The DNA of all organisms is constantly being damaged by endogenous and exogenous sources. Oxygen metabolism generates reactive species that can damage DNA, proteins and other organic compounds in living cells. Exogenous sources include ionizing and ultraviolet radiations, carcinogenic compounds and environmental toxins among others. The discovery of multiple DNA lesions and DNA repair mechanisms showed the involvement of DNA damage and DNA repair in the pathogenesis of many human diseases, most notably cancer. These books provide a comprehensive overview of the interdisciplinary area of DNA damage and DNA repair, and their relevance to disease pathology. Edited by recognised leaders in the field, this two-volume set is an appealing resource to a variety of readers including chemists, chemical biologists, geneticists, cancer researchers and drug discovery scientists.

Genomics in the Clinic: A Practical Guide to Genetic Testing, Evaluation, and Counseling illustrates the current scope of the practice of genetics for healthcare professionals, so they can understand principles applicable to genetic testing and consultation. Written by an authoritative well-balanced team, including experienced clinical geneticists, genetic counselors, and medical subspecialists, this book adopts an accessible, easy-to-follow format. Sections are dedicated to basic genetic principles; clinical genetic and genomic testing; prenatal, clinical and cancer genetic diagnosis and counseling; and ethical and social implications in genomic medicine. Over 100 illustrative cases examine a range of prenatal, pediatric and adult genetic conditions and testing, putting these concepts and approaches into practice. Genomics in the Clinic: A Practical Guide to Genetic Testing, Evaluation, and Counseling is important for primary care providers, as patient care evolves in the current genomic-influenced world of precision medicine.

The increased and widespread availability of large network data resources in recent years has resulted in a growing need for effective methods for their analysis. The challenge is to detect patterns that provide a better understanding of the data. However, this is not a straightforward task because of the size of the data sets and the computer power required for the analysis. The solution is to devise methods for approximately answering the questions posed, and these methods will vary depending on the data sets under scrutiny. This cutting-edge text introduces biological concepts and biotechnologies producing the data, graph and network theory, cluster analysis and machine learning, before discussing the thought processes and creativity involved in the analysis of large-scale biological and medical data sets, using a wide range of real-life examples. Bringing together leading experts, this text provides an ideal introduction to and insight into the interdisciplinary field of network data analysis in biomedicine.

This book provides an exceptionally friendly introduction to Perl that emphasizes good programming practices with repeated exposure to pattern matching as applied to biological sequence analysis (DNA analysis, Protein analysis). The full-length book is appropriate for postgraduates in either computer science or biology and especially relevant to new interdisciplinary courses involving students from multiple disciplines.

This book presents Perl programming with a uniquely interdisciplinary perspective for the bioinformatics classroom. The co-authors are a professor of computer science and a professor of biology who collaborate in developing software for DNA sequence analysis. A specialty of the authors is encouraging interdisciplinary undergraduate research. The book has been tested in the classroom as a text for both biology and computer science majors. Benefiting from years of teaching experience in both computer science and biology, the authors use an exceptionally friendly and pedagogically sound introduction to Perl that emphasizes good programming practices throughout. Concepts include a rich introduction to working with strings and files of sequence data, control structures, subroutines, and data structures (e.g., arrays and hash tables). A particularly unique feature of the text is the early and repeated exposure to and use of regular expressions in sequence analysis. All examples in the book are applied to biological sequence analysis (DNA analysis, Protein analysis). The full-length book is appropriate for majors in either computer science or biology and especially relevant for new interdisciplinary courses involving students from multiple disciplines.

Sex, Gender, and Epigenetics: From Molecule to Bedside explores the complex interplay of sex and gender-based influences on gene expression via epigenetic mechanisms. The book provides an overview of the field and evidence gathered to-date that is followed by a discussion of epigenetic pathways by which biological sex and the impact of the environment collaborate to regulate genetic function. The book also analyzes the impact of ancestors' environmental experience on subsequent generations and describes the nature of sex-specific transmission of environmentally induced epigenetic modifications. Here, international leaders in the field discuss both sex-specific normal physiology and the experience of disease, with chapters dedicated to fetal programming, microbiome, cancer, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, embryogenesis, and oocyte aging, among other topics.

