This book illustrates the importance and significance of regenerative medicine in stroke recovery. It discusses stem-cell-based treatment strategies and offers mechanistic insights into their role in neurological recovery. It also examines the challenges and advances in using adult stem cells for enhanced therapeutic efficacy. Further, it presents the strategies as well as the strengths and weaknesses of various delivery methods to administer stem cells in ischemic stroke. It examines the role of non-coding RNA in our understanding the stroke pathogenesis, their regulatory role in ischemic stroke and potential as biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Lastly, it explores exosomes in the treatment of stroke, and the underlying mechanism of their action as therapeutic vectors for stroke. Given its scope, it is an excellent resource for neurologists, neuroscientists and researchers involved in regenerative therapy for stroke.

This second edition provides new and updated chapters detailing methods tackling all aspects of small non-coding RNAs biology. Chapters guide readers through customized dedicated protocols and technologies that will be of valuable help decipher the numerous functions of small non-coding RNAs. Written in the highly successful Methods of Molecular Biology series format, chapters include 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. Instructive and practical, Small Non-Coding RNAs: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition aims to be a valuable help and of great interest to a large number of researchers working in the field of RNA or willing to develop RNA studies.

This comprehensive volume discusses in vitro laboratory development of insulin-producing cells. It encompasses multiple aspects of islet biology-from embryonic development and stem cell differentiation to clinical studies in islet transplantation, regulation of islet beta-cell regeneration, pancreatic progenitors, mathematical modelling of islet development, epigenetic regulation, and much more. The chapter authors represent leading laboratories from around the world who contribute their international perspectives and global expertise. Collectively, they provide the reader with a concise yet detailed knowledge of processes and current developments in islet regenerative biology. Pancreatic Islet Biology, part of the Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine series, is essential reading for researchers and clinicians in stem cells or endocrinology, especially those focusing on diabetes.

Now in its second edition, this book provides a state of the art overview on basic concepts of epigenetic epidemiology and a comprehensive review of the rapidly evolving field of human epigenetics. Epigenetics plays an important role in shaping who we are and contributes to our prospects of health and disease. Unlike our genetic inheritance, our epigenome is malleable throughout the lifecourse and is shaped by our environmental experiences. Population-based epidemiologic studies increasingly incorporate epigenetic components. These so called epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) contribute substantially to our understanding of the relevance of epigenetic marks, such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNAs for disease causation. Written by leading experts in the field, the book opens with a comprehensive introduction of the principles of epigenetic epidemiology and discusses challenges in study design, analysis, and interpretation. It summarizes the latest advances in epigenetic laboratory techniques, the influence of age and environmental factors on shaping the epigenome, the epigenetic clock, and the role of epigenetics in the developmental origins hypothesis. The final part focuses on epigenetic epidemiology of various health conditions such as imprinting disorders, cancer, infectious diseases, inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, metabolic disorder and vascular disease, as well as neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. Given its scope, Epigenetic Epidemiology is an indispensable resource for researchers working in the field of human epigenetics.

This book is the first comprehensive compilation of deliberations on botany, medicinal importance, genetic diversity, classical genetics and breeding, in vitro biosynthesis, somatic embryogenesis, genetic transformation, molecular mapping, genome sequence, and functional genomics of Catharanthus roseus. Catharanthus is the most important medicinal plant in the world that contains about 130 therapeutic alkaloids out of which vinblastine and vincristine are the two highly used anticancer drugs sold by the pharmaceutically industries. Altogether, the book contains about 10 chapters authored by globally reputed experts on the relevant field of this plant. This book is useful to the students, teachers and scientists in the academia and relevant private companies interested in horticulture, genetics, breeding, pathology, entomology, physiology, molecular genetics and breeding, in vitro culture and genetic engineering, and structural and functional genomics. This book is also useful to pharmaceutical industries.

Agricultural Nanobiotechnology: Biogenic Nanoparticles, Nanofertilizers and Nanoscale Biocontrol Agents presents the most up-to-date advances in nanotechnology to improve the agriculture and food industry with novel nanotools for the controlling of rapid disease diagnostic and enhancement of the capacity of plants to absorb nutrients and resist environmental challenges. Highlighting the emerging nanofertilizers, nanopesticides and nanoherbicides that are being widely explored in order to overcome the limitations of conventional agricultural supplements, the book provides important insights to enable smart, knowledge-driven selection of nanoscale agricultural biomaterials, coupled with suitable delivery approaches and formulations will lead to promising agricultural innovation using nanotechnology. Agricultural Nanobiotechnology: Biogenic Nanoparticles, Nanofertilizers and Nanoscale Biocontrol Agents explores emerging innovations in nanobiotechnology for agriculture, food, and natural resources to address the challenges of food security, sustainability, susceptibility, human health, and healthy life. The book is ideal for the multidisciplinary scientists whose goal is to see the use of nanomaterials in agriculture to reduce the amount of spread chemicals, minimize nutrient losses in fertilization and to generate increased yield through pest and nutrient management.

