A ma th accamplished

~]OOK H~EVIEWS

Genetic Engineering

by J.G. Williams and R. K. Patient, IRL Press. 1988. £5.95. $11.95 (ix + 72 pages) ISBN 1

85221 071 0

Molecular biology means many things to many people: it is a reductionist phi losophy of biology, it is a driving force of industrial biotechnology, it is the basis of a new 'predictive' medicine, but per- haps most simply it is a series of techniques that allow questions about, and intervention into, gene expression in virtually any context.

It is this last area, the area of the nuts, bolts and wires of molec- ular biology, that has become known as genetic engineering. Like many catch phrases, it has been taken from another context and given a new and far less grand meaning, but the belief that molec- ular biology can deepen our overview of biology is based entirely upon what is, or is not, possible to achieve by manipulat- ing DNA or RNA molecules in a test tube. Curiously, there are few text books that have been written that recognize that at one level, genetic engineering is no more dif- ferent from other scientific tech- niques than are column chromatog- raphy or UV spectroscopy. Most books are written to describe the applications of genetic engineering and to try and convey the excite- ment that exists among biologists as layer after layer of the control mechanisms of living organisms are tantalizingly revealed. The problem with these sorts of books is that they can never keep up with the sprinters at the front of the field: it is a cliche that every book is nine months out of date at the moment it is printed, but it is nevertheless true.

It is pleasant to see that there is still room for a sharply focused book that tells us 'this is how to do it' and leaves aside the transient 'this is what can be done' . Does it work? There are only a limited number of areas that need to be

discussed. Genomic cloning, sub- cloning, sequencing and muta- genesis are the tools of all more refined approaches, and some understanding of analytic techniques, appl ied to complex RNA and DNA populations, are all necessary to give a firm foundation. All these topics are well covered in this slim volume.

The only omission is that there is very limited coverage of expres- sion systems. This is a serious over- sight because the express ion of foreign proteins in E. coli and other organisms is now" a standard approach to analysing many problems of enzyme kinetics, structure-function relationships and the whole field loosely known as protein engineering. One more chapter (bringing the whole up to a refreshingly small six) would have covered the area.

One or two of the illustrations, always an important part of books about genetic engineering, are a little confusing; in particular the choice of a broken red line to denote DNA in mRNA cloning schemes is a mistake. Gaps in nucleic acid hybrids are critical to several methods and the result is confusing.

Of course, the selection of actual vectors and methods dis- cussed is slightly arbitrary and I would probably have chosen some different areas but the important

issue is that the selection covers all the principles involved. A student reading and understanding the content would be well posi t ioned to decide what was achievable by current technologies, even if he or she would not be aware of what had already been achieved. Perhaps if more students (and their teachers) were to read this we would not be treated to the remarkable claim, as we were recently in a UK newspaper, that cloning of a fragment of mammoth DNA meant that theoretically we could reconstitute the extinct ani- mal's genome and then grow new mammoths. One is reminded of the child at the seaside who discovers that a bucket holds water and so sets out to empty the ocean! Since molecular biology is very much the art of the technically possible it is good to see a sober discussion of its methods.

Criticisms apart, the book is well written and I will certainly use it as a background text for my genetic engineering lectures to undergraduate students. It is simple, basic and will not get out of date too fast - which is more than can be said for most written words in molecular biology!

PETER LITTLE

Biocbemist~. Department, lmpenal College, London SW7 2AZ, UK.

Tret~/n ~

The 1 ~ ~ • chain reaction (Scientific advisers: 7homas J, White. Norman arnbeim and Henry A. Erl~ch)

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