Brig's Handbook of Methods & Research in Molecular Embryology of Flowering Plants (2 Volumes)

"Embryogenesis represents the critical stage in the development of a plant at which its basic organization and body plan have their inception. Therefore, in the effort to understand the regulation of plant development, molecular geneticists have recently focused considerable attention on the search for genes expressed during the embryogenesis of plant model systems. As a consequence of these noteworthy successes in animal embryogenesis, there has been a natural tendency for plant biologists to follow suit and interpret molecular genetic data in terms of animal developmental models. Most differentiation events in higher plants occur continuously in the postembryonic adult phase of the life cycle. Embryogenesis in plants, therefore, is concerned primarily with establishing the basic shoot-root body pattern of the plant and accumulating food reserves that will be used by the germinating seedling after a period of embryonic dormancy within the seed. Recent genetics studies in Arabidopsis have identified genes that provide new insight into how embryos form during plant development. These studies, and others using molecular approaches, are beginning to reveal the underlying processes that control plant embryogenesis. ‘Brig’s Handbook of Methods & Research in Molecular Embryology of Flowering Plants’ presents a general picture of current understanding of plant embryology from the formation of floral organs concerned with embryological processes to the genetic manipulation of embryos. Chapters in this handbook highlight, from a molecular-genetic perspective, investigations on the development of the male and female reproductive units, male sterility, incompatibility, fertilisation, embryo and endosperm development, storage protein synthesis and adventive embryogenesis in flowering plants. Two-Volume ‘Brig’s Handbook of Methods & Research in Molecular Embryology of Flowering Plants’ is a scholarly, well-structured, and overwhelmingly referenced text that covers, in a developmental sequence of events, the various facets of plant embryology. It presents a dramatic new developments in molecular biology and genetic engineering techniques that have opened up new frontiers in our commercial exploitation of flowering plants. It is a complete guide of the cellular and molecular basis of plant embryology by a world renowned experts. Manipulation of embryological processes to improve the quantity and quality of plant food products is one of the cherished goals of plant biologists and the work described in this book provides the up-to-date fundamental information necessary to achieve this goal. Plant biotechnologists, and cell and molecular biologists will find this handbook to be an invaluable reference and source book on plant embryogenesis."