'Mind-blowing ... It is a hugely important book ... His story is crucial' Matt Ridley, The Times One of the world's top behavioural geneticists argues that we need a radical rethink about what makes us who we are The blueprint for our individuality lies in the 1% of DNA that differs between people. Our intellectual capacity, our introversion or extraversion, our vulnerability to mental illness, even whether we are a morning person - all of these aspects of our personality are profoundly shaped by our inherited DNA differences. In Blueprint, Robert Plomin, a pioneer in the field of behavioural genetics, draws on a lifetime's worth of research to make the case that DNA is the most important factor shaping who we are. Our families, schools and the environment around us are important, but they are not as influential as our genes. This is why, he argues, teachers and parents should accept children for who they are, rather than trying to mould them in certain directions. Even the environments we choose and the signal events that impact our lives, from divorce to addiction, are influenced by our genetic predispositions. Now, thanks to the DNA revolution, it is becoming possible to predict who we will become, at birth, from our DNA alone. As Plomin shows us, these developments have sweeping implications for how we think about parenting, education, and social mobility. A game-changing book by a leader in the field, Blueprint shows how the DNA present in the single cell with which we all begin our lives can impact our behaviour as adults.

For over half a century, we have been in the thrall of the double-helicaln structure of DNA, which, in an instant, revealed that information can be transferred between generations by a simple rule, A pairs with T, G pairs with C. In its beautiful simplicity, this structure, along with the table of codons worked out in the following decade, had entranced us into believing that we can fully understand the information content of a DNA sequence, simply by treating it as text that is read in a linear fashion. While we have learned much based on this assumption, there is much we have missed. Far from a passive tape running through a reader, genomes contain information that appears in new forms which create regions with distinct behavior. Some are "gene rich," some mobile, some full of repeats and duplications, some sticking together across long evolutionary distances, some readily breaking apart in tumor cells. Even protein-coding regions can carry additional information, taking advantage of the flexible coding options provided by the degeneracy of the genetic code. The chapters in this volume touch on one or more of three interconnected themes; information can be implied, rather than explicit, in a genome; information can lead to focused and/or regulated changes in nucleotide sequences; information that affects the probability of distinct classes of mutation has implications for evolutionary theory.

This is the story of how three men won the Nobel Prize for their research on the humble nematode worm "C. elegans"; how their extraordinary discovery led to the sequencing of the human genome; how a global multibillion-dollar industry was born; and how the mysteries of life were revealed in a tiny, brainless worm.

In 1998 the nematode worm -- perhaps the most intensively studied animal on earth -- was the first multicellular organism ever to have its genome sequenced and its DNA mapped and read. "When we understand the worm, we will understand life," predicted John Sulston, one of the three Nobel laureates, and his prediction proved astonishingly accurate. Four years later, the research that led to this extraordinary event garnered three scientists a Nobel Prize. Along with Robert Horvitz and Sydney Brenner, Sulston discovered the phenomenon of programmed cell death in the worm, an essential concept that explains how biological development occurs in animal life and, as Horvitz later showed, how it occurs in human life. "C. elegans" is about as simple as an animal can be, but understanding its genetic organization is helping to reveal the mechanisms of life and, by extension, the mechanisms of our own lives. "In the Beginning Was the Worm" shows that in order to unlock the secrets of the human genome we must first understand the worm.

But this story is about more than just the worm. It is about how an eccentric group of impassioned scientists toiled in near anonymity for years, driven only by a deep passion for knowledge and scientific discovery. It is the story of countless hours of research, immense ambition, and one of the greatest discoveries in human history.

Flow cytometry is a sensitive and quantitative platform for the measurement of particle fluorescence. In flow cytometry, the particles in a sample flow in single file through a focused laser beam at rates of hundreds to thousands of particles per second. During the time each particle is in the laser beam, on the order of ten microseconds, one or more fluorescent dyes associated with that particle are excited. The fluorescence emitted from each particle is collected through a microscope objective, spectrally filtered, and detected with photomultiplier tubes.
Flow cytometry is uniquely capable of the precise and quantitative molecular analysis of genomic sequence information, interactions between purified biomolecules and cellular function. Combined with automated sample handling for increased sample throughput, these features make flow cytometry a versatile platform with applications at many stages of drug discovery. Traditionally, the particles studied are cells, especially blood cells; flow cytometry is used extensively in immunology.
This volume shows how flow cytometry is integrated into modern biotechnology, dealing with issues of throughput, content, sensitivity, and high throughput informatics with applications in genomics, proteomics and protein-protein interactions, drug discovery, vaccine development, plant and reproductive biology, pharmacology and toxicology, cell-cell interactions and protein engineering.

DNA as the genetic material is a topic of intense interest in the 21st century with the familiar and iconic Watson-Crick double helix having a vital importance for its function. However, there are further complexities beyond the double helix, including supercoiling, knotting and catenation, that are less widely appreciated and understood but which are critical to its function. This book explains these topological aspects of DNA structure in a clear and approachable style that will be appreciated by both students and researchers interested in DNA structure and function.

