Best of
Genetics
2006
The Biology of Cancer
Robert A. Weinberg - 2006
Book by Weinberg, Robert A.
The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution
Sean B. Carroll - 2006
Over the last two decades, it has emerged as a powerful tool for solving crimes and determining guilt and innocence. But, very recently, an important new aspect of DNA has been revealed—it contains a detailed record of evolution. That is, DNA is a living chronicle of how the marvelous creatures that inhabit our planet have adapted to its many environments, from the freezing waters of the Antarctic to the lush canopy of the rain forest.In the pages of this highly readable narrative, Sean Carroll guides the general reader on a tour of the massive DNA record of three billion years of evolution to see how the fittest are made. And what a eye-opening tour it is—one featuring immortal genes, fossil genes, and genes that bear the scars of past battles with horrible diseases. This book clinches the case for evolution, beyond any reasonable doubt.
Gene Cloning and DNA Analysis: An Introduction
Terence A. Brown - 2006
Assuming the reader has little prior knowledge of the subject its importance, the principles of the techniques used and their applications are all carefully laid out, with over 250 clearly presented two-colour illustrations. In addition to a number of informative changes to the text throughout the book, the final four chapters have been significantly updated and extended to reflect the striking advances made in recent years in the applications of gene cloning and DNA analysis in biotechnology: Extended chapter on agriculture including new material on glyphosate resistant plantsNew section on the uses of gene cloning and PCR in archaeologyCoverage of ethical concerns relating to pharming, gene therapy and GM crops Gene Cloning and DNA Analysis remains an essential introductory text to a wide range of biological sciences students; including genetics and genomics, molecular biology, biochemistry, immunology and applied biology. It is also a perfect introductory text for any professional needing to learn the basics of the subject. All libraries in universities where medical, life and biological sciences are studied and taught should have copies available on their shelves. View the Gene Cloning and DNA Analysis webpage at www.blackwellpublishing.com/genecloning
Genomes 3
Terence A. Brown - 2006
Updated to incorporate the recent major advances, Genomes 3 is an invaluable companion for any undergraduate throughout their studies in molecular genetics. Genomes 3 builds on the achievements of the previous two editions by putting genomes, rather than genes, at the centre of molecular genetics teaching. Recognising that molecular biology research was being driven more by genome sequencing and functional analysis than by research into genes, this approach has gathered momentum in recent years.
Epigenetics
C. David Allis - 2006
In this new volume, 24 chapters written by experts in the field discuss epigenetic effects from many perspectives. There are chapters on the basic molecular mechanisms underpinning epigenetic regulation, discussion of cellular processes that rely on this kind of regulation, and surveys of organisms in which it has been most studied. Thus, there are chapters on histone and DNA methylation, siRNAs and gene silencing; X-chromosome inactivation, dosage compensation and imprinting; and discussion of epigenetics in microbes, plants, insects, and mammals. The last part of the book looks at how epigenetic mechanisms act in cell division and differentiation, and how errors in these pathways contribute to cancer and other human diseases. Also discussed are consequences of epigenetics in attempts to clone animals. This book is a major resource for those working in the field, as well as being a suitable text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on gene regulation.
Conservation and the Genetics of Populations
Frederick William Allendorf - 2006
Crow, Nancy FitzSimmons, Robert C. Lacy, Michael W. Nachman, Michael E. Soule, Andrea Taylor, Loren H. Rieseberg, R.C. Vrijenhoek, Lisette Waits, Robin S. Waples and Andrew Young. Supplementary information designed to support Conservation and the Genetics of Populations including: Downloadable sample chapterAnswers to questions and problemsData sets illustrating problems from the bookData analysis software programsWebsite linksAn Instructor manual CD-ROM for this title is available. Please contact our Higher Education team at HigherEducation@wiley.com for more information.
Genes in Conflict: The Biology of Selfish Genetic Elements
Austin Burt - 2006
But some genes spread in spite of being harmful to the host organism--by distorting their own transmission to the next generation, or by changing how the host behaves toward relatives. As a consequence, different genes in a single organism can have diametrically opposed interests and adaptations.Covering all species from yeast to humans, Genes in Conflict is the first book to tell the story of selfish genetic elements, those continually appearing stretches of DNA that act narrowly to advance their own replication at the expense of the larger organism. As Austin Burt and Robert Trivers show, these selfish genes are a universal feature of life with pervasive effects, including numerous counter-adaptations. Their spread has created a whole world of socio-genetic interactions within individuals, usually completely hidden from sight.Genes in Conflict introduces the subject of selfish genetic elements in all its aspects, from molecular and genetic to behavioral and evolutionary. Burt and Trivers give us access for the first time to a crucial area of research--now developing at an explosive rate--that is cohering as a unitary whole, with its own logic and interconnected questions, a subject certain to be of enduring importance to our understanding of genetics and evolution.