Behavioral genetics is a fast-growing, multidisciplinary field which attempts to explain the influence of genetic and environmental factors on behavior through the lifespan. The preferred investigative technique for teasing out the differences between genetics and the environment is the longitudinal twin study. This book is the first complete publication from the MacArthur Longitudinal Twin Study (MALTS) that is by far the most ambitious and comprehensive logitudinal twin study to date. The goal of such an in-depth study was merely not to provide thorough descriptions of developmental change between the ages of one and three years, but to offer an original theoretical framework that explains how change occurs in different domains and how genetics and the environment influence those changes. In fact, this rigorous study will set the agenda for developmental psychology and behavioral genetics for decades to come.

Does Aging Stop? reveals the most paradoxical finding of recent aging research: the cessation of demographic aging. The authors show that aging stops at the level of the individual organism, and explain why evolution allows this. The implications of this counter-intuitive conclusion are profound, and aging research now needs to accept three uncomfortable truths. First, aging is not a cumulative physiological process. Second, the fundamental theory that is required to explain, manipulate, and probe the phenomena of aging comes from evolutionary biology. Third, strong-inference experimental strategies for aging must be founded in evolutionary research, not cell or molecular biology.
The result of fifteen years of research bringing together new applications of evolutionary theory, new models for demography, and massive experimentation, Does Aging Stop? advances an entirely new foundation for the scientific study of aging.

It is now 10 years since the first edition of YAC Protocols was published in 1996. YAC Protocols was first produced to address the huge demand within the research community for a lab-based text that described in detail the wide range of uses for large insert yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) DNA clones. In doing this, the original editor, David Markie, and the many different contri- tors who provided descriptions of the protocols they used and developed, did a magnificent job. Indeed many of the techniques described within the first e- tion require little change and have stood up admirably to the test of time. Since the first edition, the use of YACs has proved invaluable for addressing a wide range of new biological problems ranging from those of basic biochemistry to assisting in the mapping and sequencing of the human genome. The requirement for a second edition of YAC Protocols was prompted by a number of major advances in biology since the publication of the first edition. These advances have included the sequencing of the human genome, and the genomes of a wide variety of other organisms, and the increased use of transgenic animals for understanding the molecular basis of human and animal disease.

This book presents applications of bioinformatics tools that experimental research scientists use in "daily practice." Its interdisciplinary approach combines computational and experimental methods to solve scientific problems. The book begins with reviews of computational methods for protein sequence-structure-function analysis, followed by methods that use experimental data obtained in the laboratory to improve functional predictions.

This updated edition emphasizes the benefits of structural genomics to the wider structural research community with a diverse range of applicable methods. The book opens with an extensive section on protein production, including new methodologies for membrane and metal-binding proteins, as well as high-throughput protein production and screening. It continues with sections on structural analyses and data management, as well as modeling, simulation, and visualization. Overall, the spectrum of topics reflects the trend towards tackling more diverse challenges of studying macromolecular machineries and complexes. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include the type of detail and key implementation advice to ensure successful results. Authoritative and up-to-date, Structural Genomics: General Applications, Second Edition serves as a vital guide to structural biologists in small to medium-sized laboratories seeking to better utilize this powerful area of study. Chapter 11 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com. For further details see license information in the chapter.

Sexual reproduction is a fundamental aspect of life. It is defined by the occurrence of meiosis and the fusion of two gametes of different sexes or mating types. Sex-determination mechanisms are responsible for the sexual fate and development of sexual characteristics in an organism, be it a unicellular alga, a plant, or an animal. In many cases, sex determination is genetic: males and females have different alleles or different genes that specify their sexual morphology. In animals, this is often accompanied by chromosomal differences. In other cases, sex may be determined by environmental (e.g. temperature) or social variables (e.g. the size of an organism relative to other members of its population). Surprisingly, sex-determination mechanisms are not evolutionarily conserved but are bewilderingly diverse and appear to have had rapid turnover rates during evolution. Evolutionary biologists continue to seek a solution to this conundrum. What drives the surprising dynamics of such a fundamental process that always leads to the same outcome: two sex types, male and female? The answer is complex but the ongoing genomic revolution has already greatly increased our knowledge of sex-determination systems and sex chromosomes in recent years. This novel book presents and synthesizes our current understanding, and clearly shows that sex-determination evolution will remain a dynamic field of future research. The Evolution of Sex Determination is an advanced, research level text suitable for graduate students and researchers in genetics, developmental biology, and evolution.

