PERSPECTIVES ESSAY Beyond a pedagogical tool: 30 years of Molecular Biology of the Cell Norberto Serpente Abstract | In 1983, a bulky and profusely illustrated textbook on molecular and cell biology began to inhabit the shelves of university libraries worldwide. The effect of capturing the eyes and souls of biologists was immediate as the book provided them with a new and invigorating outlook on what cells are and what they do. The aim of Molecular Biology of the Cell the influence of MBoC stems from its peda- (MBoC)1, first published in 1983, was to gogical qualities. Reaching such quality was a rewrite cell biology and to create a new visual high priority for the authors and this was interpretation of the subject (FIG. 1). Looking recognized by reviewers immediately after its for previous textbooks that might have had first publication. The book was highly rec- an equally important role in transforming ommended for the classroom6,7, and review- Figure 1 | The front cover of Molecular Biology the knowledge of cells, MBoC only compares ers predicted it would be a great success as of the Cell first edition (1983). “In a time when to Wilson’s classic The Cell in Development it simplified the teaching of a subject that, our biological landscape is dominated by immuno- fluorescence images and more recently by GFP and Inheritance, which was first published because of its rapid expansion, was becoming labelled proteins it is hard to remember what a (REF. 2) 8 in 1896 . The Cell in Development and harder to teach . In addition, some reviewers wow factor such images had early on. No other Inheritance has been essential for cytology to predicted that MBoC could be used as a ped- books at that time had a coloured image on the 3 become a self-contained discipline . This year agogical tool for more specialized audiences front, let alone an actual cell! This image used fluo- is the thirtieth anniversary of the publication such as scientists9,10. rescent phalloidin, rather than an antibody, for of the first edition of MBoC, and to mark the staining F-actin and T antigen for staining the occasion I invite readers to reflect on some nucleus, rather than DAPI, and was taken by Bob of the features that made it, as one commen- The making of MBoC Pollack, one of the authors originally fingered by tator once put it, “the most influential cell essentially defied the ongoing Jim for MBoC. The image also represented the biology textbook of its time”4. I argue that then very active research area of the cytoskeleton. practices of textbook production I also wanted to use the black background of the the influence and success of MBoC relied on at the time. image to go all over, i.e. a black book, which was a some key aspects of its production. The mak- controversial subject at the time, but turned out to ing of MBoC essentially defied the ongoing be a good marketing tool to ‘differen Science tiate’ practice­s of textbook production at the time. The pedagogical value of MBoC, as us from any other books.” (Keith Roberts, personal Two main reasons come to mind when most reviewers agreed, was to be found in communication). Image is reproduced, with thinking of why the first edition of MBoC, the design and quality of the illustrations, permiss­ion, from REF. 1 © (1983) Garland Science. and the following editions in 1989, 1994, which condensed complex ideas into simple 2002 and 2007, have been so influential schematics, and in the clarity, consistency for the field of cell biology. The first one is and emphasis on explanation achieved in ‘protein machines’16. MBoC offered an image related to textbooks being showcases for the its writing8,11–14. As later editions of MBoC of cells beyond that seen through the micro- state of knowledge in a particular subject. were published, these values increased and scope and set the tone on how to study cells MBoC was one of the first books to capture remained unique despite mounting competi- for many years to come. the ‘new’ molecular knowledge of higher tion from other textbooks, such as Molecular organisms that began to emerge in the early Cell Biology by Lodish et al.15, first published The origins 1980s. By experimenting with prokaryotes in 1986. The original idea of a book such as MBoC between the 1940s and 1960s, molecular Although true, these reasons conceal belonged exclusively to James Watson. In biology had developed several ‘conceptual other key aspects that have made MBoC so the early 1970s, he wisely spotted a latent tools’ that were transferred to eukaryotic cells influential and successful. Beyond being a hurdle for his long-time vision of trans- from the mid 1970s onwards with the advent pedagogical tool and a showcase of exist- forming the whole biology field into a of genetic engineering5. Several experimen- ing knowledge, MBoC actually added molecular scienc­e17. He recognized that the tal approaches to study specific aspects of new knowledge. The book embodied and knowledge of cell biology at the time was eukaryotic cells, such as the mechanisms heralded the epistemic and visual ethos of almost entirely based on light and electron underlying genetic regulation and intracellu- the so‑called ‘molecular revolution’ of the microscopy investigations, and for students lar signalling, were relentlessly being under- early to mid 1970s; the revolution that gave this hardly integrated any new molecular taken in cell biology laboratories worldwide. rise to our current view of the nature and the biology. Therefore, Watson believed in the No textbook, however, fully encapsulated functioning of cells as diverse collections of need for a new textbook that would combine such developments. The second reason for timely and specifically expressed interacting these two fields. As Martin Raff recalls, for 120 | FEBRUARY 2013 | VOLUME 14 www.nature.com/reviews/molcellbio © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved PERSPECTIVES Watson producing MBoC would be a “very When Lewis joined, having already spent The team spirit and its dynamics important way of modernising the way cell two years on the project, the team morale More important than the continuous biolog­y was taught and perhaps even how was at its lowest. As Raff recalls, most of the encouragement from Watson was the way cell biolog­y was done”18. first drafts of the chapters were not usable, the authors built a unity. The role of MBoC With that idea in mind, in July 1974, especially the chapters written by external in marking a new era of cell biology would Watson wrote a letter to Keith Roberts, a authors as they did not fit the writing style not have been possible without the strong plant cell biologist who worked at the John of those written by Roberts, Alberts and connections at the personal and profes- Innes Institute in Norwich and a long-term himself 18. At that point, Lewis, who had sional level that the final authorial line‑up collaborator. Watson invited Roberts, who been invited by Alberts to write one chapter achieved. The production of the book, was also the illustrator of Molecular Biology on the basis of his work in developmental despite being well-planned, took many of the Gene (MBoG)19, to become an author biology, was at a meeting in the United States unexpected turns. In addition to autho- of a new textbook that could ‘sweep the and dropped by at Fort Hill on Long Island rial reshuffling, the subject content also field’18. In the beginning of 1976, as part to deliver his work18. The chapter Lewis changed. The second half of the book was of the process of gathering authors for presented (which he co‑wrote with his col- originally planned to contain a molecular the book, Watson asked a publisher (not league Cheryl Tickle) impressed Alberts, description of different kinds of organism­s the final publisher) to contact Raff from Raff, Roberts and Watson. In Raff’s view, (such as Escherichia coli and ciliates). University College London and to invite it became their best written chapter and However, as Roberts explained, after the him to become involved in the book project. gave them the boost they really needed18. first draft of the commissioned chapters The importance of incorporating Raff as an From that moment on, a definitive and solid began to arrive in the summer of 1979, author did not escape Watson’s attention. authorial alliance was formed (FIG. 2). it was soon realized by the authors that Raff was seen as a prominent immunologist The role of Watson in cementing the what was envisioned for the first half of the after he published an important paper in unity of that authorial alliance was essentia­l. book would be enough to fill its full capac- Nature on a specific lymphocyte marker20, Early in 1978, when trying to persuade ity. Thus MBoC resulted in a book giving a and he was also known as an effective com- Alberts to become an author, he told him: molecular explanation to classical cellular municator via television programmes and an themes such as cell movement, secretion, or author of published scientific reviews. After Bruce the point is that no matter cytoskeleton structure18. some insistence from the publisher, Raff what you or Martin or Keith or me or Moreover, the publication of the book took finally agreed to meet the incipient group. anybody else does in science somebody almost 8 years rather than the 2 years that The first formal meeting took place in else is going to do it in weeks, in months were originally planned.