Genomic Regulatory Systems: Development and Evolution

Book Description

The interaction between biology and evolution has been the subject of great interest in recent years. Because evolution is such a highly debated topic, a biologically oriented discussion will appeal not only to scientists and biologists but also to the interested lay person. This topic will always be a subject of controversy and therefore any breaking information regarding it is of great interest.
The author is a recognized expert in the field of developmental biology and has been instrumental in elucidating the relationship between biology and evolution. The study of evolution is of interest to many different kinds of people and Genomic Regulatory Systems: In Development and Evolution is written at a level that is very easy to read and understand even for the nonscientist.

* Contents Include
* Regulatory Hardwiring: A Brief Overview of the Genomic Control Apparatus and Its Causal Role in Development and Evolution
* Inside the Cis-Regulatory Module: Control Logic and How the Regulatory Environment Is Transduced into Spatial Patterns of Gene Expression
* Regulation of Direct Cell-Type Specification in Early Development
* The Secret of the Bilaterians: Abstract Regulatory Design in Building Adult Body Parts
* Changes That Make New Forms: Gene Regulatory Systems and the Evolution of Body Plans

Customer Reviews:

Great book - pity about the illustrations.......2005-05-19

This is a very intersting book on an amazing topic which is straightforward enough for an interested educted layman to understand. But unfortunately it is a wierd mix of chatty remarks and pointlessly obstruse passages that read like letters to Nature.

The very worst thing is the illustrations and blurbs. The design is so bad that it really is hilarious at times. Sometimes the blurbs are so long they are spread onto the next page. The contain three or four different fonts in the same sentence. The sources of the information are pointless mixed with non-technical information about the content...

There is no logic in the way "subillustrations" are combined to illustrations. (Why do they insist on subillustrations at all? Why not make separate illustration?) They are just slapped together any old way. Sometime there are additional frams, sometimes not. Even the numbering convention varies. The order that the subillustration appear in the illustrations is also random.

The book is almost impossible to read. It needs to go back to the publisher and be totally reorganized for readability.

What a pity. The content is actually fascinating.

Dense but worthwhile reading.......2002-02-12

This book is complementary too, but on a more advanced level than Sean Carroll's From DNA To Diversity, which I strongly recommend as a great intro book to evo-devo. Davidson's book is tough going in places, which is why I gave it one star off, but the material is in fairness quite complex. He emphasizes the role of cis-regulatory sequences in genes and the structure of the systems that regulate gene expression in development and evolution in some detail. It becomes clear how minor mutations in the regulatory part of a gene can transform how it is expressed, and why the importance for evolution in mutations in gene expression is clearly much greater than for mutations in the protein coding sequence. His explanation for what is responsible for the incredible homologies in, for example, the pax 6 gene that regulates eye development across phyla is very illuminating. A must read for anybody interested in the molecular basis for development and evolution.

Clear introductory material.......2002-01-21

Genomic Regulatory Systems : development and evolution, by
Eric Davidson

The book is about how the genome actually works in [embryo?] development.
It is a beautiful book with many attractive illustrations.
The book's introductory material and
that of each chapter is clear and interesting.
I enjoyed about 3 valuable hours with this book
before getting lost because of my inadequate background (nonbio major).
He gives 4 reasons why this field has been so exciting over the past decade:
(1) We can now bring regulatory hard wiring at
the DNA nucleotide level into concise functional focus,
(2) We now have the full DNA sequence,
(3) Good minds from evolution and from development have converged,
(4) A lot of confusion in molecular phylogeny has been cleared up.

The book is mostly about bilaterians.
The size of the genome within a clade [some very similar critters]
can vary by a factor of ten whereas
the variation in protein coding (mRNA) is much smaller.
Amniotes [embryo in sac] have 4 hox clusters on 4 chromosomes.
There are remarkable examples of diverse usage of similar genes
of diverse organisms.
I don't think he defines the difference between cis- regulatory elements
[within the chromosome] and trans- [across chromosomes] so I needed
to do some guessing or find some other references.
Next time I take another look at this book,
I'll probably restart back about page 9.
I noticed on page 110 on the morphogenesis of heart parts
that different genes were identified for right and left sides
of the heart -- a matter of interest to me as my apparantly healthy 25 year old son ...died suddenly and unexpectedly
of natural causes,***many tears***, presumably a heart attack.
Perhaps the next decade or two will bring life-saving diagnostics.

