Research on the mechanisms of plant defense responses to stress and pathogen attack has attracted much attention in recent years. This increasing interest stems from the fact that the tools of molecular biology now enable us to study the molecular basis of old biological concepts such as host-pathogen recognition (and particularly the gene for-gene relationship), hypersensitive cell death and systemic acquired resistance. Our knowledge about avirulence and resistance genes, elicitors, signal transduction and genes involved in plant defense is rapidly expanding. Moreover we are just beginning to test in planta the potential of these results for biotechnological applications, aimed at improving plant resistance to diseases. The 2nd Conference of the European Foundation for Plant Pathology, hosted by the "Societe Fran~aise de Phytopathologie", was devoted to "Mechanisms of plant defense responses" and was held in Strasbourg, France. It brought together over 350 scientists from universities, research institutes and private sectors of 24 countries. Major advances in the areas under study have been reviewed in plenary lectures and are developed in the main articles of this book. Over 160 high-quality posters were presented and are summarized in short articles. Data from outstanding posters, which were discussed after a short oral presentation, are found in extended articles. As a whole the book presents a collection of papers arranged in six sections and reflecting the present day state-of-the-art of research in the field of plant defense reactions.

Photobiology - the science of light and life - begins with basic principles and the physics of light and continues with general photobiological research methods, such as generation of light, measurement of light, and action spectroscopy. In an interdisciplinary way, it then treats how organisms tune their pigments and structures to the wavelength components of light, and how light is registered by organisms. Then follow various examples of photobiological phenomena: the design of the compound eye in relation to the properties of light, phototoxicity, photobiology of the human skin and of vitamin D, photomorphogenesis, photoperiodism, the setting of the biological clock by light, and bioluminescence. A final chapter is devoted to teaching experiments and demonstrations in photobiology.
This book encompasses topics from a diverse array of traditional disciplines: physics, biochemistry, medicine, zoology, botany, microbiology, etc., and makes different aspects of photobiology accessible to experts in all these areas as well as to the novice. It is intended primarily for graduate students and for researchers who wish to look outside their speciality, but can also act as a source of information for undergraduate students.

Preface; A. Altman, Y. Waisel. Diversity of Roots: The Place of Roots in Plant Development and the Diversity of Root Types; P.W. Barlow, B. Palma. Induction of Roots and Their Development: Indissociable Chief Actors in the Inductive Phase of Adventitious Rooting; T. Gaspar et al. Hormonal Control of Root Induction and Development: Increased Induction of Adventitious Rooting via Slow Release Auxins and Elicitors; van der Krieken et al. Molecular Biology of Root Development: Auxin Induced Gene Expression During Rooting of Loblolly Pine Stem Cuttings; B. Goldfarb et al. Ecological Aspects of Root Development: Shootborne Roots: An Adaptive Organ in Sand Dunes; A. Danin. Applied Aspects of Root Development: Relations between Early Root Growth and Flower Yield of Clonal Rose Rootstocks; D.P. de Vries, L.A.M. Dubois. Root Products: Insane Roots and Twisted Carrots: Physiology and Biochemistry of Root Specific Metabolites; H.E. Flores. Models and Methods for Root Study: Morphological Structured Model for Hairy Root Culture; I. Berzin et al. Concluding Remarks: A 1996 Overview of the Research Interests from the Jerusalem Symposium T. Gaspar. 71 additional articles. Index.

Photosynthetic plant cells are compartmentalized into subcellular organelles such as chloroplasts, mitochondria, peroxisomes, the cytosol, and the vacuole. Although this compartmentation serves to isolate particular functions to particular subcellular locations, the successful metabolic activity of the cell is actually dependent on a controlled and coordinated interaction between these organelles. In this book, leading scientists have contributed reviews of current research on the interaction of organelles in processes such as C3, C4, C3-C4 and CAM photosynthesis, photorespiration, substrate and protein transport, respiration, lipid metabolism, and organelle biogenesis. The result is a comprehensive state-of-the-art volume that provides a rich source of reference and information for plant biochemists and their students.

