The 19 chapters in this second volume describe discoveries which contribute to the foundations of modern plant biology. The contributors, many of whom personally lit the way, bring readers back in time as if on a journey to retrace the paths and rethink the ideas they followed. These guided tours on how to decipher the natural laws will lead to an appreciation of the development of each field from simple concepts to an advanced multidisciplinary field of today. This volume will be of special interest to botanists, biochemists, plant physiologists and geneticists, and of general interest to those who are still fascinated by how discoveries are made.

Contents:

• The Two Photosystems of Photosynthesis (J Amesz)
• Discovery of Chloroplast DNA, Genomes and Genes (L Bogorad)
• The Discovery of the Complete Sequence of Tobacco and Rice Chloroplast Genomes (M Sugiura)
• Discovery of Promoter Sequences of Chloroplast Genes (S-D Kung)
• The Discovery of Chloroplast DNA Replication Origin in Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii (M Wu)
• The Discovery of Plant Mitochondrial Genomes (C Chase)
• The Discovery of Photophosphorylation (Y-K Shen & J-M Wei)
• Discovery of Phytochrome (W R Briggs)
• Plant Ferredoxin: A Multifunctional Electron Carrier Protein with an Unusual Genealogy (I Besse & B B Buchanan)
• Plant Lipid Biosynthesis — A History of Its Elucidation (P K Stumpf)
• The Discovery of Systemin (C A Ryan)
• Plant Peroxisomes: Discovery and Current Advances (A H C Huang)
• The Discovery of the Viroid (T O Diener)
• The Development of Plant Somatic Cell Genetics (P Carlson)
• The Discovery of Lignin (T Higuchi)
• The Discovery of Water Potential (J Dainty)
• The Discovery of Tissue Culture (Z-H Xu)
• Integrated Action in Plant Irritability (C-H Lou)
• The Discovery of the Breeding of Seedless Watermelon (C-H Yu & N N Liang)

"... the book is a valuable source of information and reference and may also inspire young researchers on how to advance their own field of plant science. This discovery book, which is recommended to a wide readership from advanced students to the established scientists, should be present in all central libraries and all libraries of plant biology institutions."