The American Society of Plant Physiologists, a 5700-member nonprofit professional society located in Rockville, Maryland, announced that it has self-published a major textbook titled Biochemistry & Molecular Biology of Plants.
ASPP cited the initiative as a huge contribution from and to the plant biology community. Spearheaded by Drs. Bob B. Buchanan, Wilhelm Gruissem, and Russell L. Jones, all professors at the University of California at Berkeley while the book was under development, this project fills a void in the literature for upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses. The 1400-page textbook includes over 1,100 full-color original drawings and 500 photographs; a CD-ROM of all the illustrations will be available later this month.
The three scientific editors collaborated with academic colleagues in the top tier of plant biologists working around the world to create a boldly contemporary picture of plant biochemistry and molecular biology, integrated around the themes of compartmentation, cell reproduction, energetics, metabolism, and development. The result is an impeccably organized and visually stunning work for both teaching and reference.
The book is being offered in clothbound and paperbound editions and is priced to fit the student's, professor's, and librarian's budget.
Introduced at the ASPP Annual Meeting in San Diego in mid-July, the book promptly sold well over 600 copies. It will be marketed using direct mail to members of sister societies, faculty, libraries, and bookstores, as well as Web-based efforts, for example, at aspp.org/biotext.
The American Society of Plant Physiologists was founded in 1924 to promote the growth and development of plant physiology, to encourage and publish research in plant physiology, and to promote the interests and growth of plant scientists in general. Over the decades the Society has evolved and expanded to provide a forum for molecular and cellular biology, as well as to serve the basic interests of plant science. It publishes the highly cited and respected journals Plant Physiology and The Plant Cell. Membership spans six continents, and ASPP plays a key role in uniting the international plant science disciplines.
Bob B. Buchanan is a professor in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of California at Berkeley. He has taught general biology and biochemistry to undergraduate students and graduate-level courses in plant biochemistry and photosynthesis. He has served as department chair and was president of the American Society of Plant Physiologists from 1995 to 1996. Wilhelm Gruissem chaired the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of California at Berkeley from 1993 to 1998 and has taught general biology and plant molecular biology to undergraduate and graduate students. His research focuses on pathways and molecules involved in plant growth control and regulation of chloroplast development. In July 2000, he joined the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich as professor of plant biotechnology. Russell L. Jones was appointed to the faculty of the Department of Botany at the University of California at Berkeley in 1966. He is now a professor of plant biology there, and teaches undergraduate classes in general biology and graduate courses in plant physiology and cell biology. His research focuses on hormonal regulation in plants using the cereal aleurone as a model systems. Jones was president of the American Society of Plant Physiologists from1993 to 1994.
Ordering information for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology of Plants may be found at aspp.org/biotext.