyl- lide reduction and greening. Among the reasons for choosing this topic were the recent advances in the field. These ad- vances deal with: (1) The characterization of the basic constituents of the photoenzymatic complex responsible for protochlorophylli- de reduction. This complex is known to be ternary, comprising the pigment: protochlorophyllide, NADPH and the enzyme proto- chlorophyllide oxidoreductase. (2) The discovery of short-lived intermediates in the photoreduction process, and in particular, the recent findings resulting from the proqresses of the picosecond and nanosecond spectrometry. (3) The obtention of new data on the components of the plastids, on the changes they undergo during the first steps of greening, and on the distribution of the pigment-protein complexes between the various substructures of the etioplast. (4) The detection of early photoactivities apart from protochlorophyllide reduction. These subjects have ~cen extensively discussed during the meeting and several sections of this book are devoted to the presentation of the new data.

The idea of addressing the problem of the genetic specificity of mineral nutrition at an international level arose four years ago in a proposal for this topic to be included in the program of the II Congress of the Federation of European Societies for Plant Physiology (FESPP) as a separate section. The Organising Committee of the II Congress of FESPP which was held in Santiago de Compostella in 1980 arranged a special session and it was clearly successful. A special scientific meeting where the genetic aspects of plant nutrition in their widest sense could be presented and discussed comprehensively appeared to be necessary and that is how this Symposium came to be organized by the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Much progress has already been achieved in this field, and bearing in mind the importance of this problem, particularly at the present moment, it is necessary for us both to acquaint ourselves with what has been achieved so far, and even more to direct attention and effort to the fundamental problems for the future.

An International Symposium, Qiryat Anavim, Israel, January 9-12, 1984

Unlike the situation in the major cereals, the yields of Vicia faba have not been markedly increased during the last half century. There is no single cause for this but among those that have been important is the lack of cytogenetic understanding in relation to breeding performance. Since as a consequence, little genetic variation has been available to agronomists conclusions, probably unwarranted, have been drawn about the limited prospects for the faba bean. Against such a background it has been difficult to justify the investment of research resources in the crop. The central theme of this book is that with the establishment of cytogenetic studies in Vicia faba understanding of its genetic system will develop in relation to breeding improvement and thereafter some at least, of the impediments to yield increase can steadily though not dramatically, be removed. We have distinguished between longer and shorter papers and only the former include Abstracts. The latter amplify themes in the longer papers or were written to develop particular topics at the request of the editors. G.P. Chapman S.A. Tarawali Wye College, April, 1984 VIII ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank the various contributors to this publication for the readiness with which they have met our various req~ests. Our thanks are due to the staff of the Centre for European Agricultural Studies for facilitating arrangements for the Seminar and to Mr. Peter Abott and Carl Zeiss (Oberkochen) Ltd. for the display of microscopes.

The Annual Beltsville Symposium provides a forum for interaction among scientists involved in research that has vital impact on agriculture and on the agricultural sciences. The 10th Symposium in the series, Biotechnology for Solving Agricultural Problems, focuses on the use of a revolutionary new set of tools, biotechnology, and attempts to define the set in terms of its applications in agriculture. Biotechnology has already contributed to the genetic improvement of agricultural products. Procedures that were impossible to test or to implement in the past because of technological limitations are now routinely used by many scientists. Four areas that have benefitted from advances in biotechnology are covered in the symposium proceedings. These areas include genetic manipulation, nutrition, health and disease, and natural resource management. The 31 invited speakers have identified programs of basic and applied research on plants, animals, and insects that fall within these broad areas. Their research strategies included such techniques as germline modification, gene mapping, monoclonal antibody production, and gene transposition. These strategies have tapped new well springs of information and technologies ranging from the regulation of gene expression (and with it, the regulation of development, growth, disease resistance, and nutrient metabolism) to degradation of pesticides and toxic wastes. The applications of biotechnology to agricultural research have opened virgin vistas with enormous potential. The new biotechnological techniques and those that will evolve with their use will contribute markedly to the capacity of the agricultural sciences to advance the well-being of the human race.

The contributions of plant genetics to the production of higher yielding crops of superior quality are well documented. These successes have been realized through the application of plant breeding techniques to a diverse array of genetically controlled traits. Such highly effective breeding procedures will continue to be the primary method employed for the development of new crop cultivars; however, new techniques in cell and molecular biology will provide additional approaches for genetic modification. There has been considerable speculation recently concerning the potential impact of new techniques in cell and molecular biology on plant improvement. These genetic engineering techniques should offer unique opportunities to alter the genetic makeup of crops if applied to existing breeding procedures. Many questions must be answered in order to identify specific applications of these new technologies. This search for applications will require input from plant scientists working on various aspects of crop improvement. This volume is intended to assess the interrelationships between conventional plant breeding and genetic engineering.

