The Cell: A Very Short Introduction

Citation

Allen, T., & Cowling, G. (2011). The Cell: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.

Chapter Summary

The book is part of Oxford's Very Short Introductions series. Its eight chapters fill about 128 pages and are followed by a glossary, a further-reading list of books and online resources, and an index. Sasha Terashima, reviewing it for the Company of Biologists' community site the Node (January 2012), counted 17 illustrations, most of them black-and-white electron micrographs. The chapters move from what a cell is, through its structures and processes, to stem cells, cell therapy and the future of cell research.

Chapter 1: The nature of cells

Cells are introduced as highly efficient factories that maintain and replicate themselves and interact with their surroundings. The chapter sets out the features common to all cells (components, subcellular organization, life processes) and the diversity of cell types, their specialized functions and their adaptations to different environments. The reviewer notes that it mixes broad generalizations about prokaryotic, eukaryotic, plant and animal cells with very specific detail.

Chapters 2–3: The structure of cells; The nucleus

Two chapters on the parts of the cell and how they work together in day-to-day function. The nucleus has a chapter of its own, covering the organization of the genome and a brief account of gene structure.

Chapters 4–5: The life of cells; What cells can do

Cell processes: division, DNA replication, movement and programmed cell death (apoptosis), followed by the specialized, differentiated cells of multicellular organisms. The focus is mainly on animal cells, but plant cells and bacteria living in extreme environments are mentioned.

Chapter 6: Stem cells

Embryonic and adult stem cells: what a stem cell is, a short history of the field, and cancer stem cells.

Chapter 7: Cellular therapy

Cell-based therapies from early attempts and routine practice such as blood transfusion to the possibilities opened by embryonic stem cell research. The ethical debate is noted, and possible treatments for diseases such as muscular dystrophy and diabetes are discussed.

Chapter 8: The future of cell research

A short closing chapter (about seven pages) on systems biology, synthetic biology and regenerative medicine. It ends with a speculative discussion of whether ageing might one day be reversed.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–3: What a cell is

• The cell as a self-maintaining factory: a unit that sustains and reproduces itself while responding to its environment.
• Unity and diversity of cells: shared components and processes across all cells, alongside great variation in form and function.
• Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells: cells without and with a nucleus and internal membrane-bounded compartments.
• The nucleus and the genome: the compartment that houses the cell's DNA and organizes its genes.

Chapters 4–5: How cells live

• Cell division and DNA replication: how cells copy their contents and divide.
• Apoptosis: programmed cell death, a normal part of the life of multicellular organisms.
• Differentiation: the specialization of cells for particular tasks in a multicellular body.

Chapters 6–8: Stem cells and the future

• Stem cells: unspecialized cells, embryonic or adult, that can give rise to specialized ones.
• Cancer stem cells: the idea that some tumours are sustained by stem-like cells.
• Cell therapy: treating disease by supplying cells, from blood transfusion to proposed stem-cell treatments.
• Systems biology, synthetic biology and regenerative medicine: research directions the authors present as the future of the field.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A great deal in a small space. Terashima calls the book a distillation of several hundred years of cell biology into 145 pages, presented in "pithy vignettes" that run from the inner workings of the cell to cells in multicellular organisms, disease and future research. It is a quick refresher for biologists and a way into the subject for beginners "without the intimidation of a textbook".
• History and context. The review singles out the historical anecdotes about discoveries and the discussion of future biomedical applications as what made the book enjoyable. Stem cells, cell therapy and future research take three of the eight chapters, an unusual weighting for a short introduction.
• Helps readers go further. A glossary and a further-reading list of books and online resources support readers who want more.

Limitations

• Known error in early printings. The description of gene structure in early printings reversed "introns" and "exons", calling the coding sequences introns. The glossary gives the correct definitions, but the reviewer warns that the slip could confuse a novice. The authors acknowledged the error and said they had asked OUP to correct it in later printings. Readers with an early copy should check this passage against the glossary.
• Illustrations not ideal for beginners. Apart from a few diagrams, the illustrations are black-and-white electron micrographs. Terashima found them relevant and interesting but thought they might tell readers unused to such images less than the authors intended.
• Animal-cell focus and age. The book concentrates on animal cells, with prokaryotes and plants mentioned mainly by contrast. It was published in 2011, so its chapters on stem cells, cell therapy and future research reflect the state of these fast-moving fields at that time.

Where It Fits in the Course

This is the shortest and least technical book in the cell biology course, suited to reading before or alongside the first textbook. Essential Cell Biology by Alberts and colleagues is the natural textbook to follow, and covers the topics of Chapters 1–5 here in far greater depth. Chapters 6–7 on stem cells and cell therapy connect to its final chapter on tissues, stem cells and cancer. Becker's World of the Cell and Karp's Cell and Molecular Biology are fuller undergraduate textbooks, the first with a strong biochemical basis and the second built around key experiments. Molecular Biology of the Cell and Pollard and colleagues' Cell Biology are comprehensive references for later study, not companions to this book.

How to Use This Book

The book is aimed at general readers and at students starting biology; the reviewer also recommends it as a refresher for working biologists. School-level biology is enough background.

A suggested approach:

• Read it straight through in a few sittings before a first cell biology course. Its value is the overview: how the parts of a cell fit together and why cell research matters.
• Use Chapters 1–5 as a map for the first half of a textbook course, and Chapters 6–8 as context for later topics on development, stem cells and cancer.
• Check terms in the glossary as you go. In particular, read the gene-structure passage in Chapter 3 against the glossary definitions of intron and exon.

When an electron micrograph is hard to interpret, compare it with a labelled diagram of the same structure in a textbook such as Essential Cell Biology. Treat the stem-cell and future-research chapters as a 2011 snapshot. For each development they mention, such as stem-cell therapies or synthetic biology, look up what has happened since, and use the further-reading list as a starting point.