Ethylene action in plants contains nine articles on the role of ethylene in plants, the primary focus being on responses to ethylene. Four articles cover the role of ethylene as a plant growth regulator, including articles on the general effects of ethylene on growth rates and cell enlargement, as well as more specific effects of ethylene on stem gravitropic curvature and the development of adventitious roots. Two articles cover the role of ethylene in the ‘ageing’ of plant tissues, including one article on fruit ripening and one on senescence. Individual articles cover the roles of ethylene in modulating responses to biotic (nodulation) and abiotic (stress) factors. Finally, there is one article looking at the more specific question of how the ethylene receptors interact with various agonists and antagonists, and the application of such compounds to the commercial control of ethylene responses.
Although on an individual level there are many fine articles here, the book as a whole fails to take advantage of the possibilities inherent in the book form and does not rise above the sum of its parts. First, there is no clear organizing principle to the order of articles. For example, the article ‘Ethylene and plant growth’ is second in the book while the article ‘Ethylene involvement in photosynthesis and growth’ is ninth, even though these are closely related from a thematic standpoint. Second, there are no chapters giving background information on ethylene, its biosynthesis and its signal transduction, and so each article begins afresh in introducing such information, resulting in a fair amount of repetition among the articles. This is useful if each article is approached as an individual entity, but is unnecessary if one considers the book as a single unit where it is possible to look back at another chapter if unsure of information. This background information could have been handled more effectively by being incorporated into the Preface or a couple of introductory chapters. Third, as the Preface points out, it is not possible for the book to cover all aspects of ethylene biology, but nevertheless some topics are conspicuous by their absence. For example, given an article on symbiosis, I would have also anticipated seeing at least one article on the role of ethylene in biotic stress responses. Fourth, the Index is far from encompassing and is haphazard in its choice of when to cite a textual entry. A quick skim through the text turned up additional uncited pages for virtually all the Index entries I examined.
When approached as a series of individual articles rather than an attempt to present a unified vision, each article can be appreciated for its own usefulness, much of which will depend on a researcher's own interests. For me, three articles stood out as ones in which the authors made a serious attempt to take a broad topic and organize it into a unified logical whole. The article ‘Interaction of ethylene and other compounds with the ethylene receptor: agonists and antagonists’ by E. C. Sisler, V. P. Grichko and M. Serek is one of the most complete compendiums of this information to date and is particularly useful for the tables summarizing the characteristics of over 50 different antagonists of the ethylene response. Similarly, the article ‘Role of ethylene in fruit ripening’ by P. Nath, P. K. Trivedi, V. A. Sane and A. P. Sane presents a compendium that lists a variety of transgenic plants that display altered fruit ripening following perturbation of ethylene production or signalling. The article ‘Ethylene and plant responses to abiotic stresses’ by U. Druege is notable for its attempt to summarize and integrate a large, diverse topic. All three articles are ones that I will happily refer back to as well as refer to others who are interested in these topics.
In general the presentation of the articles is good. The chief exceptions to this are in some of the figures. Notably, several black and white photographs are not printed at high enough resolution. In addition, some of the figures have typos: figures in two separate articles, for example, referring to the ethylene receptor ETR1 as ERT1. A reader already familiar with the ethylene field can resolve the typos easily enough, but this could prove confusing to a researcher just beginning his or her study of the field.
The strength of Ethylene action in plants lies in its individual articles. The book will primarily be of interest to the specialized researcher, rather than to someone new to the study of ethylene and hoping to gain a broad understanding of its role in plants. It cannot replace but could serve as a partial update to the two classic reference books on ethylene, Ethylene in plant biology (2nd edition) by F. B. Abeles, P. W. Morgan and M. E. Salveit Jr., and The plant hormone ethylene by A. K. Mattoo and J. C. Suttle.