Annual desert plant species of unrelated taxa in the Negev Desert of Israel have developed complementary sets of adaptations and survival strategies as ecological equivalents with physiological, morphological and anatomical resemblances, in the various stages of their life cycles. After 40 years of research in hot deserts Yitzchak Gutterman provides a comprehensive treatise of such adaptations and strategies. In doing so he covers the following topics: post-maturation primary seed dormancy, which prevents germination of maturing seeds before the summer; seed dispersal mechanisms with escape or protection strategies; cautious or opportunistic germination strategies; seedling drought tolerance. The day-length is an important factor in regulating flowering as well as the phenotypic plasticity of seed germination which is also affected by maternal factors.

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."

Sixty years ago at the Waite Agricultural Research Institute, G. Samuel, a plant pathologist, and C. S. Piper, a chemist, published their conclusion that the cause of roadside take-all, a disease of oats, was manganese deficiency. This report, together with the concurrent and independent studies of W. M. Carne in Western Australia were the first records of manganese deficiency in Australia and came only six years after McHargue's paper which is generally accepted as the final proof of the essentiality of this element. There must have been a few doubts for some people at the time, however, as the CAB publication, 'The Minor Elements of the Soil' (1940) expressed the view that further evidence to this effect was provided by Samuel and Piper. Their historic contributions are recognised by the International Symposium on Manganese in Soils and Plants as it meets on the site of their early labours to celebrate the 60th anniversary. This year Australians also acknowledge 200 years of European settlement in this country and so the Symposium is both a Bicentennial and a diamond jubilee event which recognises the impact of trace elements on agricultural development in Australia. In a broader sense, a symposium such as this celebrates, as it reviews, the efforts of all who over the ages have contributed to our knowledge of manganese in soils and plants.

The study of plant development in recent years has often been concerned with the effects of the environment and the possible involvement of growth substances. The prevalent belief that plant growth substances are crucial to plant development has tended to obscure rather than to clarify the underlying cellular mechanisms of development. The aim in this book is to try to focus on what is currently known, and what needs to be known, in order to explain plant development in terms that allow further experimentation at the cellular and molecular levels. We need to know where and at what level in the cell or organ the critical processes controlling development occur. Then, we will be better able to under stand how development is controlled by the genes, whether directly by the continual production of new gene transcripts or more indirectly by the genes merely defining self-regulating systems that then function autonomously. This book is not a survey of the whole of plant development but is meant to concentrate on the possible component cellular and molecular processes involved. Consequently, a basic knowledge of plant structure is assumed. The facts of plant morphogenesis can be obtained from the books listed in the General Reading section at the end of Chapter 1. Although references are not cited specifically in the text, the key references for each section are denoted by superscript numbers and listed in the Notes section at the end of each chapter."

The activation of carbon dioxide by transition metal complexes has been extensively studied. both experimentally and theoretically. 1 Central reactions in this chemistry are the insertion of C02 into M-X bonds. where X = H. C. 0. and N. (eq. 1-4). We are presently investigating the mechanistic aspects of these reaction processes and will herein deSCribe our current level of understanding. Comparisons of the pathway of the carbon-carbon bond fonning process in transition metal chemistry with the well known analogous chemistry involving organolithium reagents will be presented. Furthermore. the role of these reaction types in both homogeneous and heterogenous catalytic processes leading to useful chemicals will be elaborated. _OM> (1) lMt-H + ~ lMlopi _OM> (2) [Mt-R + C0. 2 [M]0. 2CR _OM> (3) [Mt-OR+ ~ [M]0. 2COR _OM> (4) [Mt-NR2 + C0. 2 [M]~CNR2 Insertion of C02 into the Metal-Hydride Bond. The reaction of anionic group 6 (Cr. Mo. W) transition metal hydrides with carbon dioxide to afford metalloformates occurs readlly at ambient temperature and 2 reduced pressures of carbon dioxide. This insertion process is referred to the normal pathway (Scheme 1). There are no documented cases of C02 insertion into the metal hydride bond to provide the alternative. metallocarboxylic acid. isomer (referred in Scheme 1 as abnormal). 3 Recent theoretical studies ascribe this preference to an unfavorable electrostatic interaction and poorer orbital overlap in the latter pro 4 cess. Nevertheless.

