haemopoietlc cells; 10. Genetic defects in haemopoiesis- 11. 

 General discussion ' 



As the authors say in their preface, the Introduction of new 

 techniques has enforced a complete revision of virtually every 

 accepted concept in the field of haemopoiesis in a span of lit- 

 tle more than a decade. This monumental work is the first com- 

 prehensive account of the present state of our knowledge writ- 

 ten by two eminently competent authors. It is primarily intended 

 for students and haematologlsts , but contains a wealth of inter- 

 esting information for all those interested in proliferation and 

 differentiation as they occur in a well-defined cell population, 

 and in the humoral and other environmental factors involved. 



The book is sufficiently characterized by the table of con- 

 tents. Of most immediate interest to developmental biologists 

 are chs.3 and 4, which numoer about 100 pages each. Chs.6 and 7 

 number 50 and 86 pages respectively. 



The book is well produced and well illustrated. In most of the 

 chapter bibliographies the vast majority of titles are less than 

 10 years old. There is no author index. 



57. 



J.M.MITCHISON. 1971. THE BIOLOGY OF THE CELL CYCLE 



Cambridge Univ. Press, London. VI, 313 pp., 95 figs., 4 tabs., 



bibliography serves as author index, subject index. £ 4.60(cloth), 



£ 1.60 (paper) 



Contents: 1. Introduction to the cell cycle; 2. Single cell 

 methods; 3* Synchronous cultures; 4. DNA synthesis in eukaryo- 

 tic cells; 5. DNA synthesis in prokaryotic cells; 6. RNA syn- 

 thesis; 7. Cell growth and protein synthesis; 8. Enzyme syn- 

 thesis; 9. Organelles, respiration and pools; 10. The control 

 of division; Postcript 



The subject of this book may seem peripheral to developmental 

 biology. However, because an early embryo is a rapidly dividing 

 population of cells, many embryologists are confronted with 

 problems concerning the cell cycle during their research. It is 

 for this reason that this cook is briefly reviewed. It is oest 

 characterized by a quotation from the preface: 



My aim in the first nine chapters of this book is to provide a 

 reasonably comprehensive survey of work on the cell cycle from 

 bacteria to mammalian cells, with the main emphasis being on 

 patterns of synthesis and their control. The last chapter does 

 not attempt to be comprehensive and Includes only a few aspects 

 of division control which, to ray personal taste, seem important 

 at present. I have paid more attention than is usual to the 

 lower eukaryotes since they have sometimes suffered from the 

 concentration of interest at the two ends of the cellular 

 scale - mammalian cells and Escherichia coll. 



Subjects which are not covered in the book are nuclear division 

 and cell cleavage (justified by a reference to a review oy Mazla) 

 and cell and tissue kinetics at the organ level. Where reference 

 is made to embryos this nearly always concerns work on cleavage 

 stages. The relationship between the cell cycle and cellular dif- 

 ferentiation is not discussed, but the cycles of transplanted 

 nuclei are duly considered. 



The book has a valuable bibliography of some 1000 titles. 



33 



