Symposium reports 



98. 



S. PUISEUX-DAO, ed. 1975. MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF NUCLEOCYTOPLASMIC 



RELATIONSHIPS 



Elsevier, Amterdam, etc. XIV, 328 pp., 116 figs., 27 tabs., subject index. Dfl. 98.00, 



$40.95 



This symposium was held in France at an unspecified time and had an almost 

 exclusively European attendance. Although most of the contributions are brief to very 

 brief research reports, the book provides a useful cross section of the great variety of 

 molecular-biological research on unicellular eukaryotes being carried out in Europe. 



Only part II (Nucleocytoplasmic interactions in differentiating cells) is of direct 

 interest to developmental biologists. The papers in this section are somewhat ill-assorted. 

 Apart from some 10 research reports on nuclear, cytoplasmic and membrane aspects of 

 the biology of a variety of unicellular organisms (among which Acetabularia takes 

 precedence), there are general reviews by Brachet (embryogenesis and cell differentiation) 

 and Samarina (information transfer) and a lengthy review by Benedetti and Dunia on the 

 properties of gap junctions. The brief paper by Babloyantz, Hiernaux and Prigogine on 

 the thermodynamics and kinetics of self-organisation is particularly interesting — not so 

 much for its contents, which are sketchy, but because it introduces a new view of one of 

 the most difficult problems of theoretical biology. 



The book is well produced and illustrated. 



99. 



H. C. SLAVKIN and R. C. GREULICH, eds. 1975. EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX IN- 

 FLUENCES ON GENE EXPRESSION 



Academic Press, New York, etc. XLII, 833 pp., 259 figs., 74 tabs., subject index. $ 39.50, 

 £ 18.95 



This is one of those rather rare cases where pubhcation of a symposium proves more 

 than worth while. The book was pubhshed within a year from the date of the symposium 

 (Santa Catalina Island, CaUf., September 1974) and the contents are by-and-large new and 

 exciting and more many-sided than the title suggests. Many of the leaders and coming 

 men in the field were there, with the Americans in the majority but with a fair sprinkling 

 of people from Western Europe. 



No less than 74 papers were delivered, of which at least half are of direct interest to 

 developmental biologists, and many more than that to cell biologists generally. We must 

 restrict ourselves to enumerating the ten major areas covered: (I) chromosomal and 

 extrachromosomal influences upon transcription; (2) translational and post-translational 

 regulation during development; (3) regulation of extracellular matrix molecular biosyn- 

 thesis; (4) regulation of tissue-specific collagen biosynthesis; (5) extracellular matrix ma- 

 cromolecules; (6) outer cell surface specificity and cell interactions; (7) epithelial- 

 mesenchymal interactions; (8) extracellular matrix influences on gene expression; 

 (9) matrix-cell and cell-matrix interactions and mineralization processes; (10) aberrations 

 in developmental processes. One of the veterans in this whole area, Clifford Grobstein, 

 provided an introductory essay and the concluding reflections, both of which are equally 

 masterly. The discussions following each section are also included. 



The book is very well produced and illustrated. 



100. 



G. P. TALWAR, ed. 1975. REGULATION OF GROWTH AND DIFFERENTIATED 



FUNCTION IN EUKARYOTE CELLS 



Raven, New York, XX, 564 pp., 204 figs., 95 tabs., subject index. $ 35.00 



This international symposium was held in New Delhi in October 1974. It focussed on 

 the mechanisms by which animal (and some plant) cells are triggered to multiply and 

 differentiate, and covered many areas ranging from the intracellular to the organismic 



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