Legumes in the Omic Era provides a timely review of recent advances in legume genomics research and application. In this post-genomic era enormous amount of biological information is available which could be of huge potential use for crop improvement applications. This aspect of genomics assisted plant breeding is focused throughout the book for all the important grain legume crops. Role of functional genomics and importance of bioinformatics tools in present day genomics and molecular breeding research is also discussed in detail. Use of molecular tools for nutritional fortification of grain legume is briefly presented. A chapter also been contributed on fungal disease resistance to elucidate potential application of genomic tools in molecular breeding of grain legume species. The book contains fifteen chapters contributed by 50 scientists from different countries who are actively involved in analyzing and improving particular legume genome. This book will serve as reference resource to legumes researchers for use of genome information in improvement of major legume crops.

Dr Sanjeev Gupta is Principal Scientist/Project Coordinator-All India Coordinated Research Project on "Vigna" Crops at Indian Institute of Pulses Research (IIPR), Kanpur. He has more than two decades of research experience in grain legume breeding and developed a number of high yielding cultivars in grain legumes. He is authored numerous research papers published in peer-reviewed journals and edited several books in plant breeding aspects. He was the Organizing Secretary of the International Grain Legume Conference, 2009 held in the Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, India. He has travelled across the continents to present his research several times. He is recipient of several awards for his research and literary contributions Dr. Nagasamy Nadarajan is the Director of the Indian Institute of Pulses Research (IIPR), Kanpur. He has more than three decades of teaching and research experience and developed more than fifteen legume and cereal cultivars. He has to his credits more than 200 peer-reviewed research publications. He has guided several graduate students for Masters and Doctoral degrees in food legume breeding and genetics research. He has authored a book in biometrics which is one of the most popular books among the agriculture graduate students in India. He is the recipient of three international and six national awards and honours for his outstanding contributions Mr. Debjyoti Sen Gupta is the ICAR International Fellow and Ph.D. candidate at North Dakota State University (NDSU), Fargo, USA. Recently, he visited Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, USA for high throughput genotyping work. Before joining at NDSU he was serving as the Scientist in the Indian Institute of Pulses Research (IIPR). He has authored several research articles, review articles and book chapters in the peer-reviewed journals and books from reputed publishers like Springer, CABI etc. He is recipient of several fellowships like CSIR-JRF, New Delhi; ICAR-JRF, New Delhi throughout his graduate study programs. "

Through the use of dramatic narratives, The Drama of DNA brings to life the complexities raised by the application of genomic technologies to health care and diagnosis. This creative, pedagogical approach shines a unique light on the ethical, psychosocial, and policy challenges that emerge as comprehensive sequencing of the human genome transitions from research to clinical medicine. Narrative genomics aims to enhance understanding of how we evaluate, process, and share genomic information, and to cultivate a deeper appreciation for difficult decisions encountered by health care professionals, bioethicists, families, and society as this technology reaches the bedside.
This innovative book includes both original genomic plays and theatrical excerpts that illuminate the implications of genomic information and emerging technologies for physicians, scientists, counselors, patients, blood relatives, and society. In addition to the plays, the authors provide an analytical foundation to frame the many challenges that often arise.

The objective of the book is to introduce the basic principle and techniques used to make Recombinant DNA. The book commences with an introduction to different tools used for Gene cloning. The final chapters cover the application of Recombinant Technology on current research and provide an inside look on Human Genome Project, Ribozyme Technology, Antisense technology, DNA sequencing, Protein Engineering, Transgenic technology and development of vaccines. It features summary of chapter in the form of flow charts, highlighting the key points. The book also includes an appendix which provides in depth descriptions of protocols which cover the basic aspects of Molecular biology and glossary defining nearly all the possible terms mentioned in the book. The purpose of this book is to provide an insight on theoretical aspects of Recombinant DNA manipulation with special emphasis on different procedures to create chimeric molecules using examples from actual experimental works. The book has been designed for under-graduates, post-graduates and technicians who wish to know and use the principles and techniques of Recombinant DNA Technology.

Scientoonics is a new discipline in science that disseminate scientific knoweldge through the medium of comics and cartoons (called scientoons). These are essentially cartoons based on scientific concepts, discoveries, results, and their applications. This book takes an entirely novel approach in communicating scientific facts. It will not only help the layman to acquaint himself with the scientific jargon but also allow him to understand how we can make use of such facts in our day-to-day life. Recent advances in scientific research, in fact, demand pro-active efforts from the scientists to ensure that complex ideas reach to the public effectively. Through scientoons this book aims to depict present concerns brought forward by the recent explosion of knowledge, especially in areas such as DNA, DNA fingerprinting, the human genome, conservation of wildlife, etc. The authors have taken the opportunity to provide information that will not only entertain the readers but also enrich their knowledge about the scientific advances taking place around the world. Each scientoon is therefore associated with a text that narrates the formal aspects of the science or its applications. This book is an endeavor to reduce the gap between the excitement of the advances in modern scientific world and the curious readers who want to know more about science.

