There are many good reasons for knowing about plant pigments (and for producing a book about them). Plant pigments are important in signalling, as in attracting pollinating and dispersal agents, and repelling herbivores. Plant pigments are obviously physiologically important, and recent research suggests novel protective mechanisms, both photo-protective and anti-oxidative. Plant pigments are economically important, in determining the colours and patterns of attractive flowers and valuable fruits. They are also important nutritionally, with an understanding of emerging new roles in nutrition and in aiding health. With all of this interest, there is a surprising lack of scholarly books on plant pigments. The best source of information has been the long out-dated two-volume monograph edited by T.W. Goodwin (1976, Chemistry and biochemistry of plant pigments, 2nd edn, Academic Press, London), and many still consult Trevor Robinson's The organic constituents of higher plants (1980, 4th edn, Cordus Press, North Amherst, MA, USA). More recently, there is a good deal of information attractively presented on plant pigments, including synthesis, in the Biochemistry and molecular biology of plants (B.B. Buchanan, W. Gruissem and R.L. Jones, 2000, American Society of Plant Physiologists, Rockville, MD, USA). These works are either out of date or too broad in focus to adequately cover the subject.
Thus, Plant pigments and their manipulation fills an important niche. The questions are whether this new book will satisfy the different constituencies interested in plant pigments and whether it is a good book and worth the hefty purchase price of £110. The short answer is yes; it is a good book and will satisfy many of those constituencies interested in plant pigments. The contributors to the book cover almost all of the metabolically diverse compounds that produce visible colour in plants. Each of the chapters covers a major group of compounds, or a major topic of pigment function, with an emphasis on synthesis and the molecular biology of control of pigment production. Each of the chapters summarizes a considerable body of largely recent research in those fields, with citations through to 2003, and even 2004 in a few cases. Of around 1600 citations in all of the chapters, over 80 % are from the past decade and most during the past five years. For the pathways of synthesis, the reviews largely concern the genes responsible for enzymatic activity and their transcriptional control. Each of the chapters is well illustrated with molecular structures of synthesis and a diversity of structures among the different pathways, some 250 structural diagrams. Chapters are also illustrated with various other diagrams, including pathway summaries and phylogenies, all uniformly produced. Editor Kevin Davies has written an excellent overview article and a second article on minor plant pigments. Robert Willows has written on chlorophylls, including synthesis and the important topic of degradation, but did not include open-chain tetrapyrroles. Abby Cuttris and Barry Pogson have added a chapter on carotenoids, with emphasis on biosynthesis. Kathy Schwinn and Kevin Davies contributed a lengthy chapter on flavonoid pigments, again emphasizing synthesis. This is the only chapter that discusses pigment structure in relationship to spectral properties. Greg Tanner wrote a chapter on condensed tannins, a neglected subject, but convincingly shown to be of physiological and economic importance. Jean-Pierre Zrÿd and Laurent Christinet covered recent research on the nitrogenous plant pigments, the betalains. Three special topic chapters round out the book. Much recent research on the roles of plant pigments in human nutrition and health has been assessed by Mary Ann Lila. Brian Jordan added a short but insightful chapter on UV-B protection by plant pigments. Finally, Øyvind Andersan and George Francis contribute a succinct chapter on the technical approaches to identification and isolation of flavonoids, chlorophylls, carotenoids, betalains and quinones.
The book succeeds well in providing an up-to date summary of research on plant pigments, particularly on their synthesis and the molecular biology of control of synthesis. The book will be particularly useful to plant physiologists with a general interest in plant pigments, photobiologists, plant biotechnologists and plant biochemists. Thus, the book lives up to its title concerning plant pigments and their manipulation. It will succeed less for a more biological user interested in the visual properties of plant pigments, their modification and their roles in the natural world. It will not be very helpful to a reader interested in pigment constituents in a broad variety of plants (including very rare and unusual pigments), even economically valuable ones, although an effort has been made to cover pigments of economic importance, even dyes. The book conspicuously lacks colour plates to illustrate the visual properties of these pigments, their distributions in tissues and cells, and the visual differences among individual pigments within the classes of pigments or amongst the highly unusual ones. The sole photographic illustrations are three black and white photographs of mediocre quality, hardly worth including, and disappointing given the price of the book.
However, for a more biotechnologically orientated readership, Plant pigments and their manipulation makes an attractive and useful addition to the literature on plant secondary chemistry, specifically pigments. The chapters are of uniformly high standard, the result of editorial care producing a book with some unity of organization and style. It is completed with a thorough index, including pigment names and the scientific names of plants producing them. This is not merely a collection of chapters, but works as a book.