As may be seen from the table of contents almost all extra-nuclear cell organelles are re- 

 presented; an exception are the microfilaments, but these are perhaps too "young" f° r a review. 

 The longest review is that on centrioles (52 pp.), the shortest that on polar granules (12 pp.). 

 The chapter on vacuoles includes discussions of lysosomes and peroxisomes. All reviews are 

 competent and up-to-date. 



The only chapters that deal with developmental biology in the more classical sense are 

 that on polar granules and that on the differentiation of plant cells. Nevertheless, the book is 

 sure to gain an important place within the domain of developmental biology in the broad 

 sense, in which increasing stress is being placed on the role of self-assembly and controlled 

 assembly down to the molecular level. 



The book is very well produced and superbly illustrated with numerous photographs, elec- 

 tron micrographs, and drawings. As in the first volume, the absence of indexes is to be 

 regretted. The price seems unnecessarily high. 



Developmental Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (see also 8, 14, 16, 17, 27, 34, 



Textbooks 43, 52, 67, 68) 



74 



BIOCHEMISTRY OF DIFFERENTIATION. 1970. By Ch. A. PASTERNAK 



Wiley-Interscience, London. 203 pp., 72 figs., 2 pis., 9 tabs., subject index. ISBN 471 66900 8. 



£ 2.75 



Contents: 1. Introduction: Differentiation in terms of specific proteins; 2. Differentiation 

 in microbes and plants; 3. Differentiation in animals: sea urchins and frogs; 4. Differentiation 

 in animals: birds and mammals; 5. Hormones and vitamins; 6. Pathological consequences: 

 cancer; 7. Mechanism: facts; 8. Mechanism: hypotheses 



This book is based on a series of lectures given to third-year biochemistry and medical 

 students. The author is a biochemist, and his use of embryological terms sometimes deviates 

 from current usage. Although the book cannot be regarded as an introduction to chemical 

 embryology, as a summary it is useful for general biologists and developmental morphologists 

 alike. Its coverage of differentiation is comprehensive, indeed more so than in many embryo- 

 logical texts. 



Chapters 2 and 3 deal with differentiation in a variety of systems including bacterial spores, 

 slime moulds, unicellular algae, higher plants, sea urchin and frog embryos, and metamorpho- 

 sing frogs. Chapter 4 deals briefly with early development in birds and mammals, and further 

 discusses examples of organogenesis in mammals (structural proteins and enzymes) and dif- 

 ferentiation of red and white blood cells (including immunological aspects). Of particular 

 interest is the discussion of cancer in relation to growth control in ch. 6. 



The last two chapters deal with possible mechanisms of differentiation. Chapter 7 first 

 discusses the concept of totipotency, then the evidence for cytoplasmic control of gene 

 activity. The discussion of possible mechanisms for the control of protein synthesis in ch. 8 is 

 condensed, and recent models of gene control in higher organisms are not mentioned, which 

 results in a rather too simplified view. The problem of the origin of spatial patterns of diffe- 

 rentiation, so challenging for the biochemist of tomorrow, would have deserved a somewhat 

 longer discussion than the one sentence it gets. 



The book is adequately illustrated; all chapters are concluded by carefully selected classi- 

 fied lists of further readings. 



75 



MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF THE GENE. Second edition. 1970. By J. D. WATSON 



W. A. Benjamin, New York. 684 pp., 276 figs., 1 pi., 20 tabs., subject index. SBN 8053 9020 



(cloth) and SBN 8053 9603 9 (paper). $ 17.50 



The first edition (1965) of this remarkable book was reviewed in General Embryological 

 Information Service 12, 1967, p. 274. Therefore, apart from mentioning that the book is now 

 almost 150 pages longer, and that many new findings were incorporated up to the last minute, 

 we will restrict ourselves to the following remark. 



From the point of view of the developmental biologist the most important alteration is that 

 there are now separate chapters on "molecular embryology" (55 pp.) and on antibody synthesis 

 (27 pp.); subjects which together occupied only 27 pp. in the first edition. The former chapter 



351 



