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In a field that changes on a daily basis, writing a text book on signal transduction can be a risky endeavour. However, this book does a wonderful job of tying in historical perspectives of this topic with some of the most recent significant advances in the field. The authors begin with the general history of signal transduction, and follow with general introduction to the components of signalling pathways, such as ligands, membrane receptors and secondary messengers. After describing these components in a more general sense, we are treated to detailed descriptions of different classical signalling pathways and mechanisms which consumes the remainder of the first half of the book. The last half of the book focuses on more specific details of the proteins involved in each pathway discussed, discussing activating domains and phosphorylation/dephosphorylation of signalling components, as well as concepts such as signal termination and receptor desensitization. All in all, a very comprehensive review. My only complaint is the lack of information on some well studied pathways that are significant in developmental biology, such as the wingless/Wnt or hedgehog pathways. No mention of these are made throughout the book. I would recommend this book to graduate students and upper-year undergraduates that are studying this field, with a warning for developmental biologists that they might not find all that they're looking for in a signalling text. This would also be a good reference text for researchers, or for professors teaching courses in this field.
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