Minerals for the Genetic Code: An Exposition & Anaylsis of the Dr. Olree Standard Genetic Periodic Chart & the Physical, Chemical & Biological Connection
Charles Walters - 2006
Richard Olree believes that the key to the biological role of all trace minerals has been available to science for decades, but nobody realized it. Will his Standard Genetic Code Chart prove to be the Rosetta Stone of trace nutrients? Through sequencing the amino acids in the process of constructing proteins, Dr. Olree has traced all the elements to their participatory function in the life process. In this cutting-edge book, the connection is made between the physical, chemical and biological aspects of minerals and subatomic particles in the life process, and assignment is made of the specific mineral that governs each entry in the genetic code. This knowledge, based on peer-reviewed medical literature as well as research by forgotten innovators, suggests an end to the tyranny of pharmaceuticals. Each of the 64 sequences (or "codons") in the Standard Genetic Chart is discussed with an overlay of the mineral involved - its absence leading to degenerative disease; its presence ensuring that health is maintained. Dr Olree's genetic mineral chart overlaps the 64 codons that are now a part of "settled" science. This innovative book reveals a unique roadmap overlaying the body's deepest genetic need for specific minerals, classical chiropractic conditions, acupuncture meridians, and deficiency and disease indicators.
Strongest Boy World & Other Advent C CB: How Genetic Information Is Reshaping Our Lives
Philip R. Reilly - 2006
This book is a follow-on volume to the successful Abraham Lincoln's DNA and other adventures in Genetics. Phil Reilly uses specific cases to illuminate the science as well as the broad social and ethical issues concerned.
Molecular Ecology
Joanna R. Freeland - 2006
The book unites theory with examples from a wide range of taxa in a logical and progressive manner, and its accessible writing style makes subjects such as population genetics and phylogenetics highly comprehensible to its readers. The first part of the book introduces the essential underpinnings of molecular ecology, starting with a review of genetics and a discussion of the molecular markers that are most frequently used in ecological research. This leads into an overview of population genetics in ecology. The second half of the book then moves on to specific applications of molecular ecology, covering phylogeography, behavioural ecology and conservation genetics. The final chapter looks at molecular ecology in a wider context by using a number of case studies that are relevant to various economic and social concerns, including wildlife forensics, agriculture, and overfishing * comprehensive overview of the different aspects of molecular ecology * attention to both theoretical and applied concerns * accessible writing style and logical structure * numerous up-to-date examples and references This will be an invaluable reference for those studying molecular ecology, population genetics, evolutionary biology, conservation genetics and behavioural ecology, as well as researchers working in these fields.
The Whole Creature: Complexity, Biosemiotics and the Evolution of Culture
Wendy Wheeler - 2006
This can be grasped from understanding the complex social processes of evolution. From looking at recent developments in other disciplines but particularly in science - and the biology of complex systems - she argues that we are currently going through a paradigm shift in the long revolution of modern thought, from 'The Age of Reduction' to 'The Age of Emergence'. Through looking at the complex emergence of human society and culture, we can get a better understanding of how 'the whole creature' operates. Such an understanding serves to undermine the neoliberal philosophy of possessive individualism, whose outlook could be seen to be underpinned by a crude Social Darwinism; but, equally, its sense of humans as evolved and embodied creatures also undermines those who believe there is no existence outside discourse.
Documenting Domestication: New Genetic and Archaeological Paradigms
Melinda A. Zeder - 2006
In the last decade, significant technological and methodological advances in both molecular biology and archaeology have revolutionized the study of plant and animal domestication and are reshaping our understanding of the transition from foraging to farming, one of the major turning points in human history. This groundbreaking volume for the first time brings together leading archaeologists and biologists working on the domestication of both plants and animals to consider a wide variety of archaeological and genetic approaches to tracing the origin and dispersal of domesticates. It provides a comprehensive overview of the state of the art in this quickly changing field as well as reviews of recent findings on specific crop and livestock species in the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa. Offering a unique global perspective, it explores common challenges and potential avenues for future progress in documenting domestication.
BIOS Instant Notes in Genetics
Hugh Fletcher - 2006
Each topic begins with a summary of essential facts?an ideal revision checklist?followed by a description of the subject that focuses on core information, with clear, simple diagrams that are easy for students to understand and recall in essays and exams.
An Intelligent Person's Guide to Genetics
Adrian Woolfson - 2006
It will also help shape our future, as mankind will soon be able to redesign itself from first principles. But how will such work be guided? What is needed is a manifesto for life, which acclaimed author Adrian Woolfson delivers in his examination of life and its future possibilities.
Evolutionary Genetics: Concepts And Case Studies
Charles W. Fox - 2006
This book spans the continuum of scale, from studies of DNA sequence evolution through proteins and development to multivariate phenotypic evolution, and the continuum of time, from ancient events that lead to current species diversity to the rapid evolution seen over relatively short time scales in experimental evolution studies. Chapters are accessible to an audience lacking extensive background in evolutionaryy genetics but also current and in-depth enough to be of value to established researchers in evolution biology.
Gene Cloning
Julia Lodge - 2006
Gene Cloning introduces the diverse array of techniques available to clone genes and how they can be used effectively both in the research laboratory, to gain knowledge about the gene, and for use in biotechnology, medicine, the pharmaceutical industry, and agriculture. It shows how cloning genes is an integral part of genomics and underlines its relevance in the post-genomic age, as a tool required to test predictions of gene regulation and function made through bioinformatics. Applications of gene cloning in medicine, both for diagnosis and treatment, and in the pharmaceutical industry and agriculture, are also covered in the book.Gene Cloning takes a fresh approach to teaching molecular and cellular biology and will be a valuable resource to both undergraduates and lecturers of biological and biomedical science courses.