This book reviews how the release of the citrus genome facilitates the investigation of ancestral species, the study of their complex biological features, and the genetic basis of agronomic traits of paramount importance for their sustainable cultivation. The first chapters discuss citrus origin and distribution, and the economic importance and varietal composition of the cultivated species, providing an overview of citrus and related genera genetic resources. The book then describes the role of traditional breeding techniques (for scion and rootstocks) as well as the potential of genomic breeding and innovative protocols for biotechnological approaches. The second part provides essential information on the genus Citrus, the attributes of pure citrus species, genetic admixtures, hybrids and citrus relatives, and on the horticultural classification of cultivated species, varieties and rootstocks. The third part then focuses on the different molecular mechanisms, covering various aspects of citrus biology, including the role of beneficial compounds of citrus fruits. In addition, it examines the molecular responses of citrus to abiotic stresses and to field and post-harvest diseases. Providing insights gained in recent years, it is a valuable guide for those who are interested in gene discovery, comparative genomics, molecular breeding and new breeding techniques. It is particularly useful for scientists, breeders and students at universities and public sector institutes involved in research for the citrus industry.

Recent advances in genome analysis and transformation have made rice a model monocot for molecular biologists. This volume covers four areas of rice molecular biology in which exciting progress has been made recently: genome analysis and gene isolation, development, regulation of gene expression, and transformation and rice improvement. It will be of great interest to researchers who work in traditional agricultural sciences using rice, as well as to those who have an interest in using rice as an experimental model for basic research. The book gives an overall view on what has already been done, as well as what will be possible in rice. It presents chapters on development and gene regulation - exciting new research area in the future, and explores potentials in rice improvement using various molecular biological methods.

Chronic diseases have rapidly become the leading global cause of morbidity and mortality, yet there is poor understanding of this transition, or why particular social and ethnic groups are especially susceptible. In this book, Wells adopts a multidisciplinary approach to human nutrition, emphasising how power relations shape the physiological pathways to obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Part I reviews the physiological basis of chronic diseases, presenting a 'capacity-load' model that integrates the nutritional contributions of developmental experience and adult lifestyle. Part II presents an evolutionary perspective on the sensitivity of human metabolism to ecological stresses, highlighting how social hierarchy impacts metabolism on an intergenerational timescale. Part III reviews how nutrition has changed over time, as societies evolved and coalesced towards a single global economic system. Part IV integrates these physiological, evolutionary and politico-economic perspectives in a unifying framework, to deepen our understanding of the societal basis of metabolic ill-health.

Chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq), which maps the genome-wide localization patterns of transcription factors and epigenetic marks, is among the most widely used methods in molecular biology. Practical Guide to ChIP-seq Data Analysis will guide readers through the steps of ChIP-seq analysis: from quality control, through peak calling, to downstream analyses. It will help experimental biologists to design their ChIP-seq experiments with the analysis in mind, and to perform the basic analysis steps themselves. It also aims to support bioinformaticians to understand how the data is generated, what the sources of biases are, and which methods are appropriate for different analyses.

Nature has long used nucleic acid aptamers and enzymes for regulatory activities, such as the recently discovered riboswitches involved in gene expression. The existence of a large array of natural and artificial functional nucleic acids has generated tremendous enthusiasm and new opportunities for molecular scientists from diverse disciplines to devise new concepts and real applications that take advantage of those nucleic acids for sensing and other analytical applications. This book provides a timely and comprehensive overview of recent advances in the field, from leading experts in biology, chemistry, and engineering. A variety of topics are covered, from fundamentals of functional nucleic acids, to their applications as sensors, to nanotechnologies; as well as integration of functional nucleic acids into practical analytical systems.

Currently, machine learning is playing a pivotal role in the progress of genomics. The applications of machine learning are helping all to understand the emerging trends and the future scope of genomics. This book provides comprehensive coverage of machine learning applications such as DNN, CNN, and RNN, for predicting the sequence of DNA and RNA binding proteins, expression of the gene, and splicing control. In addition, the book addresses the effect of multiomics data analysis of cancers using tensor decomposition, machine learning techniques for protein engineering, CNN applications on genomics, challenges of long noncoding RNAs in human disease diagnosis, and how machine learning can be used as a tool to shape the future of medicine. More importantly, it gives a comparative analysis and validates the outcomes of machine learning methods on genomic data to the functional laboratory tests or by formal clinical assessment. The topics of this book will cater interest to academicians, practitioners working in the field of functional genomics, and machine learning. Also, this book shall guide comprehensively the graduate, postgraduates, and Ph.D. scholars working in these fields.

