Developments in Crop Science 26. Carbohydrate Reserves

in Plants. Synthesis and Regulation

A.K. Gupta and N. Kaur (Eds.); Elsevier, Amsterdam,360 pp., $165, E 142.94, ISBN: 0-444-50269

The book is number 26 in a series on ‘‘Developmentsin Crop Science’’. Its contents cover the importance ofkey groups of plant carbohydrates, outlining mechan-isms of synthesis and degradation and the central rolesof carbohydrate metabolism in the overall physiology ofthe plant. Many of the chapters feature the outcomes oftransgenic approaches to manipulate content and com-position or include reference to genetic variants. Con-clusions and forward looks are provided by the authorsto indicate future research requirements, which clearlyremain many and varied.The book opens with a description of the reactions

and regulation of the Calvin cycle, although sucrosetransport and unloading mechanisms in sinks are alsocovered superficially. Two chapters on sucrose storageand accumulation represent advances with the majorcommercially important species sugarcane and sugar-beet, another four chapters cover starch biosynthesis incereals (wheat, rice, maize) and potato. The metabolismand roles of fructans are extensively illustrated in fourchapters, including one on the genetic engineering offructan biosynthesis in starch-storing tissues. Galacto-mannan and sugar alcohols in plants and carbohydratesin trees each take up one chapter.The book is generally comprehensive but, as often

occurs when individual authors deal with the same car-bohydrate reserve in a range of species, there is a rea-sonable amount of duplication, e.g. in the description ofpathways, enzymes involved, etc. Some chapters arescientifically extensive and comprehensive in coverage,

others quite short and more general in approach. Simi-larly the information presented in some chapters iscontemporary whilst others cover fairly old ground,provide few new insights or information or whichexclude the importance of recent and novel discoveries.For example, the chapter on regulation of starch synth-esis in transgenic plants does not mention the R1 genewhich appears to play a key role in the phosphorylationand turnover of starch.The reader can obtain a good general overview of

specific mechanisms and processes by picking and mix-ing text from several chapters, but the book would havebenefited, for example, from a separate chapter onphloem loading of sucrose, long distance transportmechanisms and unloading processes and on the path-ways of primary carbohydrate metabolism. This wouldhave set the scene for the more detailed coverage of keydifferences between individual species. Botanical varia-tion in the relative importance of the processes whichgovern carbohydrate composition and content is clearfrom the contributions of the authors and this is one ofthe strengths of the text when analysed in toto.The book is a curate’s egg, excellent in parts rather

weak in others. However, for those who have a generalinvolvement or interest in plant carbohydrate researchthe book would complement what currently exists ontheir shelves. The price may prove inhibitory for manyindividuals and is more likely to be purchased by groupsor libraries.

Howard DaviesScottish Crop Research Institute

InvergowrieDundee DD2 5DU, UK

E-mail address: hdavie@scri.sari.ac.uk

PII : S0031-9422(02 )00059-6

202 Book reviews / Phytochemistry 60 (2002) 201–202