Plant cell biology. From astronomy to zoology

When I first dipped into Randy Wayne’s Plant cell biology (hereafter referred to as PCB) I had serious misgivings. After all, what is one to make of a textbook on plant cell biology whose sub-title is of ‘From Astronomy to Zoology’, but which does not include a reference list; that is written by a scientist who freely admits to being an ‘amateur’ and a ‘dilettante’ and whose research has focused on ‘assumptions underlying the current quantum electrodynamic theories and orthodox interpretation of the photon’ (Wayne, undated); which is dedicated to President John F. Kennedy, and largely based upon the author’s plant cell biology lecture course at Cornell University (USA) variously entitled ‘Cell la vie’ and ‘Molecular theology of the cell’? Well, as if to prove the old adage that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, I overcame those prejudices, investigated the contents in more detail and explored the companion website. And I was glad that I did: my opinion shifted somewhat and I can honestly say that PCB is indeed a plant cell biology textbook, but one with a difference (which, as you may already have inferred, is a bit of an understatement!). Contents-wise PCB is pretty predictable and presents 17 chapters on such expected topics as ‘The Plasma Membrane’; ‘Plasmodesmata’; ‘Endoplasmic Reticulum’; ‘Peroxisomes’; ‘Golgi Apparatus’; ‘Vacuoles’; ‘Movement within the Endomembrane System’ (though why this is placed before all the components of the endomembrane system have been covered is a mystery); ‘Cytoplasmic Structure’; ‘Actin and Microfilament-mediated Processes’; ‘Tubulin and Microtubule-mediated Processes’; ‘Cell Signaling’; ‘Chloroplasts’ (though why not a separate one on ‘plastids’? Probably because these latter organelles only merit mention on four pages in the whole book …); ‘Mitochondria’; ‘Nucleus’; ‘Ribosomes and Proteins’; ‘Cell Division’; and ‘Extracellular Matrix’ (‘cell walls’). Interspersed amongst which are three slightly more philosophical chapters entitled: ‘On the Nature of Cells’; ‘Origin of Organelles’; and ‘The Origin of Life’. Each chapter is abundantly provided with references (may be even too many in places? For instance, do we really need 15 references on p. 3 essentially affirming that Physarum is a slime mould?). Each chapter is usefully concluded with a summary and usually some questions, which should prove both interesting and challenging: e.g. how would cellular processes differ if the cytoplasm were not viscous? (p. 149). Four Appendices (to such things as geometric formulae, a cell biologist’s view of non-Newtonian physics, and laboratory exercises – including determination of the osmotic permeability coefficient of the plasma membrane of Chara corallina) and 9·67 pages of small-font, 3-columned Index complete the text. What, no reference list? Correct! For those one has to visit the companion website (more on this below)! Probably the greatest strength of PCB is what’s not actually in the book itself; namely, the companion website (Plant Cell Biology website; Wayne, undated), which appears to be freely accessible without having purchased the book. The website contains all manner of interesting ‘stuff’: the ‘missing’ list of references (‘Bibliography’), lecture demonstrations (practical demonstrations to illustrate teaching points in lectures), lecture PowerPoint presentations (by topic/organelle), laboratory classes, movies and micrographs, and a listing of errata and additions to the book’s text. The bibliography is very impressive: 140 pages of 2-column text containing approx. 40 citations per page and appears as up-to-date as publication timescales allow, with nine references from 2009, 123 from 2008 (and >840 from 2007–2001). Interestingly, I could find only one reference to an article in Trends in Plant Science, a more creditable ten for BioEssays, and even more to The Plant Cell (but only two to the Plant Journal). Bafflingly, however, I found none from the various incarnations of Annual Review of: Plant Physiology/Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology/Plant Biology, which I’d have thought was an ideal source of review-type items with which to sate the students’ whetted appetites. (Hearteningly, the bibliography does include over 23 references to articles from Annals of Botany!) In making this set of lectures available, Wayne had in mind the ambition of breaking down ‘the artificial barriers between anatomy, astronomy, biochemistry, botany, chemistry… mathematics… philosophy, physics, physiology… and zoology to give the reader a multidimensional perspective of the cell’. Although the idea of such a joined-up approach to cell biology is a laudable one, I wonder if there is perhaps too much mathematics and physics in the text for most students’ liking, especially those whose prior knowledge may vary markedly from the 2 years of chemistry and 1 year of maths and physics of the undergraduate audience for whom Wayne’s lecture course was devised. Take for instance the eight pages of maths/physics on transport physiology in the ‘Plasma Membrane’ chapter, or nine pages dealing with viscosity of the cytoplasm in the ‘Cytoplasmic Structure’ chapter. From a pedagogic point of view – and we must not lose sight of the fact that PCB is derived from, and intended as, a lecture course – Wayne tries hard to put the work in context and to give information about the origin of the terms covered and something about the people behind the discoveries (indeed, a lot of the PowerPoint slides are of the people behind the science). But, for somebody who is otherwise so careful to impart full knowledge and understanding, a major failing of PCB is the noticeable absence of scale bars – or any indication of magnification – for many of the micrographs (e.g. Fig. 1·3, stellate cells in banana pith; Fig. 4·1, cytoplasmic reticulum; Fig. 10·13, Allium guard mother cells). More generally, the images in PCB are no substitute – and not even a match – for the recent stunning collection from Gunning (2009). And why is PCB devoid of colour? Surely, some of the topics would be shown off to much better effect in colour, particularly those employing fluorescent labelling techniques. On a related theme, a chapter dealing specifically with the techniques used to generate the cell biology information would have helped, especially if it dealt with the uncertainties about interpretation and artefacts that so bedevil this branch of biology. Absence of such a section is the more surprising since Wayne has produced another book that reflects on ‘the foundations of microscopy, the development of modern imaging systems and their practical application in cell biology’ (Wayne, 2009). Or maybe not, if PCB might thereby compete for sales with Wayne’s other tome? Still, it is always nice to have book that is devoted to the biology of the plant cell, rather than the topic being relegated to a – rather small – separate chapter in a much larger zoocentric text (e.g. Cassimere et al., 2011), or being dispersed throughout a largely animal-biased tome so it’s difficult to tease out the plant bits (e.g. Alberts et al., 2002). One of the more unusual features of Wayne’s teaching is the ‘Final Exam’ (the ‘Preliminary Exams’ ask comparatively straightforward questions, e.g. ‘What is the function of plasmodesmata?’). The Final Exam’s brief is to ‘Write a creative story, using as much cell biology as you can’. The website includes many examples of ‘responses’ (presumably from the students, although some, e.g. ‘A Cellular Christmas’, are not fully anonymous!) to that challenge. How ‘different’ is that? Too different for some, I’ve no doubt, but fun is good; humour helps to get the message over (and can often reveal true and deep understanding). And let us not forget, the alien world of the very small is the realm of the poet and romantic, so creativity and imagination may be viewed as key to understanding (or at least, appreciating) what’s going on ‘down there’. Love it or loath it, Plant cell biology is an idiosyncratic text and permeated throughout with Wayne’s own humour and take on the subject [in which regard it is perhaps best not to look too closely at his entry on the American site RateMyProfessors (Anon, undated)]. Wayne’s world is a little bit odd, but there is no doubt that Randy loves his (plant) cell biology and has really tried to make the subject ‘interesting’ and just a bit ‘different’!