This is the story of how three men won the Nobel Prize for their research on the humble nematode worm "C. elegans"; how their extraordinary discovery led to the sequencing of the human genome; how a global multibillion-dollar industry was born; and how the mysteries of life were revealed in a tiny, brainless worm.

In 1998 the nematode worm -- perhaps the most intensively studied animal on earth -- was the first multicellular organism ever to have its genome sequenced and its DNA mapped and read. "When we understand the worm, we will understand life," predicted John Sulston, one of the three Nobel laureates, and his prediction proved astonishingly accurate. Four years later, the research that led to this extraordinary event garnered three scientists a Nobel Prize. Along with Robert Horvitz and Sydney Brenner, Sulston discovered the phenomenon of programmed cell death in the worm, an essential concept that explains how biological development occurs in animal life and, as Horvitz later showed, how it occurs in human life. "C. elegans" is about as simple as an animal can be, but understanding its genetic organization is helping to reveal the mechanisms of life and, by extension, the mechanisms of our own lives. "In the Beginning Was the Worm" shows that in order to unlock the secrets of the human genome we must first understand the worm.

But this story is about more than just the worm. It is about how an eccentric group of impassioned scientists toiled in near anonymity for years, driven only by a deep passion for knowledge and scientific discovery. It is the story of countless hours of research, immense ambition, and one of the greatest discoveries in human history.

Fully integrated and comprehensive in its coverage, "Root Genomics and Soil Interactions" examines the use of genome-based technologies to understand root development and adaptability to biotic and abiotic stresses and changes in the soil environment. Written by an international team of experts in the field, this timely review highlights both model organisms and important agronomic crops. Coverage includes: novel areas unveiled by genomics research basic root biology and genomic approaches applied to analysis of root responses to the soil environment. Each chapter provides a succinct yet thorough review of research.

Covering newsworthy aspects of contemporary biology -- gene therapy, the Human Genome Project, DNA testing, and genetic engineering -- as well as fundamental concepts, this book, written specifically for nonbiologists, discusses classical and molecular genetics, quantitative and population genetics -- including cloning and genetic diseases -- and the many applications of genetics to the world around us, from genetically modified foods to genetic testing.

With minimal technical terminology and jargon, "Genes and DNA" facilitates conceptual understanding. Eschewing the organization of traditional genetics texts, the authors have provided an organic progression of information: topics are introduced as needed, within a broader framework that makes them meaningful for nonbiologists. The book encourages the reader to think independently, always stressing scientific background and current facts.

Human Reproductive and Prenatal Genetics, Second Edition provides application-driven coverage of key topics in human reproductive and prenatal genetics, including genetic control underlying the development of the reproductive tracts and gametogenesis, the genetics of fertilization and implantation, the genetic basis of female and male infertility, as well as genetic and epigenetic aspects of assisted reproduction. Also examined are the genetics and epigenetics of the placenta in normal and abnormal pregnancy, preimplantation genetic diagnosis and screening, and cutting-edge advances in noninvasive prenatal screening, prenatal genetic counseling, and bioethical and medicolegal aspects of relevance in the lab and clinic. This new edition has been fully revised to address new and evolving technologies in human reproductive genetics, with new chapters added on chromatin landscapes and sex determination, genetic alterations of placental development and preeclampsia, metabolism and inflammation in PCOS, pre-implantational genetic testing, maternal genetic disorders, bioethics, and future applications.

The structure, function and reactions of nucleic acids are central to molecular biology and medicine and are crucial for understanding of the ever-expanding range of complex biological processes involved which are central to life. Revised, extended, updated and lavishly illustrated, this 4th Edition of Nucleic Acids in Chemistry and Biology is a long-awaited standard text for teaching and research in nucleic acids science. It maintains the close integration of chemistry and biology that characterised the earlier editions and contains a major expansion largely focused on the burgeoning growth of RNA science. Written by an international team of leading experts, all with extensive teaching experience, this 4th Edition provides up-to-date and extended coverage of the reactions and interactions of RNA and DNA with proteins and drugs. A brief history of the discovery of nucleic acids is followed by a molecule-based introduction to the structure and biological roles of DNA and RNA and the basics of Genes and Genomes. New key chapters are devoted to non-coding RNA, nucleic acids sequencing, nucleic acid therapeutics, in vitro evolution and aptamers, and protein-RNA interactions. The text is linked to an extensive list of references to make it a definitive reference source. This authoritative volume presents topics in an integrated manner and readable style with full colour illustrations throughout. It is ideal for graduate and undergraduate students of chemistry and biochemistry, biophysics and biotechnology, and molecular biology and medicine. It will be a guidebook for new researchers to the field of nucleic acids science.

