In recent years, the study of the plant cell cycle has become of major interest, not only to scientists working on cell division sensu strictu , but also to scientists dealing with plant hormones, development and environmental effects on growth. The book The Plant Cell Cycle is a very timely contribution to this exploding field. Outstanding contributors reviewed, not only knowledge on the most important classes of cell cycle regulators, but also summarized the various processes in which cell cycle control plays a pivotal role. The central role of the cell cycle makes this book an absolute must for plant molecular biologists.

This volume covers the current knowledge base on the role of signaling and environmental pathways that control the normal development of germline stem cells, meiotic progression of oocytes, events of oocyte maturation and fertilization, and the birth of an embryo. Germ cells are uniquely poised to sustain life across generations through the fusion of oocyte and sperm. Because of the central importance of germ cells to life, much work has been dedicated to obtaining a clear understanding of the molecular and signaling events that control their formation and maintenance. Germ cells are set aside from somatic cells in the embryo and go through specialized meiotic cell cycles as the animal matures. These cell cycles are interspersed with long periods of arrest. In human females, meiosis I is initiated in the fetus. At birth, oocytes are arrested in meiosis I; after puberty, every month an oocyte initiates meiosis II – ovulation. Upon sperm availability these cells are fertilized, generate an embryo, and the cycle-of-life continues. During meiotic I progression and arrest, the fitness of oocytes and their progeny are likely influenced by environmental cues and signaling pathways. A lot of recent work has focused on understanding the mechanisms that regulate oocyte fitness and quality in humans and vertebrates. Much of our understanding on the events of meiosis I and germline stem cell populations comes from work in invertebrates, wherein the germline stem cells produce oocytes continuously through adult development. In both inverbrates and vertebrates nutritional and signaling pathways control the regulation of stem cells in such a manner so as to couple production of gametes with the nutritional availability. Additionally, mature oocytes arrest both in meiosis I and meiosis II, and signaling and nutritional pathways have been shown to regulate their formation, and maintenance, such that despite long periods of arrest, the oocyte quality is assured and errors in chromosome segregation and varied cytoplasmic events are minimal.

Calcium Entry Channels in Non-Excitable Cells focuses on methods of investigating the structure and function of non-voltage gated calcium channels. Each chapter presents important discoveries in calcium entry pathways, specifically dealing with the molecular identification of store-operated calcium channels which were reviewed by earlier volumes in the Methods in Signal Transduction series. Crystallographic and pharmacological approaches to the study of calcium channels of epithelial cells are also discussed. Calcium ion is a messenger in most cell types. Whereas voltage gated calcium channels have been studied extensively, the non-voltage gated calcium entry channel genes have only been identified relatively recently. The book will fill this important niche.

The Cell Cycle: Principles of Control provides an engaging insight into the process of cell division, bringing to the student a much-needed synthesis of a subject entering a period of unprecedented growth as an understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying cell division are revealed.

Eggs of all animals contain mRNAs and proteins that are supplied to or deposited in the egg as it develops during oogenesis. These maternal gene products regulate all aspects of oocyte development, and an embryo fully relies on these maternal gene products for all aspects of its early development, including fertilization, transitions between meiotic and mitotic cell cycles, and activation of its own genome. Given the diverse processes required to produce a developmentally competent egg and embryo, it is not surprising that maternal gene products are not only essential for normal embryonic development but also for fertility. This review provides an overview of fundamental aspects of oocyte and early embryonic development and the interference and genetic approaches that have provided access to maternally regulated aspects of vertebrate development. Some of the pathways and molecules highlighted in this review, in particular, Bmps, Wnts, small GTPases, cytoskeletal components, and cell cycle regulators, are well known and are essential regulators of multiple aspects of animal development, including oogenesis, early embryogenesis, organogenesis, and reproductive fitness of the adult animal. Specific examples of developmental processes under maternal control and the essential proteins will be explored in each chapter, and where known conserved aspects or divergent roles for these maternal regulators of early vertebrate development will be discussed throughout this review. Table of Contents: Introduction / Oogenesis: From Germline Stem Cells to Germline Cysts / Oocyte Polarity and the Embryonic Axes: The Balbiani Body, an Ancient Oocyte Asymmetry / Preparing Developmentally Competent Eggs / Egg Activation / Blocking Polyspermy / Cleavage/ Mitosis: Going Multicellular / Maternal-Zygotic Transition / Reprogramming: Epigenetic Modifications and Zygotic Genome Activation / Dorsal-Ventral Axis Formation before Zygotic Genome Activation in Zebrafish and Frogs / Maternal TGF-β and the Dorsal-Ventral Embryonic Axis / Maternal Control After Zygotic Genome Activation / Compensation by Stable Maternal Proteins / Maternal Contributions to Germline Establishment or Maintenance / Perspective / Acknowledgments / References

The human enteroviruses, particularly the polio viruses, have had a significant role in the history of medicine and microbiology; and continue to cause clinical problems, as well as provide targets for molecular investigation. This book offers a link between the basic science and clinical medicine.