Published continuously since 1944, the Advances in Protein Chemistry and Structural Biology serial has been a continuous, essential resource for protein chemists. Covering reviews of methodology and research in all aspects of protein chemistry, including purification/expression, proteomics, modeling and structural determination and design, each volume brings forth new information about protocols and analysis of proteins while presenting the most recent findings from leading experts in a broad range of protein-related topics. This volume features articles on Challenges and Opportunities of Next-Generation Sequencing for Biomedical Research.
Covers reviews of methodology and research in all aspects of protein chemistry.
Brings forth new information about protocols and analysis of proteins while presenting the most recent findings from leading experts in a broad range of protein-related topics.

Sequencing is often associated with the Human Genome Project and celebrated achievements concerning the DNA molecule. However, the history of this practice comprises not only academic biology, but also the world of computer-assisted information management. The book uncovers this history, qualifying the hype and expectations around genomics.

"Recombinant DNA Techniques: A Textbook" has all the techniques used in the Genetic Engineering like the PCR, Microarray, transfection techniques, Blotting techniques, DNA sequencing, site directed Mutagenesis and protein engineering. It also includes various aspects of the gene therapy. It also have the good description of the mapping techniques along with the various molecular markers used in the mapping of the genomes like RFLP, RAPD, AFLP etc. DNA chip technology is the most important techniques used for the study of the gene expression and it is the only technique that can analyze the multiple genes at a time. This techniques is very well explained in the book. DNA sequencing by Sanger's Method and maxam and Gilbert's method is also explained by the help of good diagrams. These are the important topics covered in this book.

In this book, the authors present current research in the study of DNA binding and extraction methods, applications, and limitations. Topics discussed in this compilation include DNA binding to cationic polymers and its implications on gene therapy; metal based anticancer drug-DNA binding; non-covalent DNA-AuNP's interactions; prospects of nanoparticle DNA binding; extraction and purification of DNA from USAB reactor sludge samples; isolation of genomic DNA from microbes and microbial communities; dengue virus RNA extraction challenges and isolating bacterial and viral nucleic acids from clinical samples for diagnostic testing.

Understanding mechanisms of gene regulation that are independent of the DNA sequence itself - epigenetics - has the potential to overthrow long-held views on central topics in biology, such as the biology of disease or the evolution of species. High throughput technologies reveal epigenetic mechanisms at a genome-wide level, giving rise to epigenomics as a new discipline with a distinct set of research questions and methods. Leading experts from academia, the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries explain the role of epigenomics in a wide range of contexts, covering basic chromatin biology, imprinting at a genome-wide level, and epigenomics in disease biology and epidemiology. Details on assays and sequencing technology serve as an up-to-date overview of the available technological tool kit. A reliable guide for newcomers to the field as well as experienced scientists, this is a unique resource for anyone interested in applying the power of twenty-first-century genomics to epigenetic studies.

This volume presents an overview of recent developments in systems biology and their applications in cancer-related research. The ongoing advances in our understanding of genomics and proteomics, coupled with the development of new and more robust tools, have led to an emphasis on analyzing biological systems at multiple levels. Thus, there is a need to integrate different types of data into a comprehensive "systems" view.

Written by active researchers in the emerging areas, this book gives senior undergraduate students, graduate students and new researchers an idea of where the frontiers of systems biology are and an opportunity to learn high-throughput techniques in use. One of the particular emphases of the book is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms in cancer. The discovery of biomarkers and anti-cancer drugs using systems biology approach is also extensively discussed.

With the arrival of genomics and genome sequencing projects, biology has been transformed into an incredibly data-rich science. The vast amount of information generated has made computational analysis critical and has increased demand for skilled bioinformaticians. Designed for biologists without previous programming experience, this textbook provides a hands-on introduction to Unix, Perl and other tools used in sequence bioinformatics. Relevant biological topics are used throughout the book and are combined with practical bioinformatics examples, leading students through the process from biological problem to computational solution. All of the Perl scripts, sequence and database files used in the book are available for download at the accompanying website, allowing the reader to easily follow each example using their own computer. Programming examples are kept at an introductory level, avoiding complex mathematics that students often find daunting. The book demonstrates that even simple programs can provide powerful solutions to many complex bioinformatics problems.

