Advances in Botanical Research

Advances in Botanical Research is a multi-volume publication that brings together reviews by recognized experts on subjects of importance to those involved in botanical research. For more than thirty years, Advances in Botanical Research has earned a reputation for excellence in the field. For those working on plant pathology, Advances in Plant Pathology has also carved a niche in the plant sciences during its decade of publication.
Academic Press has merged Advances in Plant Pathology into Advances in Botanical Research. The plant science community will find that the merger of these two serials will provide one comprehensive resource for the field. To ensure complete coverage, John Andrews and Inez Tommerup, the editors of Advances in Plant Pathology, have joined the editorial board of the new series, which will include equal coverage of plant pathology and botany in both thematic and mixed volumes. The first fewvolumes of the new series will be slanted toward botany or plant pathology; however, future eclectic volumes will be fully integrated.
The resulting synergy of these two serials greatly benefits the plant science community by providing a more comprehensive resource under one roof. The joint aim is to continue to include the very best articles, thereby maintaining the status of a high impact factor review series.

Articles in this volume of Advances in Botanical Research incorporating Advances in Plant Pathology cover a range of topics of interest to many plant scientists. The first two articles cover aspects of the plant cell at a molecular level. The first, by Palmgren, considers the evolution of the H+-ATPase multi-gene family and the range of physiological roles attributed to the H+-ATPase proton pump. The second, by Tymowska-Lalanne and Kreis, describes the current knowledge about plant invertases from evolutionary, biochemical and molecular points of view.
The role of the vacuole in higher plants is well established, however vacuole networks also occur in filamentous fungi where they may be involved in long distance transport. The article by Ashford discusses the emerging role for this network in a range of physiological functions and compares the system with the endosomal network in animal cells.
Two articles in this volume give insight into plant development. Brutnell and Langdale consider leaf development and Irish and Kramer review flower development. Both reviews discuss how recent molecular genetic approaches have shed light on developmental regulation. Finally, Dumas et al. Consider how studies using mutants are leading to increased understanding of angiosperm fertilization and its potential for manipulation for biotechnological purposes.