This book examines the chemistry and mode of action of herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and plant growth regulators. It follows crop protection strategies from early discoveries to the present day, emphasising the biochemical targets of the compounds discussed. Chemistry and Mode of Action of Crop Protection Agents provides an in-depth, yet easy to read and understand, review of the major classes of pesticides, explaining also the basis of their activity and selectivity. Throughout, there are many references to allow the reader to pursue areas of special interest, and each chapter contains questions to ensure that the text has been understood. This is the first book on the mode of action of pesticides to have been published in over ten years, and as such will have a very wide audience. It is aimed primarily at graduate level but will also be relevant to the needs of some sixth form and undergraduate courses, as well as to industrialists and advisors in the field of crop protection.

Despite the many advances made during the last decade in various aspects of fungal biochemistry, there have been very few volumes devoted to the sub ject in recent years. This lack is all the more surprising in view of the increas ing use of fungi in gene manipulation studies and in biotechnological ap plications, and of the current interest in the biorational discovery of novel agents for the control of fungal pathogens of plants and humans. We hope that this book goes some way to rectifying this situation by providing an up to-date account of selected developments in two important areas, namely cell walls and membranes. Topics included in the book concern both yeasts and filamentous fungi. Although the main emphasis is on biogenesis, functional aspects are also discussed, e.g. the role of glycoproteins in recognition of sterols in mem branes and of calcium in regulation. Several contributions describe in terference with the 'normal' biochemistry of cell walls and membranes with a view to increasing fundamental knowledge, but also highly relevant to the design of new fungicides and antimycotics. The steadily increasing impact of molecular biology on the study of fungal biochemistry is highlighted throughout.