In somatic cells, DNA is normally wrapped around the histones octamer to forms nucleosomes that eventually give rise to a solenoid DNA structure. Unlike somatic cells, in mammalian sperm, the development of spermatids into mature spermatozoa is accomplished by a series of structural and chemical modifications including a gradual replacement of lysine-rich histones by transition proteins and then by protamines which bind more tightly to DNA than histones, which results in compaction of chromatin in the sperm nucleus, a process which is termed 'sperm chromatin condensation'. This book examines the several techniques that have been devised in order to study chromatin and DNA defects in human spermatozoa.

This unique introduction to the growing field of microfluidics applied to genomics provides an overview of the latest technologies and emphasizes its potential in answering important biological questions. Written by a physicist and a biologist, it offers a more comprehensive view than the previous literature. The book starts with key ideas in molecular biology, developmental biology and microtechnology before going on to cover the specifics of single cell analysis and microfluidic devices for single cell molecular analysis. Review chapters discuss the state-of-the art and will prove invaluable to all those planning to develop microdevices for molecular analysis of single cells. Methods allowing complete analysis of gene expression in the single cell are stressed - as opposed the more commonly used techniques that allow analysis of only a few genes at a time. As pioneers in the field, the authors understand how critical it is for a physicist to understand the biological issues and questions related to single cell analysis, as well for biologists to understand what microfluidics is all about. Aimed predominantly at graduate students, this book will also be of significant interest to scientists working in or affiliated with this field.

Probablistic models are becoming increasingly important in analyzing the huge amount of data being produced by large-scale DNA-sequencing efforts such as the Human Genome Project. For example, hidden Markov models are used for analyzing biological sequences, linguistic-grammar-based probabilistic models for identifying RNA secondary structure, and probabilistic evolutionary models for inferring phylogenies of sequences from different organisms. This book gives a unified, up-to-date and self-contained account, with a Bayesian slant, of such methods, and more generally to probabilistic methods of sequence analysis. Written by an interdisciplinary team of authors, it is accessible to molecular biologists, computer scientists, and mathematicians with no formal knowledge of the other fields, and at the same time presents the state of the art in this new and important field.

MicroRNAs are involved in crucial biological processes, including developmental timing, cell proliferation, apoptosis, and stress responses. This book presents topical research in the study of microRNAs, including their potential applications in aquaporin associated pathogenesis; microRNAs as novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets for cancer; microRNAs used in regulating EMT and blood circulation metastasis of lung cancer stem cells; the biological functions of microRNAs in animals and the regulation of metabolism, ageing and lifespan by microRNAs.

This book presents and discusses topical research in the study of DNA, genetics and cell biology. Topics discussed include DNA damage related to exposure to oil spills; mutation detection in TP53 gene; DNA and protein sequence analysis; the role of effectors on hypoxia due to nitric oxide production in human alveolar epithelial cells and plasma cell dyscrasias.

Recent insight into the transcripts generated from the mammalian genome (i.e. the transcriptome) has revealed that transcription is a far more complex phenomenon than previously thought. In RNA: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers provide the procedures and methods used to describe the structure of messenger RNAs and non-coding RNAs that are transcribed by RNA polymerase II as the immediate gene products in mammalian cells. Focused on the structure of the RNA products of "gene X" and the mapping of proteins associated with these RNAs, the volume presents appropriate information for non-specialists in RNA biology. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series format, many chapters contain introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and key tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Comprehensive and practical, RNA: Methods and Protocols views the transcriptional landscape with an appreciation for the role that proteins play in the processing and interpretation of genetic information in an attempt to further our crucial knowledge of the many products and sophisticated regulatory networks that result from it.

Mapping the genomic landscapes is one of the most exciting frontiers of science. We have the opportunity to reverse engineer the blueprints and the control systems of living organisms. Computational tools are key enablers in the deciphering process. This book provides an in-depth presentation of some of the important computational biology approaches to genomic sequence analysis. The first section of the book discusses methods for discovering patterns in DNA and RNA. This is followed by the second section that reflects on methods in various ways, including performance, usage and paradigms.

This concise, self-contained, and cohesive book focuses on commonly used and recently developed methods for designing and analyzing high-throughput screening (HTS) experiments from a statistically sound basis. Combining ideas from biology, computing, and statistics, the author explains experimental designs and analytic methods that are amenable to rigorous analysis and interpretation of RNAi HTS experiments. The opening chapters are carefully presented to be accessible both to biologists with training only in basic statistics and to computational scientists and statisticians with basic biological knowledge. Biologists will see how new experiment designs and rudimentary data-handling strategies for RNAi HTS experiments can improve their results, whereas analysts will learn how to apply recently developed statistical methods to interpret HTS experiments.