The last 10 years have witnessed an explosion in our understanding of plant h- mones. The often vague models of hormone action developedover decadeshave been replaced in short order by detailed molecular models that include receptors and in many cases downstream signal transduction components. Given the rapid progress in understanding the mechanism of action of plant growth regulators, a technical review of hormone methodology is timely. Our book focuses on genetic, biochemical, ana- tical and chemical biological approaches for understanding and dissecting plant h- mone action. The greatest strides in plant hormone biology have come, by and large, from the use of genetic methods to identify receptors and we dedicate a chapter to general genetic methods of analysis using the model system Arabidopsis thaliana. A cluster of chapters focuses on biochemical methods for documenting interactions betweenhormonesand their receptors. Theimportance of these assays is tremendous; receptor-ligand interactions in animal model systems have been the cornerstones of pharmacological and medicinal chemical assays that have enabled identification of selective and non-selective agonists and antagonists that can be used to further probe and dissect questions of receptor function. This is likely to be a major new frontier in plant hormone research.

These volumes contain an excellent, up-to-date review of the rapidly developing field of photosynthesis research. They comprise the proceedings of the Ninth International Congress on Photosynthesis, held in Nagoya, Japan, in 1992, which was the first in the series to be held in Asia. The Congress was attended by over 1000 active participants from 43 countries, who contributed plenary lectures, symposium talks, posters and discussions. The volumes contain most of these contributions, in the form of review papers and short communications, assembled in 26 chapters, which cover a wide variety of subjects, such as: fundamental aspects, excitation energy transfer, primary reactions, bioenergetic processes, carbon metabolism, and its metabolic and genetic regulations; applied aspects, herbicides and artificial photosynthesis, and environmental aspects, photosynthesis under stress conditions and global climate change. Research in Photosynthesis is therefore an important document, containing the latest high-level information about photosynthesis in its broadest sense. The four volumes are a valuable reference source. Furthermore, the volumes are important for background study for those enetering this exciting and promising field of investigation.

Thi s book is a general introduction into in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence and contains the contributions of the first International Ch 1 orophyll Fluorescence Sympos i urn he 1 din the Phys i kzentrum Bad Honnef, F. R. G. from June 6 to 8, 1988. This Symposium was made possible by a generous support from the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation, Hanau, which is gratefully acknmvledged. The book not only comprises all aspects of the applications of chlorophyll fluorescence in photosynthesis, stress physiol ogy, hydrobiology and remote sensing, but also gives access to measuring techni ques, data acqui si ti on and earl i er 1 iterature references. Thus it is far more than just a common proceedings book, it is a general introduction to all forms of application of the non-destructive in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence including the newest results. In a first chapter the inverse correlation between in vivo chlorophyll fl uorescence and photosynthet i c quantum convers i on and CO? -ass i mi 1 at ion is outlined, the origin and life-time of the chlorophyll fluOrescence at room and liquid nitrogen temperatures are given as well as the induction kinetics (Kautsky effect) and the methodo 1 ogi ca 1 approaches to regi ster different forms of chlorophyll-fluorescence signatures."

The period following the second world war has witnessed an expanding commitment to incr~ased food production in tropical countries. Public and private initiatives at the national and international levels have led to the creation of programs geared specifically towards the improvement of food crops in tropical conditions. Examples of this increased commitment are the network of international agricultural research centers and numerous bilateral aid projects. As a consequence, crop improvement has become a truly worldwide endeavor, relying on an international network of institutions and collaborators. This holds also for Phaseolus beans. Following the discovery of the Americas, Phaseolus beans became distributed on all six continents. Yet, until not so long ago, most of the research on Phaseolus improvement took place in developed countries. In recognition of the nutritional importance of Phaseolus beans in developing countries, this has changed considerably in the last years, principally perhaps through the activities of the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) and the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR). Consequently, the scope of the research on Phaseolus has broadened considerably and the number of Phaseolus researchers is larger than ever before.

Forty years ago, when PLANT AND SOIL first appeared, Europe was still recovering from the devastating effects of World War II. During the war years, work in many centres of agricultural research had come to a virtual standstill. Buildings and equipment were destroyed, scientists were often forced to terminate their research and teaching activities and funds allocated to such work were diverted to other, at that time, more pressing needs. During the first post-war years reconstruction was undertaken with great zeal and in that light the founding of the new journal PLANT AND SOIL must be viewed. In the pre-war period most agricultural science journals were still primarily national ones and consequently many articles were published in languages mastered by only a limited number of potential readers. In small countries whose languages are not widely understood, the desire arose to publish research findings in one of the major languages. It is therefore understandable that in the early years of the journal's existence, large portions of PLANT AND SOIL were filled with articles from the Scandinavian countries and The Nether lands. Originally, rather frequent use was made of the opportunity to publish also in German and French, but with the advance of English as a major language of communication, a decline was noticeable in the number of German and French manuscripts submitted. As a consequence the Edi torial Board has recently decided to terminate the publishing of articles in these languages."

