During the past decade the biological sciences have experienced a period of unprecedented progress, and nowhere is the excitement of this new era more apparent than in the field of plant physiology. Innovations such as the recombinant DNA techniques are providing new tools for understanding how environmental signals and hormones regulate gene expression and development. Special attention has been given to the molecular basis of cell cycle regulation of plant growth and development and plant biotechnology. Needless to say, this fast, near dazzling pace of discoveries shows how enormously the subject has changed to embrace the techniques of molecular biology and is reflected in our observation that the index of the current book covers aspects of plant growth regulation which were neither recognisable nor measurable 10 years ago. We hope you will have as much enjoyment reading this book as we had in editing it.
Many chapters cover the plant cell cycle regulations and related topics.
We hope very much that this part of the book has captured the vigorous and stimulating research area. What also emerges, as a powerful force is how the expression of plant regulatory genes is linked to endogenous developmental programmes. Moreover, the extent to which signal transduction chains impinge on the cell c ycle and differentiation will clearly be a major thrust of the future plant research. Hence, we hope that this book will stimulate and encourage researches as we enter the next exciting phase of the plant growth and developmental story.