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.

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.

On September 11, 2001, 2,792 people were killed in terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City. The number of victims, the condition of their remains, and the duration of the recovery effort made the identification of the victims the most difficult ever undertaken by the forensic community in this country. In response to this need, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the research, development, and evaluation agency of the U.S. Department of Justice, brought together a group of experts to provide advice and support throughout the identification effort. Called the Kinship and Data Analysis Panel (KADAP), the group made recommendations on new forensic technologies, tools, policies, and procedures to help identify those who perished in the WTC attack. This book contains the KADAP's "lessons learned," particularly regarding DNA protocols, laboratory techniques, and statistical approaches, in the DNA identification of WTC victims. It is written primarily for the Nation's forensic laboratory directors and other officials who may be responsible for organising and managing the DNA identification response to a mass fatality incident. This book discusses the incorporation of DNA identification into a mass fatality disaster plan, including how to: Establish laboratory policies and procedures, including the creation of sample collection documents. Assess the magnitude of an identification effort, and identify and acquire resources to respond.

Transposons are segments of DNA that can relocate (transpose) to different positions within the genome of a single cell. In the years since their initial discovery in 1948 by Barbara McClintock, these mobile genetic elements have come to be widely recognised as ubiquitous components of genomes representing all major branches of life; furthermore, transposons have been developed into powerful tools for molecular biology, and, in particular, funcational genomes, in wide range of organisms. More recently, transposons have been developed into a technology platform for vertebrate genetics with application areas including gene therapy, transgenesis, somatic mutagenesis (cancer research), and germ line mutagenesis for gene discovery. This book presents new and important research from around the world in this field.

As a major defence against environmental damage to cells DNA repair is present in all organisms including bacteria, yeast, drosophila, fish, amphibians, rodents and humans. DNA repair is involved in processes that minimise cell killing, mutations, replication errors, persistence of DNA damage and genomic instability. Abnormalities in these processes have been implicated in cancer and ageing. This book presents leading-edge research from around the world in this frontal field.

How has DNA come to be seen as a cosmic truth, representative of all life, potential for all cures, repository for all identity, and end to all stories? In "The Poetics of DNA," Judith Roof examines the rise of this powerful symbol and the implications of its ascendancy for the ways we think-about ourselves, about one another, and about the universe.
Descriptions of DNA, Roof argues, have distorted ideas and transformed nucleic acid into the answer to all questions of life. This hyperbolized notion of DNA, inevitably confused or conflated with the "gene," has become a vector through which older ways of thinking can merge with the new, advancing long-discredited and insidious ideas about such things as eugenics and racial selection and influencing contemporary debates, particularly the popular press obsession with the "gay gene." Through metaphors of DNA, she contends, racist and homophobic ideology is masked as progressive science.
Grappling with twentieth-century intellectual movements as well as contemporary societal anxieties, "The Poetics of DNA" reveals how descriptions of DNA and genes typify a larger set of epistemological battles that play out not only through the assumptions associated with DNA but also through less evident methods of magical thinking, reductionism, and pseudoscience.
For the first time, Roof exposes the ideology and cultural consequences of DNA and gene metaphors to uncover how, ultimately, they are paradigms used to recreate prejudices.
Judith Roof is professor of English and film studies at Michigan State University. She is the author of several books, including "All about Thelma and Eve: Sidekicks and Third Wheels."

The advancement of DNA sequencing technologies has resulted in a movement away from the single gene, and towards a whole genome focus. Previously DNA sequencing was expensive, slow and tedious, but new technologies have been developed that facilitate the relatively cheap and rapid generation of raw sequence from whole bacterial genomes. The sequencing of the human genome was also accelerated in the final phases as a result of new sequencing methods. However, generating the raw sequence is just the start, and tools are required to convert it into useful biological knowledge. This book highlights the new advances in DNA sequencing, and summarises the process of genome and protein annotation. The book also describes the tools required to achieve this, and provides examples within the context of specific genomes.