Bacteria are a large group of unicellular micro-organisms. Most bacteria have a single circular chromosome that can range in size. DNA is organised into chromosomes and, in organisms other than bacteria, it is found only in the cell nucleus. Deoxyribonucleic acid(DNA)is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. Their main role is the long-term storage of information. DNA is often compared to a set of blueprints or a code, since it contains the instructions needed to construct other components of cells. This book presents current research on bacterial DNA, DNA polymerase and DNA helicases.

This volume contains 18 peer-reviewed papers based on the presentations at the 10th Annual International Workshop on Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (IBSB 2010) held at Kyoto University from July 26 to July 28, 2010. This workshop started in 2001 as an event for doctoral students and young researchers to present and discuss their research results and approaches in bioinformatics and systems biology. It is part of a collaborative educational program involving leading institutions and leaders committed to the following programs:

* Boston Graduate Program in Bioinformatics, Boston University

* Berlin The International Research Training Group (IRTG) "Genomics and Systems Biology of Molecular Networks"

* Kyoto The JSPS International Training Program (ITP) "International Research and Training Program of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology"

* Tokyo Global COE Program "Center of Education and Research for Advanced Genome-Based Medicine"

New methods used for the detection of DNA hybridisation process, including electrochemical, optical scattering, surface plasmon resonance, nanogravimetric, and fluorimetric are described and their application in assays assessing DNA damage is discussed in this book. The analyses of damage and alterations for the DNA in solution as well as for the DNA immobilised on core-shell gold nanoparticles and solid electrodes are presented. These methods enable evaluating the degree of DNA damage caused by toxicants and can be applied to studies of the interactions of atrazine and other herbicides and pesticides with DNA.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. DNA sequencing is a common and requisite practice for molecular biologists today working in all areas of biology, including microbiology. This book aims to provide clues for DNA sequencing projects directed to unsequenced organisms in which many transcripts wait to be discovered, either coding small RNAs or genes homologue to known genes coding for protein products. This book also looks at the adoption of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to generate DNA profiles from minute biological samples, and the use of mitochondrial DNA to obtain information from old bones and the applications of Y chromosomal polymorphisms in sexual assault cases. Present research focuses on genetic markers for external visible traits and on improving the utility of poor quality samples with degraded DNA. The other direction of forensic DNA research addresses the difficulty of obtaining a DNA profile in a degraded crime stain. The third topic covered in this book is DNA chips- a microchip that holds DNA probes that form half of the DNA double helix. This book examines the development of DNA chips, as the prototype for global technology genetics.

This volume contains papers presented at the 20th International Conference on Genome Informatics (GIW 2009) held at the Pacifico Yokohama, Japan from December 14 to 16, 2009. The GIW Series provides an international forum for the presentation and discussion of original research papers on all aspects of bioinformatics, computational biology and systems biology. Its scope includes biological sequence analysis, protein structure prediction, genetic regulatory networks, bioinformatic algorithms, comparative genomics, and biomolecular data integration and analysis. Boasting a history of 20 years, GIW is the longest-running international bioinformatics conference.A total of 18 contributed papers were selected for presentation at GIW 2009 and for inclusion in this book. In addition, this book contains abstracts from the five invited speakers: Sean Eddy (HHMI's Janelia Farm, USA), Minoru Kanehisa (Kyoto University, Japan), Sang Yup Lee (KAIST, Korea), Hideyuki Okano (Keio University, Japan) and Mark Ragan (University of Queensland, Australia).

A comprehensive, authoritative look at an emergent area in post-genomic science, Evolutionary genomics is an up-and-coming, complex field that attempts to explain the biocomplexity of the living world. "Evolutionary Genomics and Systems Biology" is the first full-length book to blend established and emerging concepts in bioinformatics, evolution, genomics, and structural biology, with the integrative views of network and systems biology.

Three key aspects of evolutionary genomics and systems biology are covered in clear detail: the study of genomic history, i.e., understanding organismal evolution at the genomic level; the study of macromolecular complements, which encompasses the evolution of the protein and RNA machinery that propels life; and the evolutionary and dynamic study of wiring diagrams--macromolecular components in interaction--in the context of genomic complements. The book also features: A solid, comprehensive treatment of phylogenomics, the evolution of genomes, and the evolution of biological networks, within the framework of systems biologyA special section on RNA biology--translation, evolution of structure, and micro RNA and regulation of gene expressionChapters on the mapping of genotypes to phenotypes, the role of information in biology, protein architecture and biological function, chromosomal rearrangements, and biological networks and diseaseContributions by leading authorities on each topic

"Evolutionary Genomics and Systems Biology" is an ideal book for students and professionals in genomics, bioinformatics, evolution, structural biology, complexity, origins of life, systematic biology, and organismal diversity, as well as those individuals interested in aspects of biological sciences as they interface with chemistry, physics, and computer science and engineering.