Breakthroughs in high-throughput genome sequencing and high-performance computing technologies have empowered scientists to decode many genomes including our own. Now they have a bigger ambition: to fully understand the vast diversity of microbial communities within us and around us, and to exploit their potential for the improvement of our health and environment. In this new field called metagenomics, microbial genomes are sequenced directly from the habitats without lab cultivation. Computational metagenomics, however, faces both a data challenge that deals with tens of tera-bases of sequences and an algorithmic one that deals with the complexity of thousands of species and their interactions.This interdisciplinary book is essential reading for those who are interested in beginning their own journey in computational metagenomics. It is a prism to look through various intricate computational metagenomics problems and unravel their three distinctive aspects: metagenomics, data engineering, and algorithms. Graduate students and advanced undergraduates from genomics science or computer science fields will find that the concepts explained in this book can serve as stepping stones for more advanced topics, while metagenomics practitioners and researchers from similar disciplines may use it to broaden their knowledge or identify new research targets.

Plant Genes, Genomes and Genetics provides a comprehensive treatment of all aspects of plant gene expression. Unique in explaining the subject from a plant perspective, it highlights the importance of key processes, many first discovered in plants, that impact how plants develop and interact with the environment. This text covers topics ranging from plant genome structure and the key control points in how genes are expressed, to the mechanisms by which proteins are generated and how their activities are controlled and altered by posttranslational modifications. Written by a highly respected team of specialists in plant biology with extensive experience in teaching at undergraduate and graduate level, this textbook will be invaluable for students and instructors alike. Plant Genes, Genomes and Genetics also includes: specific examples that highlight when and how plants operate differently from other organisms; special sections that provide in-depth discussions of particular issues; end-of-chapter problems to help students recapitulate the main concepts; rich, full-colour illustrations and diagrams clearly showing important processes in plant gene expression; a companion website with PowerPoint slides, downloadable figures, and answers to the questions posed in the book. Aimed at upper level undergraduates and graduate students in plant biology, this text is equally suited for advanced agronomy and crop science students inclined to understand molecular aspects of organismal phenomena. It is also an invaluable starting point for professionals entering the field of plant biology.

Immunotherapeutics, Volume 129 in the Advances in Protein Chemistry and Structural Biology series highlights new advances in the field, with this new volume presenting interesting chapters on a variety of topics, including Vaccines for the prophylaxis and treatment of HPV, Lung-targeted RNA-based therapeutics, Clostridium difficile: Current overview and future perspectives, Antivenoms for treatment of snake bites, Natural killer cell-based strategies for immunotherapy of cancer, Immunological insights of selectins in human disease mechanism, Current update, challenges, and future aspects of immunotherapeutics in non-small cell lung cancer, In silico interaction analysis of NEMO binding domain peptide on the NFkB protein, and much more.

The onset of cancer presents one of the most fundamental problems in modern biology. In "Dynamics of Cancer," Steven Frank produces the first comprehensive analysis of how particular genetic and environmental causes influence the age of onset.

The book provides a unique conceptual and historical framework for understanding the causes of cancer and other diseases that increase with age. Using a novel quantitative framework of reliability and multistage breakdown, Frank unifies molecular, demographic, and evolutionary levels of analysis. He interprets a wide variety of observations on the age of cancer onset, the genetic and environmental causes of disease, and the organization of tissues with regard to stem cell biology and somatic mutation. Frank uses new quantitative methods to tackle some of the classic problems in cancer biology and aging: how the rate of increase in the incidence of lung cancer declines after individuals quit smoking, the distinction between the dosage of a chemical carcinogen and the time of exposure, and the role of inherited genetic variation in familial patterns of cancer.

This is the only book that presents a full analysis of the age of cancer onset. It is a superb teaching tool and a rich source of ideas for new and experienced researchers. For cancer biologists, population geneticists, evolutionary biologists, and demographers interested in aging, this book provides new insight into disease progression, the inheritance of predisposition to disease, and the evolutionary processes that have shaped organismal design.

With humor, depth, and philosophical and historical insight, "DNA" reaches out to a wide range of readers with its graphic portrayal of a complicated science. Suitable for use in and out of the classroom, this volume covers DNA's many marvels, from its original discovery in 1869 to early-twentieth-century debates on the mechanisms of inheritance and the deeper nature of life's evolution and variety.

