Publisher Friedrich Pfeil (Munich, Germany) published a practical textbook on developmental biology of marine invertebrates, edited and with participation of the famous German zoologist Professor Albrecht Fischer. Among the authors of the Guide, published in English, we can see such eminent specialists as A. Dorresteijn, H. D. Franke, D. C. Hoffman, G. Plickert and P. Schroeder, which are not only widely known for their research in the field of developmental biology, but also have extensive practical experience of teaching this discipline.
In the preface of the book, Gary Freeman (USA) stressed the specific feature of the manual that distinguishes it from similar publications on the subject, because it contains a very detailed description of some invertebrates’ species. According to Freeman, this guide will undoubtedly contribute to the training of new generations of developmental biologists, and to transformation of beginners in this field into seasoned observers and thinkers.
The book is printed in excellent quality, has a convenient format. It is well illustrated with original photographs and clear, informative drawings, which number is over 60. The book begins with a brief introduction, which concisely provides a definition of the biology of animal reproduction, embryonic and larval period, stem cell biology.
Next section is devoted to methods of working with marine animals and contains seemingly basic, but nevertheless very important "subtleties" work with embryos of marine invertebrates - information about the preparation of artificial sea water, use of natural sea water, importance and methods of maintaining the temperature and light conditions. One of the paragraphs of this section is devoted to the description of time-tested containers for the animals and their embryos and larvae. The reader will find here a lot of useful information on the implementation of which will make the work with embryos of marine invertebrates successful. Proper attention is given to the production of pipettes and other tools. The section on different systems’ microscopes and some techniques for working with them is very helpful as well.
The next six chapters describe the problems of developmental biology of cnidarians (Cnidaria), annelids (Annelida), molluscs (Mollusca), echinoderms (Echinodermata) and tunicates (Urochordata). It is not quite clear what determines the sequence of presentation adopted by the authors: first considered deuterostomes (echinoderms and ascidians), then cnidarians, and finally protostomes with spiral type of development. All chapters have the similar structure. After a brief description of the morphological features of the animals, readers can find descriptions of the successive stages of embryonic and larval development, starting with fertilization and ending wiht metamorphosis of larvae. After the presentation of information about morphology of development, a sketch of some common problems of developmental biology, which were solved or to be solved at present in animals of the certain philum or class, is given. For example, in the chapter on sea urchins, formation and specification of cell lines, problems of the developmental regulation and embryonic induction are given. Concerning to this issues, endocrine control of oocyte maturation, zygotic polarity determination and, in particular, the role of centrosomes in this process, are discussed. In Chapter 3, which sets out the information on the developmental biology of sea squirts, it focuses on classical and molecular biology approaches in the study of cytoplasmic segregation and determination of cell fate. The same issues are thoroughly discussed in the chapter on the spiral type of development. The problem of the embryonic axes determination in cnidarians is analyzed in the light of new experimental and molecular biology data obtained on embryos of Hydractinia.
An important feature of the reviewed book, making it a modern practicum’s manual on developmental biology, is that all chapters possess a special section containing practical guidance for a possible laboratory work on described objects. It is important to emphasize that the feasibility of these works is many times tested by the contributors during their respective trainings at the marine biological stations in Germany. Experiments on isolation of blastomeres in embryos of sea urchins are described just so, in detail, indicating the ways of removing the egg envelops. Following recommendations of the manual, a student can easily perform experiments blocking the formation of micromeres at the fourth cleavage division and observe the effects of these manipulations. There are experiments’ protocols for studying the humoral control of oocyte maturation in starfish, determining the threshold concentration of the meiosis inducing hormones, and discovering the effect of temperature on the rate of eggs’ maturation. Performing experiments on stratification and fragmentation of eggs, a learning person has opportunity to try to find out whether the spatial coordinates of the embryo are encoded at the stage of oocyte and zygote. In the chapter on the development of sea squirts, one is invited to conduct experiments on elimination and isolation of individual blastomeres during early cleavage period, as well as to investigate the expression of acetylcholinesterase, a marker of muscle differentiation in sea squirts, and thus visualize the lineage of prospective ascidian muscle cells. In the chapter on the development of annelids there are trainings concerning the study of regeneration processes. All chapters are supplied with lists of the most important literature, including both classic works and publications of recent years.
The book has three appendices: a list of modern textbooks on general developmental biology and comparative embryology, as well as a list of educational films. The third supplement specifies 16 European marine biological stations whose services are available (at least theoretically) for domestic Russian universities.
I think that this relatively inexpensive (info@pfeilverlag.de) "Heligoland practicum" in Russia will be appreciated with great interest not only by "pure" embryologists, but also by a wider range of readers, in particular, researchers and lecturers of zoological departments of Russian universities. The book invites everyone who would want to expand the range of the objects, introduce into practice the work with marine invertebrates, the content of which is largely facilitated by the information in the reviewed hardbook.