BOOK REVIEW: Slack, J. M. W., Essential Developmental Biology , Malden: Blackwell, 2001

Russian Journal of Developmental Biology, Vol. 36, No. 6, 2005, p. 389. Translated from Ontogenez, Vol. 36, No. 6, 2005, pp. 463–464. Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Desnitskiy.

BOOK REVIEWS

Slack, J. M. W., Essential Developmental Biology, Malden: Blackwell, 2001 The reviewed textbook was written by the wellknown British embryologist Jonathan Slack, head of the Department of Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Bath (UK) on the basis of the course of lectures for students. The textbook consists of three sections and a total of 20 chapters. All chapters are provided with lists of references for further independent reading, mostly recent reviews published in the leading international journals. The book is very well illustrated by original black-white figures accessible at the site: www.blackwellpublishing.com/slack. Section 1 (“Groundwork”) is opened by the chapter “The Excitement of Developmental Biology,” in which the place of developmental biology is specified in the contemporary biology, relations of developmental biology with other biological disciplines are described, and its significance for medicine and agriculture is outlined. The following chapters are: “General Problems of Development,” “Key Molecular Components” (here the genes, signal systems, cytoskeleton, and cell adhesion molecules are discussed), “Common Features of Development,” “Developmental Genetics,” Experimental Embryology,” and “Techniques for the Study of Development.” In this section, the author pays considerable attention not only to the molecular, genetic, and cellular aspects of development, but also to the evolutionary ones and stresses that for evolutionary developmental biology, relationships with paleontology, molecular phylogeny, and taxonomy are essential. However, it is surprising why the author refers to vertebrates as a class (p. 41). It is well known that Vertebrata have the rank of subtype and include several classes: Cyclostomata, Chondrostei, Teleostei, Amphibia, Reptilia, Aves, and Mammalia. Section 2 “Major Model Organisms” is opened by a very interesting chapter “Model Organisms,” which describes in detail the advantages and disadvantages of six model species for developmental biology chosen by the author, the work with which in the laboratory is possible during any season. The following reasons are taken into account: accessibility and cost of embryos, possibilities of micromanipulations, availability of genetic information, etc. The following chapters, which

contain detailed information on embryology of these model species, are called, correspondingly: “Xenopus,” “The Zebrafish,” “The Chicken,” “The Mouse,” “Drosophila,” and “Caenorhabditis elegans.” It is a pity that only six, rather than seven, excellent embryological essays are presented, since the author did not include in this list sea urchins, one of the classical species for developmental biology studies, although one cannot work with this species in the laboratory the whole year round. Since Slack attaches great importance to the evolution of developmental mechanisms, it would be advisable to attract the attention of readers to the fact that in the contemporary evolutionary embryology it is very advantageous to use not only model species, but also the embryos of related “nonmodel” species. For example, in the case of anuran amphibians, there are species, whose early development differs markedly from that in Xenopus laevis, such as Eleutherodactylus coqui, Gastrotheca riobambae, and some other frogs (for reviews see Elinson et al., 1990; Callery et al., 2001; del Pino and Elinson, 2003). Section 3 “Organogenesis and Regeneration” includes the chapters “Tissues,” “Development of the Nervous System,” “Development of Mesodermal Organs,” Drosophila Imaginal discs” “Stem Cells and Tissue Growth,” and “Regeneration of Missing Sections.” This section deals predominantly with developmental biology of vertebrates, except the imaginal discs in Drosophila and regeneration in planarians. This textbook has already been republished twice, in 2002 and 2003, apparently without any modifications and corrections, which suggests that it is much in demand. While reading this textbook student will get familiarized with the main principles of contemporary developmental biology of multicellular animals, which are given by the author concisely, but very distinctly. The textbook will also be useful for instructors in embryology and all those who are interested in the problems of ontogenesis in Metazoa.

1062-3604/05/3606-0389 © 2005 Pleiades Publishing, Inc.

A.G. Desnitskiy