This book provides students and researchers in plant sciences with a concise general account of plant biochemistry. The edited format allows recognized experts in plant biochemistry to contribute chapters on their special topics. Up-to-date surveys are divided into four sections: the cell, primary metabolism, special metabolism, and the plant and the environment. There is a strong emphasis on plant metabolism as well as enzymological, methodological, molecular, biological, functional, and regulatory aspects of plant biochemistry. Illustrations of metabolic pathways are used extensively, and further reading lists are also included. The coverage of the subject is divided into four sections: the plant cell-describing both molecular components and function; primary metabolism-including the pathways of carbohydrate, lipid, nitrogen, nucleic acid and protein metabolism as well as gene regulation; special metabolism-chapters on phenolics, isoprenoids and secondary nitrogen compounds; the plant and the environment-discussions of pathology, ecology and biotechnology at the molecular level.