Motion in Biological Systems

M.A. Lauffer Alan R. Liss, Inc., New York, 1988,

Physics pervades the whole spectrum of scientific investigation. Complex biological systems have to be related to the underlying physical and chemical principles and concepts if they are ever to be understood. This text is directed at biologists and attempts to relate motions in biological systems to the underpinning physical equations and ideas. It consists of nine chapters covering osmotic pressure, frictional resistance, diffusion, motion in electric fields, electrokinetic phenomena, potentials at interfaces, transport across membranes and entropy-driven processes in biology: their mechanism and significance and biological applications.

Many of these topics are typical of what one would expect in texts written solely for physicists and chemists. The

pp. 260 + xiv, $75

biologist expecting to find a descriptive, non-mathematical approach to explaining and relating these physical topics to biology will be disappointed. The author lays out the basic mathematical equations, with a basic level of description and derivation, in the selected areas listed above. Thus familiarity with, and understanding of, the fundamentals of differential calculus and algebra are essential if the text is to be of benefit.

There is nothing fundamentally new in the book that one cannot find in existing and established texts. The author points this out quite clearly in the preface. I suppose the advantage is that for those biologists interested in motion, and most biological systems involve motion of one sort or another, the underpinning physics

may be found under one cover. For example, if one wants to find and use the basic equation for diffusion of a salt, it is given in the text, expressed in terms of the activity coefficient and the concentration. However, there is no advice given as to how to use it in an actual situation. I judge the lack of examples or worked applications to be the weakest feature of the book from the biologist's point of view.

Apart from this criticism the book is well written in an easy style and presented with a full glossary of symbols and references are given at the end of each chapter. In the last two chapters, on entropy-driven processes, a closer liaison exists between the physics and the biology and the final section on biological applications is particularly interesting.

Edward Atkins

Genetic Engineering Fundamentals

A n I n t r o d u c t i o n t o Pr inc ip les a n d A p p l i c a t i o n s

Karl Kammermayer and Virginia L. Clark Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1989, pp. 304, $84 (USA and Canada), $102 elsewhere

With the impact of recombinant DNA technology on biology there has been no shortage of student primers on the subject. This book aims to present the broader principles and concepts of genetic engineering in a condensed form to be acceptable to the more general reader.

Following an historical introduction the opening chapters briefly outline the basic components of nucleic acid structure and cell composition and function. Gene structure is introduced in an historical context. A chapter on protein synthesis is clearly presented mainly due to the inclusion of many helpful illustrations. Unfortunately, the section dealing with recombinant techniques is somewhat limited. A significant amount of information which

normally can be found in other introductory texts is lacking here. Strategies for obtaining specific genes, gene libraries, etc. are not adequately dealt with and consequently, to some extent, the book loses some of its impact since it is the recombinant techniques which are considered to be the central theme of the subject. Nevertheless, adequate references are provided for those who seek further knowledge. In selected areas much attention is given to methodology, providing details of commercial suppliers where appropriate. Some of this detail may be surplus to requirements in a book pitched at this level.

Chapter 10, which is concerned with genetic engineering activities provides a review of recent applications of gene

cloning in biotechnology with discussions on the commercial syntheses of human drugs and hormones. Of special interest to those primarily concerned with the products of gene cloning is the review on equipment design for production on the laboratory and commercial scale. The potential hazards and the debate on the safety of work with recombinant material are briefly discussed. The book is rounded offwith a short update on recent areas of broad interest, together with a useful glossary which perhaps could be more extensive.

Overall, Genetic Engineering Fundamentals serves as an ideal guide for those outside the field who have little or no previous training in biology but who wish to increase their awareness of this rapidly advancing subject.

J.V. Skelly

0141-8130/89/060377-01 $03.00 © 1989 Butterworth & Co. (Publishers) Ltd Int. J. Biol. Macromol . , 1989, Vol. 11, December 377