Much research has focused on the basic cellular and molecular biological aspects of stem cells. Much of this research has been fueled by their potential for use in regenerative medicine applications, which has in turn spurred growing numbers of translational and clinical studies. However, more work is needed if the potential is to be realized for improvement of the lives and well-being of patients with numerous diseases and conditions. This book series 'Cell Biology and Translational Medicine (CBTMED)' as part of SpringerNature's longstanding and very successful Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology book series, has the goal to accelerate advances by timely information exchange. Emerging areas of regenerative medicine and translational aspects of stem cells are covered in each volume. Outstanding researchers are recruited to highlight developments and remaining challenges in both the basic research and clinical arenas. This current book is the eight volume of a continuing series.

This second edition provides new and updated chapters detailing recent advances in MYC research and current techniques. Chapters guide readers through protocols on how to express and purify MYC protein, X-ray crystallography, NMR, techniques to study how MYC is modified, apoptosis, senescence, proliferation, metabolic changes, translation, tumorigenesis,reprogramming, and clinical application of MYC studies.Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, The Myc Gene: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition aims to ensure successful results in the further study of this vital field.

This book presents abiotic stresses that cause crop damage in the range of 6-20%. Understanding the interaction of crop plants to the abiotic stresses caused by heat, cold, drought, flooding, submergence, salinity, acidity, etc., is important to develop resistant crop varieties. Knowledge on the advanced genetic and genomic crop improvement strategies including molecular breeding, transgenics, genomic-assisted breeding, and the recently emerging genome editing for developing resistant varieties in cereal crops is imperative for addressing FPNEE (food, health, nutrition, energy, and environment) security. Whole genome sequencing of these crops followed by genotyping-by-sequencing has facilitated precise information about the genes conferring resistance useful for gene discovery, allele mining, and shuttle breeding which in turn opened up the scope for 'designing' crop genomes with resistance to abiotic stresses. The nine chapters each dedicated to a cereal crop in this volume are deliberate on different types of abiotic stresses and their effects on and interaction with crop plants; enumerate on the available genetic diversity with regard to abiotic stress resistance among available cultivars; illuminate on the potential gene pools for utilization in interspecific gene transfer; are brief on the classical genetics of stress resistance and traditional breeding for transferring them to their cultivated counterparts; elucidate on the success stories of genetic engineering for developing abiotic stress-resistant crop varieties; discuss on molecular mapping of genes and QTLs underlying stress resistance and their marker-assisted introgression into elite varieties; enunciate on different emerging genomics-aided techniques including genomic selection, allele mining, gene discovery, and gene pyramiding for developing adaptive crop varieties with higher quantity and quality, and also elaborate some case studies on genome editing focusing on specific genes for generating abiotic stress-resistant crops.

Advances in research and development reveal the immense diversity and potential of marine genetic resources. Under international law, no specific regime applies to these complex and paradoxical objects of use. The Law of the Sea Convention sets a framework that is partly inadequate for this new category of resources. The Biodiversity Convention and the Nagoya Protocol only address the genetic resources of national areas. Patents allow their holder to exercise a monopoly on exploiting biotechnological creations to extensive claims, questioning the common nature of biodiversity and related knowledge. They hinder research and the objectives of biodiversity law. The legal and practical rules of physical and functional access vary in geometry. They focus on the valorization of research results, crystallizing conflicts of interest between suppliers and users. Sustainable research and development is essential to the knowledge and protection of marine biodiversity. The qualification of marine genetic resources in common, standard contractual tools, distributed research and development infrastructures, negotiation of an agreement on sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, would To remove these inconsistencies.

This volume provides basic and advanced protocols on somatic cell nuclear transfer, induced pluripotent stem cells, and direct reprogramming of somatic cells into different functional cells. Chapters guide readers through methods on standardized procedures for characterization of induced pluripotent stem cells, as well as those for preparation of materials required for induction of pluripotent stem cells. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Nuclear Reprogramming: Methods and Protocols aims to ensure successful results in the further study of this vital field.

A behind-the-scenes look at the most lucrative discipline within biotechnology
Bioinformatics represents a new area of opportunity for investors and industry participants. Companies are spending billions on the potentially lucrative products that will come from bioinformatics. This book looks at what companies like Merck, Glaxo SmithKline Beecham, and Celera, and hospitals are doing to maneuver themselves to leadership positions in this area. Filled with in-depth insights and surprising revelations, Digital Code of Life examines the personalities who have brought bioinformatics to life and explores the commercial applications and investment opportunities of the most lucrative discipline within genomics.
Glyn Moody (London, UK) has published numerous articles in Wired magazine. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book Rebel Code.