Even readers who lack a background in science and philosophy will learn a tremendous amount from this engaging narrative. The book elucidates DNA's relationship to health and the cause and cure of disease. It also covers the creation of new life forms, nanomachines, and perspectives on crime detection, and considers the philosophical sources of classical Darwinian theory and recent, radical changes in the understanding of evolution itself. Already these developments have profoundly affected our notions about living things. Borin Van Loon's humorous illustrations recount the contributions of Gregor Mendel, Frederick Griffith, James Watson, and Francis Crick, among other biologists, scientists, and researchers, and vividly depict the modern controversies surrounding the Human Genome Project and cloning.

Acclaimed author Matt Ridley traces the colourful life of the man who discovered the structure of DNA, the building blocks of life. Building on a biographical tradition that can be traced back to Aubrey's 'Brief Lives', Dr Johnson's 'Lives of the Poets' and Lytton Strachey's 'Eminent Victorians', this exciting and ground-breaking new series pairs great biographers, historians and novelists with iconic subjects, the writing bristling with original and distinctive points of view. On 28 February 1953, Francis Crick walked into the Eagle pub in Cambridge and announced that he and his American colleague James Watson 'had found the secret of life'. In fact, they had indeed done so. That morning, Crick and Watson had worked out the structure of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). They had discovered its 'double helix' form, one which could replicate itself, confirming theories that it carried life's hereditary information. Matt Ridley's life of Crick begins with his birth in 1916 at the home of a shoe factory owner, his early explosive experiments at primary school and time developing torpedoes in the Navy. After his seismic DNA discovery, which won him the Nobel Prize before he'd even gained a PhD, the scientist's later work was rarely uncontroversial. From California, he proposed that life began when micro-organisms from another planet were dropped here by a spaceship sent to Earth, and maintained that the 'human soul' was entirely explicable in terms of brain activity. Matt Ridley's entertaining account traces the colourful and entirely original work behind one of mankind's greatest discoveries and displays the life of a scientist considered of the very first rank.

Surveying the last sixty years of research, this book describes the physical properties of DNA in the context of its biological functioning. It is designed to enable both students and researchers of molecular biology, biochemistry and physics to better understand the biophysics of DNA, addressing key questions and facilitating further research. The chapters integrate theoretical and experimental approaches, emphasising throughout the importance of a quantitative knowledge of physical properties in building and analysing models of DNA functioning. For example, the book shows how the relationship between DNA mechanical properties and the sequence specificity of DNA-protein binding can be analyzed quantitatively by using our current knowledge of the physical and structural properties of DNA. Theoretical models and experimental methods in the field are critically considered to enable the reader to engage effectively with the current scientific literature on the physical properties of DNA.

The story of the most significant biological breakthrough of the century - the discovery of the structure of DNA. 'It is a strange model and embodies several unusual features. However, since DNA is an unusual substance, we are not hesitant in being bold' By elucidating the structure of DNA, the molecule underlying all life, Francis Crick and James Watson revolutionised biochemistry. At the time, Watson was only 24. His uncompromisingly honest account of those heady days lifts the lid on the real world of great scientists, with their very human faults and foibles, their petty rivalries and driving ambition. Above all, he captures the extraordinary excitement of their desperate efforts to beat their rivals at King's College to the solution to one of the great enigmas of the life sciences.

For decades after the identification of the structure of DNA, scientists focused only on genes, the regions of the genome that contain codes for the production of proteins. Other regions that make up 98 percent of the human genome were dismissed as "junk," sequences that serve no purpose. But researchers have recently discovered variations and modulations in this junk DNA that are involved with a number of intractable diseases. Our increasing knowledge of junk DNA has led to innovative research and treatment approaches that may finally ameliorate some of these conditions. Junk DNA can play vital and unanticipated roles in the control of gene expression, from fine-tuning individual genes to switching off entire chromosomes. These functions have forced scientists to revisit the very meaning of the word "gene" and have engendered a spirited scientific battle over whether or not this genomic "nonsense" is the source of human biological complexity. Drawing on her experience with leading scientific investigators in Europe and North America, Nessa Carey provides a clear and compelling introduction to junk DNA and its critical involvement in phenomena as diverse as genetic diseases, viral infections, sex determination in mammals, and evolution. We are only now unlocking the secrets of junk DNA, and Nessa Carey's book is an essential resource for navigating the history and controversies of this fast-growing, hotly disputed field.