Ultrastructure and the Biology of Plant Cells [antikvár]

Preface Our subject in this book is the life of the plant cell. The approach is visual. We look at the cell and its components, and go on from there. We have tried to write for botanists who are concerned to see their subject treated in its biological context, for zoologists who would like to know something of plants, for physiologists and biochemists who would like to place their knowledge of processes and reactions in a structural background, and in general, for biologists who have no desire to be restricted by the traditional boundaries of any one branch of the study of life. Our aim is to present advanced information, exciting discoveries, and current problems and challenges at the frontiers of the subject, to set these against an introductory background, and to seek throughout to emphasize principles and generalizations. The material is selected with the hope that it wiU be of interest, useful, and comprehensible to student, teacher and research worker alike. In order to promote general interest, usefulness, and comprehension, our presentation is restrictive in several senses. We use the minimum of technical jargon. Naturally, every subject has its own language, but the specialized vocabulary needed in order to find one's way around in the world of the cell is not large, and much is familiar from early education in biology. We introduce each new term the first time it is used in the text, and, for the more widely used words, iriclude some background to the relevant history. We restrict the content of biochemistry to a minimum. There are no chemical formulae in the text. This is not because we undervalue the contribution of biochemistry: it is merely that we consider it possible to communicate the topics we wished to include through the use of relatively plain words, thereby allowing those who lack a thorough knowledge of chemistry to participate in the joys and excitements of discovery that exist in the subject, and that should as far as possible be available to all. We restrict the choice of topic and the depth of treatment. The book is not in any sense a compilation of facts for the research worker. Where factual matter is detailed, it is not so much for its own sake as to illuminate a principle or a generalization. We have tried to point to some of the things that are not knovra, as well as to some of those that are. At the risk of offending researchers whose work and discoveries may be acknowledged only indirectly, the list of references is presented not as an exhaustive bibliography, but as a means of enabling readers to gain an entry into the literature of the subject. We thank all those, particularly our colleagues in the Botany Department of The Queen's University of Belfast, and Dr. B. Juniper at Oxford, who have helped us by making suggestions and correcting errors. Errors of fact and interpretation that remain are, of course, our own responsibility. IVIrs. M. Pate, Mrs. L. Foster and Mrs. L. Steer have given invaluable assistance by typing innumerable drafts. As for the illustrations, we particularly thank our own students and those others who very kindly provided us with prints. FuU acknowledgements are given in the appropriate Plate legends. Most of the printing was done, superbly, by Mr. D. Kernoghan. We also thank Mr. H. Turtle, who, never having heard of chloroplasts in his life before, nevertheless taught us much about them in the course of drawing Text Fig. 8 for us. Finally we are indebted to our undergraduate, schoolteacher, and research worker friends who gave us the idea that the book should be written. B.E.S.G. M.W.S. 1975