DNA Fingerprinting is a method of identification that compares fragments of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). It is sometimes called DNA typing. DNA is the genetic material found within the cell nuclei of all living things. The techniques used in DNA fingerprinting also have applications in law and law enforcement, palaeontology, archaeology, various fields of biology, and medical diagnostics. In biological classification, it can help to show evolutionary change and relationships on the molecular level, and it has the advantage of being able to be used even when only very small samples are available. This new book details several applications of this break-through technique.

Microarray analysis is a highly efficient tool for assessing the expression of a large number of genes simultaneously, and offers a new means to classify cancer and other diseases. Gene expression profiling can also be used to predict clinical outcome and response to specific therapeutic agents. This survey spans recent applications of microarrays in clinical medicine, covering malignant disease including acute leukaemias, lymphoid malignancies and breast cancer, together with diabetes and heart disease. Investigators in oncology, pharmacology and related clinical sciences, as well as basic scientists, will value this review of a promising new diagnostic and prognostic technology.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a chemical found primarily in the nucleus of cells. DNA is a long, spiralling molecule that orchestrates the cell's daily operations and provides the genetic blueprint for the physical characteristics of all living organisms. It is the molecule that encodes genetic information in the nucleus of cells. It determines the structure, function and behaviour of the cell. DNA is made up of two complementary strands, the strands intertwine like a spiral staircase to form a structure called a double helix. Subunits, called bases, are the rungs of the staircase. The four nucleotides in DNA contain the bases: adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). This book presents leading-edge research in this dynamic field.

The most influential scientist of the last century, James Watson has been at dead center in the creation of modern molecular biology. This masterful biography brings to life the extraordinary achievements not only of Watson but also all those working on this cutting edge of scientific discovery, such as Walter Gilbert, Francis Crick, Francois Jacob, and David Baltimore. From the ruthless competition in the race to identify the structure of DNA to a near mutiny in the Harvard biology department, to clashes with ethicists over issues in genetics, Watson has left a wake of detractors as well as fans. Victor McElheny probes brilliantly behind the veil of Watson's own invented persona, bringing us close to the relentless genius and scientific impresario who triggered and sustained a revolution in science.

Written for biologists and medical researchers who don't have any special training in data analysis and statistics, Guide to Analysis of DNA Microarray Data, Second Edition begins where DNA array equipment leaves off: the image produced by the microarray. The text deals with the questions that arise starting at this point, providing an introduction to microarray technology, then moving on to image analysis, data analysis, cluster analysis, and beyond.
With all chapters rewritten, updated, and expanded to include the latest generation of technology and methods, Guide to Analysis of DNA Microarray Data, Second Edition offers practitioners reliable information using concrete examples and a clear, comprehensible style. This Second Edition features entirely new chapters on:
* Image analysis
* Experiment design
* Automated analysis, integrated analysis, and systems biology
* Interpretation of results
Intended for readers seeking practical applications, this text covers a broad spectrum of proven approaches in this rapidly growing technology. Additional features include further reading suggestions for each chapter, as well as a thorough review of available analysis software.

Rosalind Franklin's research was central to the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA. She never received the credit she was due during her lifetime.

With elegant simplicity, Maxim D. Frank-Kamenetskii elucidates the essential history and inner workings of DNA-a tiny molecule that holds within it the deepest mysteries of life. As Frank-Kamenetskii explains, DNA will undoubtedly shape our future, too, as we call upon it to convict criminals, clone creatures, and ultimately, cure cancer. This definitive guide to DNA, a previous version of which sold over 300,000 copies in the author's native Russia, promises to both inform and inspire.

James Watson, a discoverer of the structure of DNA, described it as "the most golden of molecules," the true chemical for life. Indeed, it is the essential component from which our genes are made. In it is encoded the genetic language that controls our destinies. Astonishingly powerful, just six millionths of a gram of DNA carries as much information as ten volumes of the Oxford English Dictionary.

