Book Description

Cell Growth and Cell Division is a collection of papers dealing with the biochemical and cytological aspects of cell development and changes in bacterial, plant, and animal systems. One paper discusses studies on the nuclear and cytoplasmic growth of ten different strains of the genus Blepharisma, in which different types of nutrition at high and low temperatures alter the species to the extent that they became morphologically indistinguishable. The paper describes the onset of death at high and low temperatures as being preceded by a decrease in the size of the cytoplasm and a corresponding decrease in the size of the macronucleus. The moribund organisms, still possessing structure, are motionless with no distinguishable macronuclear materials. Another paper presents the response of meiotic and mitotic cells to azaguanine, chloramphenicol, ethionine, and 5-methyltryptophan. The paper describes the failure of spindle action, arrest of second division, inhibition of cytokinesis, aberrant wall synthesis, and alterations in chromosome morphology in meiosis cells. In the case of mitosis, a single enzyme—thymidine phosphorylase—shows that reagents which inhibit protein synthesis also inhibit the appearance of that enzyme if the reagent is applied one day before it normally appears. Other papers discuss control mechanisms for chromosome reproduction in the cell cycle, as well as the force of cleavage of the dividing sea urchin egg. The collection can prove valuable for bio-chemists, cellular biologists, micro-biologists, and developmental biologists.