Human Genetics: Possibilities and Realities. Ciba Foundation Symposium 66

nants containing regulatory and processing signals as powerful tools for the transfer, amplification, and subsequent analysis of foreign DNAs in mammalian cells. J. Sambrook and T. Grodzicker then present adenovirus 2-SV40 hybrids as an illustration of the potential adenovirus has as a vector for introducing exogenous sequences into eukaryotic cells. They do raise one very important consideration, however; the inserted SV40 sequences code for a helper function, which confers a distinct replicative advantage to hybrids by rendering simian cells fully permissive. One cannot be certain that a defective adenovirus vector transporting an inserted nonselectable gene will not recombine with its helper function to produce a more efficiently replicating, wild-type adenovirus. Next D. Dubnau et al. review the recent cloning progress in B. subtilis as a host. In the following chapter H. Bernard and D. Helinski present with accompanying tables and figures a considerable amount of information on E. coli plasmids (subdivided into those primarily useful in amplifying foreign sequences and those specialized for promoting the expression of inserted genes), cosmids [3,4], S. aureus and Bacillus plasmids, and the recently appreciated Streptomyces plasmid cloning vehicles. An excellent article by B. Hohn and A. Hinnen presents the uses of cosmids to clone large segments of DNA in yeast and E. coli. This is followed by a fine introduction to single-stranded DNA coliphage vectors [5] by W. Barnes. The volume concludes with a most comprehensive chapter by B. Williams and F. Blattner containing the restriction maps of the many bacteriophage lambda cloning vectors, the coordinates of the endonucleases' restriction sites within the genomes, and the vectors' cloning capacities. In summary, this multi-author monograph on recombinant DNA technology is unequivocally a superb one and has compiled much up-to-date information useful to the recombinant biochemist and/or geneticist. Due to the considerable amount of technical data the volume contains, we expect it to be primarily used and especially appreciated by the recombinant researcher.