The "Book of Man," is the term used by Walter Bodmer and Robin McKie for the DNA that is the instruction set according to which all humans are made. At conception, a single cell--the fertilized egg--is produced, and it is this one cell that has the potential to form a new and unique individual under the guidance of the DNA within its nucleus. The human body is made up of a hundred million million cells of many different sorts, and all contain the inherited information that comes from that first, single cell created at fertilization. Bodmer and McKie assert that when we learn how to read DNA's pages and chapters we will obtain the information relevant to the understanding of most diseases, individual differences in behavior, and a new awareness of our own history and evolution. The Book of Man explores how genetic information is now being read and interpreted by focusing on biology's most ambitious undertaking to date--the Human Genome Project, an attempt to uncover all the 100,000 genes that control our development and detail the DNA alphabet of each. The authors go on to wrestle with the moral and ethical issues of modern genetics, making a case for a rational appraisal of genetic engineering and for the public to become sufficiently "DNA literate" in order to appreciate the crucial role it plays in our lives.

From Gregor Mendel's discovery of the laws of inheritance to the high-tech, crime-stopping power of forensics science and the fascinating but sometimes troublesome implications of the latest science of genetic engineering, The Book of Man brilliantly explores and explains the quest that is changing our understanding of what it means to be a human being.

A Primer of Population Genetics and Genomics has been completely revised and updated to provide a concise but comprehensive introduction to the basic concepts of population genetics and genomics. Recent textbooks have tended to focus on such specialized topics as the coalescent, molecular evolution, human population genetics, or genomics. This primer bucks that trend by encouraging a broader familiarity with, and understanding of, population genetics and genomics as a whole. The overview ranges from mating systems through the causes of evolution, molecular population genetics, and the genomics of complex traits. Interwoven are discussions of ancient DNA, gene drive, landscape genetics, identifying risk factors for complex diseases, the genomics of adaptation and speciation, and other active areas of current research. The principles are illuminated by numerous examples from a wide variety of animals, plants, microbes, and human populations. The approach also emphasizes learning by doing, which in this case means solving numerical or conceptual problems. The rationale behind this is that the use of concepts in problem-solving lead to deeper understanding and longer knowledge retention. This accessible, introductory textbook is aimed principally at students of various levels and abilities (from senior undergraduate to postgraduate) as well as practising scientists in the fields of population genetics, ecology, evolutionary biology, computational biology, bioinformatics, biostatistics, physics, and mathematics.

Exome and genome sequencing are revolutionizing medical research and diagnostics, but the computational analysis of the data has become an extremely heterogeneous and often challenging area of bioinformatics. Computational Exome and Genome Analysis provides a practical introduction to all of the major areas in the field, enabling readers to develop a comprehensive understanding of the sequencing process and the entire computational analysis pipeline.

The State of the Art in Transcriptome Analysis RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data offers unprecedented information about the transcriptome, but harnessing this information with bioinformatics tools is typically a bottleneck. RNA-seq Data Analysis: A Practical Approach enables researchers to examine differential expression at gene, exon, and transcript levels and to discover novel genes, transcripts, and whole transcriptomes. Balanced Coverage of Theory and Practice.Each chapter starts with theoretical background, followed by descriptions of relevant analysis tools and practical examples. Accessible to both bioinformaticians and nonprogramming wet lab scientists, the examples illustrate the use of command-line tools, R, and other open source tools, such as the graphical Chipster software. The Tools and Methods to Get Started in Your Lab. Taking readers through the whole data analysis workflow, this self-contained guide provides a detailed overview of the main RNA-seq data analysis methods and explains how to use them in practice. It is suitable for researchers from a wide variety of backgrounds, including biology, medicine, genetics, and computer science. The book can also be used in a graduate or advanced undergraduate course.