In 1971, the late Dr. J. Kolek of the Institute of Botany, Bratislava, organized the first International Symposium devoted exclusively to plant roots. At that time, perhaps only a few of the participants, gathered together in Tatranska Lomnica, sensed that a new era of root meetings was beginning. Nevertheless, it is now clear that Dr. Kolek's action, undertaken with his characteristic enormous enthusiasm, was rather pioneering, for it started a series a similar meetings. Moreover, what was rather exceptional at the time was the fact that the meeting was devoted to the functioning of just a single organ, the root. One possible reason for the unexpected success of the original, perhaps naive, idea of a Root Symposium might lie with the fact that plant roots have always been extremely popular as experimental material for cytologists, biochemists and physiologists whishing to probe processes as diverse as cell division and solute transport. Of course, the connection of roots with the rest of the plant is not forgotten either. This wide variety of disciplines is now coupled with the development of increasingly sophisticated experimental techniques to study some of these old problems. These factors undoubtedly contribute to the necessity of continuing the tradition of the root symposia. The common theme of root function gives, in addition, a certain unity to all these diverse activities.

Root research under natural field conditions is still a step-child of science. The reason for this is primarily methodological. The known methods are tedious, time consuming, and the accuracy of their results is often not very great. Many research workers have been discouraged by doing such root studies. The need for more information on the development and distribution of plant roots in different soils under various ecological conditions is, however, obvious in many ecological disciplines. Especially the applied botanical sciences such as agriculture, horticulture, and forestry are interested in obtaining more data on plant roots in the soil. This book will give a survey of existing methods in ecological root research. Primarily field methods are presented; techniques for pot experiments are described only so far as they are important for solving ecological problems. Laboratory methods for studying root physiology are not covered in this book. Scientific publications on roots are scattered in many different journals published all over the world. By working through the international root literature I found that about ten thousand papers on root ecology have been published at the present. This is not very much compared with the immense literature on the aboveground parts of the plants, but is, however, too much to cite in this book."

These proceedings of a workshop of the International Association for Phytoplankton Taxonomy and Ecology are directed specifically at the relationship between phytoplankton ecology and the trophic status of water bodies. Contributions address the fact that distinctive assemblages of phytoplankton species are closely associated with particular categories of water bodies. Particular attention is paid to how communities are assembled and to the ways in which environmental constraints filter the successful species. Overview articles are included. The book will be a valuable source of information to limnologists, algologists, and the technical staff of all water suppliers.

Cyanobacterial symbioses are no longer regarded as mere oddities but as important components of the biosphere, occurring both in terrestrial and aquatic habitats worldwide. It is becoming apparent that they can enter into symbiosis with a wider variety of organisms than hitherto known, and there are many more still to be discovered, particularly in marine environments. The chapters cover cyanobacterial symbioses with plants (algae, bryophytes, Azolla, cycads, Gunnera), cyanobacterial symbioses in marine environments, lichens, Nostoc-Geosiphon (a fungus closely related to arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi) symbiosis, and artificial associations of cyanobacteria with economically important plants. In addition, cyanobiont diversity, sensing-signalling, and evolutionary aspects of the symbiosis are dealt with. Renowned experts actively involved in research on cyanobacterial symbioses deal with ecological, physiological, biochemical, molecular, and applied aspects of all known cyanobacterial symbioses.
This volume on cyanobacteria in symbiosis complements the two earlier volumes on cyanobacteria published by Kluwer (Molecular Biology of Cyanobacteria, edited by D.A. Bryant and Ecology of Cyanobacteria, edited by B.A. Whitton and M. Potts). Together, the three volumes provide the most comprehensive treatment of cyanobacterial literature as a whole. The book will serve as a valuable reference work and text for teaching and research in the field of plant-microbe interactions and nitrogen fixation.

Saline land is a resource capable of significant production. Recent advances in research in breeding for salt tolerance in wheat, biotechnology in rice, and selection and rehabilitation of salt-tolerant plants are of economic importance in arid/saline conditions.

This book gives some practical approaches for saline agriculture and afforestation, and describes examples of cultivating salt-tolerant/halophytic plants for commercial interest on salt-affected land or with highly salinized water in Australia, China, Central Asia, Egypt, Pakistan, and Russia. It also explores the possibilities of arid/saline agriculture and afforestation in UAE.

This book provides a comprehensive and interactive view of recent advances in the cytology, anatomy, and physiology of roots as presented at the 5th International Symposium on Structure and Function of Roots, held on 31 August-4 September, 1998, in Stara Lesna, Slovakia. This edition differs from previous ones by including some aspects of functional genetics and plant morphogenesis. The book is intended to serve both students and researchers as a valuable source of updated information, ideas, and concepts dealing with the most fundamental questions of development and function of plant roots.

This publication comprises the proceedings of the first International Conference devoted to the structural roots of trees and woody plants. 'The Supporting Roots - Structure and Function, ' 20-24 July 1998, Bordeaux, France. The meeting was held under the auspices ofIUFRO WPS 2. 01. 13 'Root Physiology and Symbiosis, ' and its aim was to bring together scientific researchers, foresters and arboriculturalists, to discuss current problems in structural root research and disseminate knowledge to an audience from a wide disciplinary background. For the first time in an international conference, emphasis was placed on presenting recent reseach in the field of tree anchorage mechanics and root biomechanics. The way in which tree stability can be affected by root system symmetry and architecture was addressed, as well as how movement during wind sway can influence the development and shape of woody roots. The role of different nursery and planting techniques was discussed, in relation to effects on root system form and development. Root response to different environmental stresses, including water, temperature, nutrient and mechanical stress was addressed in detail. The structure and function of woody roots was also considered at different levels, from coarse to fine roots, with several papers discussing the interaction between roots and the rhizosphere. One of the conference highlights was the presentation of new methods in root research, by a series of workshops held at LRBB-INRA, Pierroton, on the northern border of the Gascony forest.

Proceedings of a Seminar in the CEC Programme of the Coordination of Research on Plant Protein Improvement, held in Gembloux, Belgium, Sept. 3-5, 1985

A growing interest has been shown recently in the dymanics of nitrogen in agricultural and natural ecosystems. This has been caused by increasing demands for food and fibre by a rapidly expanding world population, and by a growing concern that increased land clearing, cultivation and use of both fertilizer and biologically fixed nitrogen can have detrimental effects on the environment. These include effects on water quality, eutrophication of surface waters and changes in atmospheric composition all caused by increased cycling of nitrogenous compounds. The input and availability of nitrogen frequently affects the productivity of farming systems more than any other single management factor, but often the nitrogen is used inefficiently. Much of the fertilizer nitrogen applied to the soil is not utilised by the crop: it is lost either in solution form, by leaching of nitrate, or in gaseous forms as ammonia, nitrous oxide, nitric oxide or dinitrogen. The leached nitrate can contaminate rivers and ground waters, while the emitted ammonia can contaminate surface waters or combine with atmospheric sulfur dioxide to form aerosols which affect visibility, health and climate. There is also concern that increased evolution of nitrous oxide will deplete the protective ozone layer of the stratosphere. The possibility of a link between the intensity of agricultural use of nitrogen, nitrous oxide emissions and amounts of stratospheric ozone has focussed attention on these interactions.

Progress in photosynthesis research is strongly dependent on instrumentation. It is therefore not surpr- ing that the impressive advances that have been made in recent decades are paralleled by equally impressive advances in sensitivity and sophistication of physical equipment and methods. This trend started already shortly after the war, in work by pioneers like Lou Duysens, the late Stacy French, Britton Chance, Horst Witt, George Feher and others, but it really gained momentum in the seventies and especially the eighties when pulsed lasers, pulsed EPR spectrometers and solid-state electronics acquired a more and more prominent role on the scene of scientific research. This book is different from most others because it focuses on the techniques rather than on the scientific questions involved. Its purpose is three-fold, and this purpose is reflected in each chapter: (i) to give the reader sufficient insight in the basic principles of a method to understand its applications (ii) to give information on the practical aspects of the method and (iii) to discuss some of the results obtained in photosynthesis research in order to provide insight in its potentalities. We hope that in this way the reader will obtain sufficient information for a critical assessment of the relevant literature, and, perhaps more important, will gain inspiration to tackle problems in his own field of research. The book is not intended to give a comprehensive review of photosynthesis, but nevertheless offers various views on the exciting developments that are going on.

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.

This book presents a detailed analysis of up-to-date literature on in vitro morphogenesis at cell, tissue, organ, and whole plant levels. Its driving force is the substantial advances made in the field of morphogenesis in tissue cultures during the last 25 years.

The purpose of our present work is to review the fundamental studies on inhibition of soil urease activity and the applied studies on improving efficiency of urea fertilizers by inhibition of soil urease activity. The general literature on these topics covers 65 years, and the patent literature comprises a period of nearly 40 years. Studies related to inhibition of soil urease activity were performed in a great number of countries' well representing all the continents. Full texts of the papers describing these studies were published in one of 18 languages.'. The literature data reviewed are structured into 10 chapters, 81 subchapters, and 224 sections. The bibliographical list consists of 830 papers cited. .In alphabetical order: Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belorussia, Brazil. Bulgaria, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba. Czech RepUblic, Egypt, Estonia, France, Georgia (Gruzia), Germany, Hungary, India, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy. Japan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka. Sudan, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America. Uzbekistan ."

For 150 years scientists at the Rothamsted Experimental Station have studied aspects of plant nitrogen nutrition and amino acid biosynthesis. This book is the result of a meeting held to mark this century and a half of work there. The papers look at the significant progress in understanding the biochemistry of amino acids recently achieved, in the light of this history of research. Leading researchers from around the world have contributed authoritative chapters on protein amino acids, non-protein amino acids, betaines, glutathione, polyamines and other secondary metabolites derived from amino acids. As well as being essential in some animals' nutrition, these compounds can have important roles in defending against herbivores, insects and disease. An understanding of these compounds can help in devising better crop protection and production methods.

Conifer Cold Hardiness provides an up-to-date synthesis by leading scientists in the study of the major physiological and environmental factors regulating cold hardiness of conifer tree species. This state-of-the-art reference comprehensively explains current understanding of conifer cold hardiness ranging from the gene to the globe and from the highly applied to the very basic. Topics addressed encompass cold hardiness from the perspectives of ecology, ecophysiology, acclimation and deacclimation, seedling production and reforestation, the impacts of biotic and abiotic factors, and methods for studying and analyzing cold hardiness. The content is relevant to geneticists, ecologists, stress physiologists, environmental and global change scientists, pathologists, advanced nursery and silvicultural practitioners, and graduate students involved in plant biology, plant physiology, horticulture and forestry with an interest in cold hardiness.

This book results from a symposium on the theme of 'The Physiology and Biochemistry of Plant Productivity' which was held at the University of Calgary from July 14-18, 1980, and was jointly sponsored by the Canadian Society of Plant Physiologists and the International Association of Plant Physiologists. The subject matter of the book deals with various aspects of nitrogen and carbon metabolism, their interrelationships and interdependence. The topics covered in the chapters highlight various interesting and important lines of research that are in progress. There is no attempt to provide a comprehensive coverage of the basic physiological knowledge upon which this research depend- important references are to be found at the end of each chapter, however, and the reader will be able to pursue these as necessary. An introductory chapter by Dr. R.G.S. Bidwell (winner of the C.S.P.P. Gold Medal in 1979) considers some implications of plant physiological research and the aims and responsibilities of plant physiologists. In the next two chapters Drs. J. Rigaud and L.E. Schrader (with R.J. Thomas) elaborate on current research on nitrate metabolism and nitrogen fixation, and how an understanding of these phenomena might be usefully applied towards the manipulation of plants to improve productivity. Dr. J.S.