MISCELLANEA m

Cytogenetics for the ’90s

Human Chromosomes: Principles and Techniques

(2nd edn)

by Ram 5. Verma and Arvind Babu, Blackwell Science, 7 995. f42.50

(419pages) /SBN 0 071 05432 4

From its early beginnings over a century ago, the analysis of human chromosomes has established a central role in the study of human genetic disease. Technological break- throughs have, in their turn, revo- lutionized cytogenetics. Chromosome banding techniques developed in the late 1960s and 1970s enabled indi- vidual chromosomes to be recognized and abnormalities to be characterized. The molecular techniques of the 1980s have ushered in yet another dimension to cytogenetic analysis.

This new edition of Verma and Babu’s manual of cytogenetic tech- niques is a mixed collection of delights and disasters. Undoubtedly, the great- est strength of the book is the com- prehensive assemblage of diverse techniques for analysing human chromosomes. These are presented as laboratory protocols, introduced by brief background remarks and followed by an exposition of the scientific basis of the methodology. This provides a valuable resource for teaching cytogenetics, as well as for performing cytogenetic analysis. However, the new, larger format has resulted in a confusing tangle of text and protocols. Again and again, protocols are inconveniently and unnecessarily spread over multiple pages. This renders the book much

less user friendly than the former edition.

The test for a new edition of a lab- oratory manual is how well the latest methodology is covered and inte- grated into the book. Verma and Babu have succeeded well in this by com- missioning excellent practical chapters on flow cytometry, fluorescence in situ hybridization, immunocytogenetic techniques, microdissection, blotting and the polymerase chain reaction. Not all of these topics will, of course, be relevant to a routine cytogenetics laboratory on a day-to-day basis. Few laboratories have direct access to flow cytometers, and scientists using PCR and blotting analyses would find other texts more comprehensive and useful. However, these chapters do provide a very useful insight into these other methodologies.

There are several aspects that are less satisfactory. Curiously, the section on somatic cell hybrids appears identical to that found in an earlier edition of another publication. There is also a degree of redundancy within the book -different authors have included their own versions of standard methods. For example, the section on ‘Staining techniques using antibodies in the banding’ reiterates techniques found in the chapter on ‘Immunocyto- genetic techniques’.

It is unfortunate that the chapter on isotopic in situ hybridization has been retained. This was already badly dated at the time of the first edition, and the excellent fluorescence in situ hybridization section serves to empha- size this. At least the exotic expansion ‘body surface area’, for BSA (bovine serum albumin), has been eliminated from the nick translation protocol this time round!

The section on chromosome nomenclature is rather limited and erratic. Although a list of symbols is provided, some are neither explained fully, nor are they listed in the in- dex (e.g. triradial and quadriradial).

Obviously, it is not feasible to cover the full complexities of chromosome description in a work of this kind, but the subject could be addressed a little more thoroughly. The nomenclature gremlins have been busy among even the few examples presented. Although these are the identical ex- amples from the first edition, a pre- vious error has not been corrected and several new ones have been added!

The book starts with a quote from Joseph Pulitzer:

Put it before them briefly so they will read it

clearly so they will appreciate it picturesquely so they will

remember it and, above all, accurately so

they will be guided by the light.

How does this second edition of Human Chromosomes: Principles and Techniques meet these exacting speci-

fications? At over 400 pages, the book is hardly brief, but, in view of the large number of techniques and protocols covered, this is understandable. The majority of the book is presented clearly (with the exception of the unfortunate placing of the protocol sections in each chapter). The small section of colour plates is certainly pic- turesque and the monochrome plates and figures work well to illustrate the text. But accurate? The notice at the beginning of the book stating ‘neither the authors nor the publisher nor any other party which has been involved in the preparation or publication of this work warrants that the infor- mation contained herein is in every respect accurate or complete’ hardly inspires confidence. Potential users of any new technique are advised to study the original references cited with each protocol. However, the protocols we have checked appear accurate and the international standing of the mul- tiple contributors bodes well for the practical usefulness of this book.

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Meeting reports in trends in CELL BIOLOGY are intended to highlight recent advanc& and n{$ ideas aired at conferences of particular relevance to celf biologists.

Please contact the Editor if you are interested in letting our readers know the news from a meeting ’ you are attending in 1996.

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trends in CELL BIOLOGY (Vol. 6) March 1996

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