Studying human migratory patterns can help us make sense of evolution, biology, linguistics, and so much more. Human Migration takes readers through population development and their respective origins to create a comprehensive picture of human migratory patterns. This book explores human migration as a major contributor to globalization that facilitates gene flow and the exchange of cultures and languages. It also traces evolutionary success of a hybrid population, the Black Caribs, after their forced relocation from St. Vincent Island to the Bay Islands and Central America. The volume is split into four sections: Theoretical Overview; Ancient DNA and Migration; Regional Migration; Culture and Migration: and Disease and Migration. This division allows for a seamless transition between a broad range of topics, including molecular genetics, linguistics, cultural anthropology, history, archaeology, demography, and genetic epidemiology. Assembled by volume editors and migration specialists Maria de Lourdes Munoz-Moreno and Michael H. Crawford, Human Migration creates an opportunity for researchers, professionals, and students from different fields to review and discuss the most recent trends and challenges surrounding migration, genetics, and anthropology.

Phylogenomics is a rapidly growing field of study concerned with using genome-wide data-usually in the form of DNA sequence loci-to infer the evolution of genes, genomes, and the Tree of Life. Accordingly, this discipline connects many areas in biology including molecular and genomic evolution, systems biology, molecular systematics, phylogeography, conservation genetics, DNA barcoding, and others. With the advent of Next Generation Sequencing in addition to advances in computer hardware and software over the past decade, researchers can now generate unparalleled phylogenomic datasets that are helping to illuminate many areas in the life sciences. This book is an introduction to the principles and practices of gathering these data. Phylogenomic Data Acquisition: Principles and Practice is intended for a broad cross-section of biologists and anyone else interested in learning how to obtain phylogenomic data using the latest methods.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Describing Biomolecular Structure Computational and Visualization Techniques for Structural Bioinformatics Using Chimera shows how to perform computations with Python scripts in the Chimera environment. It focuses on the three core areas needed to study structural bioinformatics: biochemistry, mathematics, and computation. Understand Important Concepts of Structural Bioinformatics The book covers topics that deal primarily with protein structure and includes many exercises that are grounded in biological problems at the molecular level. The text encourages mathematical analysis by providing a firm foundation for computations. It analyzes numerous Python scripts for the Chimera environment, with the scripts and other material available on a supplementary website. Build Python Scripts to Extend the Capabilities of Chimera Through more than 60 exercises that involve the development of Python scripts, the book gives you concrete guidance on using the scripting capabilities of Chimera. You'll gain experience in solving real problems as well as understand the various applications of linear algebra. You can also use the scripts as starting points for the development of similar applications and use classes from the StructBio toolkit for computations, such as structure overlap, data plotting, scenographics, and display of residue networks. Print Versions of this book also include access to the ebook version.

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.

Molecular biologist Elizabeth Blackburn--one of Time magazine's 100 "Most Influential People in the World" in 2007--made headlines in 2004 when she was dismissed from the President's Council on Bioethics after objecting to the council's call for a moratorium on stem cell research and protesting the suppression of relevant scientific evidence in its final report. But it is Blackburn's groundbreaking work on telomeric DNA, which launched the field of telomere research, that will have the more profound and long-lasting effect on science and society. In this compelling biography, Catherine Brady tells the story of Elizabeth Blackburn's life and work and the emergence of a new field of scientific research on the specialized ends of chromosomes and the enzyme, telomerase, that extends them. In the early stages of telomere research, telomerase, heralded as a potential cure for cancer and diseases related to aging, attracted the voracious interest of biotech companies. The surrounding hype succeeded in confusing the role of telemorase in extending the life of a cell with a mechanism that might extend the lifespan of an entire organism. In Brady's hands, Blackburn's story reveals much about the tension between pure and applied science, the politicking that makes research science such a competitive field, and the resourceful opportunism that characterizes the best scientific thinking. Brady describes the science accessibly and compellingly. She explores Blackburn's struggle to break down barriers in an elite, male-dominated profession, her role as a mentor to other women scientists (many of whom have made their mark in telomere research), and the collaborative nature of scientific work. This book gives us a vivid portrait of an exceptional woman and a new understanding of the combination of curiosity, imaginative speculation, and aesthetic delight that powers scientific discovery.Catherine Brady is Assistant Professor in the MFA in Writing Program at the University of San Francisco. She is the author of two collections of short stories, The End of the Class War and Curled in the Bed of Love (a winner of the 2002 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction).