DNA fingerprinting in plants: principles, methods, and applications, 2nd edn.
Weising K, Nybom H, Wolff K, Kahl G. 2005.
Boca Raton: CRC Press. $99·95 (paperback). 472 pp.
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The nine chapters provide a comprehensive guide to the multitude of techniques that are available to the researcher and cover the principles behind the techniques, detailed protocols and possible methods of analyses.
Chapter 1 is an easy-to-follow introduction to repetitive DNA. It covers the biology of both mini- and microsatellites, their chromosomal localization, evolution, potential functions and their use as molecular markers. It gives an introduction to the different classes of transposons, their place in genome evolution and as molecular markers. This chapter is an ideal summary for new and established researchers alike. The second chapter is a comprehensive coverage of the principles of the main marker types, plus their many variants. This is a useful chapter and provides a detailed coverage of the acronym-rich world of DNA fingerprinting. Chapter 3 is basically an extended list of the equipment required to carry out the various molecular techniques. The chapter provides a shopping list that will be helpful for researchers who are given the job of setting up a lab from scratch. Chapter 4 provides background and detailed protocols of the different methodologies involved in DNA fingerprinting. It includes comprehensive coverage of DNA extraction, which will be particularly useful to researchers faced with recalcitrant material, and protocols for AFLPs and microsatellite isolation. Chapter 5 focuses on evaluating molecular data. This includes assessment of data quality as well as methods of analysis. This of course does not replace the more extensive treatments published elsewhere on methods of data analysis, but instead gives a flavour of the different approaches available. Chapter 6 describes some applications of DNA fingerprinting in plant sciences, and summarizes numerous case study examples. Chapter 7 provides a nice introduction to linkage and genetic mapping. This is followed by a chapter (8) that provides a brief comparison of the different techniques and their use in answering a given question. The final chapter gives an overview of some of the technologies that are likely to see greater use outside of model organisms in the not-too-distant future, such as SNiP assays and microarrays. Prior to the extensive reference list, there is a useful set of appendices with DNA isolation protocols, equipment and reagent suppliers, software URLs, and other webpages of interest.
If there is a third edition of this book, there are some areas that one might want to see changed. The book would have benefited from some more general overviews, comparative critiques of approaches, and summary/wrap-up sections to pull subjects together. In this respect, the book will perhaps seem daunting to the beginner who may not know where to start. Likewise the users of automated sequencers/fragment analysis machines will want more detail on these approaches. Finally, with the book priced at over £50, it would have been nice for the publishers to have sorted out issues like the numerous ‘deleted in proof’ comments in the reference list.
All of these points aside, this is a good book and a useful addition to the shelf. It should be in the library (or preferably the lab) of all institutes carrying out DNA fingerprinting in plants. Its reference list is extensive, and it is a source of a wide range of interesting pieces of information. The different expertise of the authors has resulted in a wide-ranging and detailed assessment of the subject. The authors should be congratulated on the production of a good successor to the first edition of the book.
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