Synopses & Reviews
Genes V gives an integrated account of the structure and function of genes in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. It is thoroughly up-to-date with the latest thinking and research in the field. Successive editions have provided an integrated account of the whole field of modern molecular genetics and this edition continues that approach, providing a new synthesis with a much greater emphasis on how genes function in their biological context. The book begins with an introductory overview of material that the student should have encountered in previous courses. These first two chapters consider the cell as an assembly of macromolecules, reviewing the function of these molecules and how they are organized into cell organelles. There follows a detailed examination of the role and function of DNA with increased emphasis on genetic mapping in the context of human disease. The third part of the book discusses translation and has been thoroughly updated to reflect new knowledge about structure and the specificity on DNA function. A new section on cell biology follows. This brings together much information that was scattered in previous editions of the book and integrates it with new knowledge on protein transport, signal transduction, and the cell cycle. The section on gene expression has been thoroughly modernized and updated as have the two chapters which follow, one of which gives an entirely new account of gene sizes, organization and differences in eukaryotes. The book gives, for the first time, a unifying concept for eukaryotic transcription and its regulation reflecting work done since 1990. The chapter on recombination has been entirely rewritten and is followed by updated coverage of manipulations of DNA: transposons, retroviruses, and rearrangements. The book concludes with chapters examining in detail the role of genes in some of the key areas of molecular biology research, molecular immunology, development, and oncogenesis. Changes in the content of the book, which have given it greater coherence and a much more logical structure, are reflected by a new design bringing greater clarity, there are fewer tables and those that remain have been redesigned and simplified. All figures have been redrawn in a modern style using state-of-the-art graphics in full color.
Description
Includes bibliographical references and index.
About the Author
Benjamin Lewin took his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from Cambridge (England). He was then editor of Nature New Biology and a visiting fellow at the National Institutes for Health. He has been editor of Cell, the premier journal in the field, since 1974. He has unique access to the very best of current research results and thinking.
Table of Contents
Introduction
CELLS AS MACROMOLECULAR ASSEMBLIES
1. Cells Obey the Laws of Physics and Chemistry
2. Cells Are Organized Into Compartments
PART 1: DNA AS A STORE OF INFORMATION
3. Genes Are Mutable Units
4. DNA Is the Genetic Material
5. The Topology of Nucleic Acids
6. Isolating the Gene
PART 2: TRANSLATION: EXPRESSING GENES AS PROTEINS
7. The Assembly Line for Protein Synthesis
8. Transfer RNA Is the Translational Adapter
9. Ribosomes Provide a Translation factory
10. Messenger RNA Is the Template
PART 3: CONSTRUCTING THE CELL
11. The Apparatus for Protein Localization
12. Receptors and Signal Transduction: Channels and Ion Uptake
13. Cell Cycle and Growth Regulation
PART 4: CONTROL OF PROKARYOTIC GENE EXPRESSION
14. Control at Initiation: RNA Polymerase-Promoter Interactions
15. A Panoply of Operons: the Lactose Paradigm and Others
16. Control by RNA Structure: Termination and Antitermination
17. Phage Strategies: Lytic Cascades and Lysogenic Repression
PART 5: PERPETUATION OF DNA
18. The Replicon: Unit of Replication
19. Primosomes and Replisomes: the Apparatus for DNA Replication
20. Systems that Safeguard DNA
PART 6: ORGANIZATION OF THE EUKARYOTIC GENE
21. The Extraordinary Power of DNA Technology
22. Genome Size and Genetic Content
23. The Eukaryotic Gene: Conserved Exons and Unique Introns
24. Gene Numbers: Repetition and Redundancy
25. Genomes Sequestered in Organelles
26. Organization of Simple Sequence DNA
27. The Genome is Packaged into Chromosomes
28. Chromosomes Consist of Nucleosomes
PART 7: EUKARYOTIC TRANSCRIPTION AND RNA PROCESSING
29. Building the Transcription Complex: Promoters, Factors, and RNA Polymerases
30. Regulation of Transcription: Factors that Activate the Basal Apparatus
31. The Apparatus for Nuclear Splicing
32. RNA as Catalyst: Changing the Informational Content of RNA
PART 8: THE DYNAMIC GENOME: DNA IN FLUX
33. Recombination of DNA
34. Transposons that Mobilize via DNA
35. Retroviruses and Retroposons
36. Rearrangement and Amplification in the Genome
PART 9: GENES IN DEVELOPMENT
37. Generation of Immune Diversity by Gene Reorganization
38. Gene Regulation in Development: Gradients and Cascades
39. Oncogenes: Genes Expression and Cancer
Epilogue
Landmark Shifts in Perspective
Glossary
Index