The present volume "Excitation Energy and Electron Transfer in Pho. tosynthesis" is dedicated to a colleague and dear friend Warren L. But ler. I first met Warren when he visited the University of Illinois at Ur bana during the early sixties; he left an indelible impression on me as a person with warmth and enthusiasm. Initially, he was someone I looked to for guidance, but later we also became friends. Whenever I passed through Los Angeles, I always telephoned Warren and often end ed up taking a plane to San Diego to stay with two wonderful people, Warren and his wife Lila. His invitations could never be refused. Below I reproduce the words of Herbert Stern on Warren L. Butler's life; these words express my sentiments as well as those of many of Warren's friends: ''A lifetime of acedemic creativity criss-crossed by streaks of highbrow and lowbrow fun. There is no summary to this adventure be cause we can neither make nor proclaim an end. Warren has bequeathed us his garden of academic treasures. It is ours to keep and tend. There is lots of joy in our many recollections of Warren's life and sorrow's foil can only brighten the brightness that the joy radiates."

Plant hormone research is the favorite topic of physiologists. Past three decades have witnessed that this subject has received much attention. The inquisitive nature of human mind has pumped much in literature on this subject and this volume is the product of such minds. In the following pages various hormonal-controlled physiological processes like, flowering, seed dormancy and germination, enzyme secretion, senes cence, ion transport, fruit ripening, root growth and development, thig momorphogenesis and tendril thigmonasty have been included. The volume also contains a review paper on 'Growth Regulating Activity of Penicillin in Higher Plants' and has been presented for the first time. The vast contents of each review paper have been written by erudite scholars who have admirably carried out their evangelic task to make the text up TO date. This volume, I am sure, would stimulate the appetite of researchers of peripheral disciplines of botany and agricultural sciences and they will continue to enjoy the fun and adventures of plant hormone research. Save one. my most outstanding debts are due to the rich array of the contributors and other plant physiologists specially to Prof. Thomas Gaspar (Belgium), Prof. E. E. Goldschmidt (Isreal), Prof. H. Greppin (Switzerland), Dr. K. Gurumurti (India), Prof. M. A. Hall (U. K. ), Prof. H. Harada (Japan), Dr. M. Kaminek (Czechoslovakia), Dr. J. L. Karm oker (BangIa Desh), Prof. Peter B. Kaufman (U. S. A. ), Dr. V. I. Kefeli . / (U. S. S. R. ), Dr. M. Kutaoek (Czechoslovakia), Prof. S."

The Second International Congress on Photosynthesis Research took place in Stresa, Italy during June 24-29, 1971; two centuries after the discovery of Photosynthesis by Joseph Priestley in 1971. This important anniversary was celebrated at the Congress by a learned account of Priestley's life and fundamental discoveries given by Professor Robin HILL, F. R. S. Professor HILL's lecture opens the first of the three volumes which contains the contributions presented at the Congress. The manuscripts have been distributed into three volumes. Volume I con tains contributions in the areas of primary reactions and electron transport; Volume II ion transport and photophosphorylation, and Volume III carbon assimilation, regulatory phenomena, developmental aspects, and from the two special sessions of the Congress devoted to evolution and photorespiration. It is realized that this division is necessarily somewhat arbitrary since many contributions relate to more than one of the above mentioned titles. However, the large number of contributions (over 3000 typed pages) made it impossible to publish the proceedings in less than three volumes. The printing of these volumes and the organization of the Congress were made possible by a contribution from the Consigio Nazionale delle Ricerche of Italy. The generous support of the Istituto Lombardo Acca demia di Scienze e Lettere to the publication of these proceedings is gratefully acknowledged. The editors wish to express their appreciation to all the scientists who contributed the results of the investigations, for their coopera tion; and to Drs."

For centuries biologists have been extremely interested in the structure of desert plants as examples of natural selection to harsh environmental conditions. Indeed, desert plants are frequently used as examples in many biology classes and textbooks to illustrate natural selection, but this has led to an unfortunate litany of errors and misconceptions about desert plant adaptations.
This new synthesis focuses on plants of lowland tropical and subtropical arid deserts. Readers will be surprised to discover that many features commonly ascribed to desert plants are rareley observed in the most common species. Instead, the typical structural adaptations of nonsucculent warm desert plants are now viewed as ways to maximize photosynthetic rate.

This is the third book chronicling the scientific activities of the European Society for Photobiology (ESP). It contains 56 chapters, written by authors from 16 countries, based on presentations at the 3rd Congress of the European Society for Photobiology held in Budapest, Hungary on the 27th August - 2nd September 1989. The science of photobiology, which can simply be defined as the study of the effects of light on living matter, covers so many subject areas that no single book can hope to do justice to them all. This multidisciplinary nature of photobiology is reflected by the material covered in this volume, which contains chapters on such diverse themes as motile photoresponses in bacteria, cancer therapy and photosynthesis. Interestingly, the emphasis placed on various subject areas differs quite markedly from the preceding volume ('Light in Biology & Medicine, volume 1, eds. R. Douglas, J. Moan & F. Dall'Acqua, Plenum Press, 1988). It is hoped that by highlighting different areas of photobiology these and future pUblications emanating from the ESP will, in time, produce a comprehensive record of photobiological research, . not only in Europe but throughout the world. Unlike many conference proceedings all the chapters con tained within this book have been subjected to rigorous peer review and several potential contributions were rejected during the editing process. Furthermore, most manuscripts underwent extensive editing to try and produce chapters of a uniform format and standard."