Eye of newt and toe of frog: Recombinant DNA Principles and Methodologies, edited by James J. Greene and Venigalla B. Rao, and Molecular Biomethods Handbook, edited by Ralph Rapley and John M. Walker

Marcel Dekker, 1998. $195.00 hbk (750 pages)ISBN 0 8247 9989 5Humana Press, 1998. $89.50 hbk (725 pages)ISBN 0 896 03501 8Much of molecular biology seems to involve blind faith: a religious conviction that if you faithfully follow the recipes in a molecular biology cookbook, or unquestioningly add the ingredients of a commercial kit your experimental efforts will be gloriously rewarded. Despite the anguish of adroit disbelievers, this catechismal adherence to doctrine works amazingly well most of the time. But some experimental problems cannot be easily solved without understanding the intricacies of how and why a technique works. For example, notwithstanding the most virtuous and devoted obedience, the cookbook or kit approach does not always work. (Of course, if the first kit doesn’t work, you can always blame the manufacturer and try a new kit – an approach that doesn’t monopolize too many neurons but can be very expensive and time consuming.) However, sometimes it is essential to develop a new method to solve a particular experimental problem.There are many, widely used ‘lab manuals’ available with detailed molecular biology protocols. The best of these lab manuals also include sections on trouble-shooting when an experiment does not work as desired. In contrast, these two books aim to provide the essential background for understanding how and why the experimental protocols work. Although the styles of the two books are quite different, they both provide clear insights into the biological, chemical and physical rationale behind common molecular methods used in lab manuals and commercial kits.Most of the 19 chapters in Recombinant DNA Principles and Methodologies focus on general concepts, including critical aspects of nucleic acid biochemistry, properties of commonly used nucleic acid modification enzymes, basic genetics of common host strains, general strategies for cloning genes, isolation and characterization of nucleic acids, properties of useful vectors, etc. Within each general topic, the pluses and minuses of different approaches are illustrated. For example, there is a very nice discussion of subtractive hybridization that describes specific cases where it has been effective while warning of the many unpublished cases that succumbed to the numerous technical pitfalls. The chapters encompass a broad range of topics, providing a solid practical and theoretical framework for experimental molecular biology that should appeal to novice molecular biologists and to seasoned technique junkies. The format and content of this book would be effective as a textbook for courses in experimental molecular biology but, sadly, the lofty price of the book is likely to limit it, effectively, to libraries.The Molecular Biomethods Handbook also presents practical insights into molecular biological methods, but the 51 chapters focus on specific methods, including ribonuclease protection assays, mobility shift assays, baculovirus vectors, in vitro transcription and translation, solid-phase peptide synthesis, phage display libraries, etc. The chapters of this book tend to be more succinct, relying on judicious references to lead the reader to more detailed information when desired. For example, in a very nice chapter on gel retardation only two paragraphs are devoted to an explanation of how to determine kinetic constants for DNA–protein interactions, but references to several publications that provide additional technical details are given here. This book also includes chapters on a variety of biochemical methods that are commonly used by molecular biology labs, including HPLC, mass spectrometry, immunochemistry, flow cytometry, etc. Although the format is likely to make it more useful as a quick reference book than as a textbook, it is sufficiently comprehensive, lucid and affordable that it would be good lab investment.