Plants exhibit forms of asymmetry analogous to handedness in bilaterally symmetrical animals. This book explores the evolutionary significance and development of asymmetry. Examples of genetic control include the direction of tendril or stem coiling of many climbing plants; the so-called spiral phyllotaxy and floral taxy; and contorted petal arrangement is another kind of left- right symmetry in plants; the direction of contortion is fixed in some but not in other plants. The book will underscore tha all phenomena related to handedness start during embryogenesis itself, with the occurrence of embryo rotation.
- First consolidated book on Plant Handedness
- Relates handedness, asymmetry and chirality to the evolution of different organizational levels in plant biology
- Emphasizes handedness as a vital governing force in plant functional evolution
- Provides a new perspective, hitherto ignored, into plant developemtn and evolution
- Describes how an age-old phenomenon can give scope for investigation from a very modern interdisciplinary approach
About the Author: Bir Bahadur had his early education in City College, Hyderabad and graduated from Nizam College a premier and one of the oldest institution of the state and India and Post-graduated from University College of Science Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. He earned his Ph.D. in Plant Genetics from Osmania University. He has served Osmania and Kakatiya Universities, India with distinction as Lecturer, Reader and Professor and as Chairman, Head of the Department, Dean of the Faculty of Science, Kakatiya University, Warangal, India. He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Institute of Genetics of Hungarian Academy (Budapest), on a Govt. of India fellowship and recipient of the Royal Society Bursary, London and Honorary Research Fellow at the Birmingham University (U.K.). He was the Chief Editor of Proceedings of Andhra Pradesh Akademi of Sciences , Hyderabad, and Journal of Palynology (Lucknow, India). He was Independent of Director of Sri Biotech Laboratories Ltd, Hyderabad, India India for 8 years.
K. V. Krishnamurthy, Ph.D., is a former Professor and Head of Department, Plant Sciences at Bharathidasan University in Tiruchirappalli, India, and is at present as an consultant at R & D, Sami Labs Ltd, Bangalore prior to joining Sami, worked as an adjunct facility at the Institute of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, Bangalore. He obtained his PhD degree from Madras University, India, and has taught many undergraduate, postgraduate, M.Phil, and PhD students. He has over 50 years of teaching and research experience, and his major research areas include plant morphology and morphogenesis, biodiversity, floristic and reproductive ecology, and cytochemistry. He has published more than 200 research papers and 30 books. His important books include Methods in Cell Wall Cytochemistry (CRC Press, USA), Bioresources of the Eastern Ghats: Their Conservation and Management (Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, India), Textbook of Biodiversity (Science Publishers, USA), and From Flower to Fruit (Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi). Book edited on Plant Biology and Biotechnology (Springer India), 2015;five volume series of Ethnobotany of India , 2016, 2017 (CRC Press: Apple academic Publication). Prof. K.V. Krishnamurthy has contributed substantially on Plant morphology and development with over 200 Publications and several books. He has discussed Asymmetry and Handedness in many of his publications.
Monoranjan Ghose joined as Lecturer at the Agricultural & Ecological Research Unit of the Indian Statistical Institute Kolkata, India in 1983. Subsequently, he became Associate Professor and full Professor in 1997. He served as Professor-in-Charge of Biological Sciences Division and Head of the Agricultural and Ecological Research Unit of the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata till retirement. He worked as the Chairman of the Research Fellow Advisory Committee (RFAC) of the Biological Sciences Division. He retired from active service from the Institute on 31 July 2012. Professor Ghose did his Ph.D. under the guidance of the late Prof. T. A. Davis (The Fibonacci Man of India) in 1982. He has published more than 60 research papers in reputed national and international standard journals.
Sebastian John Adams, presently a Scientist in the Department of Phyto-Pharmacognosy at Sami Labs ltd., Bangalore, a leading herbal based industry. Previously he was a research fellow at Foundation of Revitalization of Local Health and Traditions (FRLHT), Bangalore for four years and subsequently as a Research Associate at Department of Pharmacognosy, The Himalaya Drug Company, Bangalore for a year. He had his higher education in St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli and Madras Christian College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. His PhD work is on the Ayurvedic Ashtavarga plants. He has published about 25 research articles, some of which have appeared in Ethnobotany of India (Volumes 1-5) Published by CRC: Apple Academic Press, USA, 2016, 2017. He (along with Prof. K.V. Krishnamurthy and others) have just completed a book on Methods in Plant Histochemistry .
