Genes IV

Abstract

Genes quickly established itself as one of the foremost teaching resources in modern biology following its first publication in 1983. It has retained that position through two further editions (1985 and 1987). It was the first textbook to provide a unified view of the molecular biology ofprokaryotes (bacteria) and eukaryotes (higher organisms - animals and plants) but this integrated view has always been supported by descriptions of the approaches that the researchers are currently using, making it the most consistently up-to-date account of the rapid advances which have been madein this field during the 1980s. The purpose of this book is to give an account of what is known about the structure and function of genes in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. The author provides a authoritative, consistent discussion of the complex biochemical and genetic answers to some crucial questions. What is a gene? How isit reproduced? How are its characteristics conceived or modified within individuals or over evolutionary time? How is it expressed? What controls expression? In effect it covers the ground that now constitutes the core of any modern course in genetics or biochemistry above the most elementarylevel. Annotation Published: March 2010. Cells as macromolecular assemblies -- DNA as a store of information -- Translation: expressing genes as proteins -- Transcription: control of prokaryotic genes -- Perpetuation of DNA -- The packaging of DNA -- Constitution of the eukaryotic genome -- Eukaryotic transcription and RNA processing -- The dynamic genome: DNA in flux -- Genes in development.