Meaty, but decidedly not for beginners.......2001-08-25

On the back of this book's cover we read, "authoritative and easy to read". We may grant the first, but hardly the second. Davidson has worked for a long time at the cutting edge of cell-biological research, and makes it quite clear that our knowledge of the process by which the genes produce the organism they give rise to, is far from complete. Presenting numerous interesting examples, always supported by excellent illustrations, he offers us a fascinating sketch of the way the genetic DNA material in the chromosomes is translated into a developmental process in the organism, from fertilized egg to adult. He carries us far beyond the revolutionary ideas in Darwin's "Origin of Species" from 1859, and also beyond the "Neo-Darwinians", whose ideas on evolution and development dominated most of the 20th century. Not being a biologist, but rather a historian of ideas, predominantly in the field of natural science, I am impressed by the recent advances in biology after Crick's and Watson's discovery of the DNA double spiral as the material basis of the genome. We might say that the Neo-Darwinists, like Darwin himself, regarded the genes as fairly independent "elements", or "atoms" of heredity, each responsible for its own part (or characteristic trait) of the organism. The essentially random variation of those elements provided the raw material for Natural Selection, and thereby Evolution. That was also for a long time my own view. This book has forced me to adopt a new perspective. However, it seems to me that the "elemental" view of the genes has an entrenched position among the general public, who use it in arguments both for and against the Darwinian theory of Evolution by Natural Selection. Davidson insists that the genes are by no means independent elements. They are very much dependent on each other. In particular, a rather limited number of them, which he calls regulatory genes, are especially important in evolution (and of course also in the development from the fertilized egg to the adult). He also stresses very strongly that the characteristics of an organism are not at all the creation of individual genes, but of a considerable number of genes working in concert, to a large extent orchestrated by the regulatory genes. Thus the whole process stands out as much more powerful, but also as extremely complicated. This is as it should be: who would deny that life is a complex phenomenon? To anybody interested in Evolution -- and in Man's place in Nature -- Davidson's book provides much food for thought. But note: unless you have a good grounding in biology, do not expect an "easy read".

Function and Regulation of Cellular Systems (Mathematics and Biosciences in Interaction)

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Function and Regulation of Cellular Systems (Mathematics and Biosciences in Interaction)

Manufacturer: Birkhäuser Basel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3764369256

Book Description

Current biological research demands the extensive use of sophisticated mathematical methods and computer-aided analysis of experiments and data. This highly interdisciplinary volume focuses on structural, dynamical and functional aspects of cellular systems and presents corresponding experiments and mathematical models. The book may serve as an introduction for biologists, mathematicians and physicists to key questions in cellular systems which can be studied with mathematical models. Recent model approaches are presented with applications in cellular metabolism, intra- and intercellular signaling, cellular mechanics, network dynamics and pattern formation. In addition, applied issues such as tumor cell growth, dynamics of the immune system and biotechnology are included.

Oxygen, Gene Expression, and Cellular Function (Lung Biology in Health and Disease)

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Oxygen, Gene Expression, and Cellular Function (Lung Biology in Health and Disease)
Clerch/Massaro
Manufacturer: Informa Healthcare
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0824700627

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This concise, well-focused reference addresses the impact of oxygen on evolution and ontogeny-furnishing both animal and cellular models that investigate the use of oxygen in humans for the treatment of various diseases and conditions.

Assembly of the Vasculature and Its Regulation (Cardiovascular Molecular Morphogenesis)

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Assembly of the Vasculature and Its Regulation (Cardiovascular Molecular Morphogenesis)

Manufacturer: Birkhauser
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0817642293

Book Description

This is the first comprehensive treatise that deals with the formation of blood vessels during embryonic development. Assembly of the Vasculature and its Regulation presents our most current understanding of vascular angiogenesis and vasculogenesis at the molecular scale. The book covers the events and regulatory factors that characterize vessel formation during the prenatal and perinatal periods. It describes the proliferation, migration and differentiation of angioblasts, their assembly into vascular tubes, the subsequent growth of these structures and the addition of medial and adventitial components to form the functional network that is the vascular system. The first half of the book details the major issues concerned with vessel formation and its regulation (growth factors and their receptors, extracellular matrix, adhesion molecules, and smooth muscle differentiation). The second half covers vascular development in a number of organs (heart, central nervous system, kidney, lung, and placenta). The book is an important reference work for all students and researchers working in vascular biology.

Biochemical Regulation of Myocardium (Developments in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry)

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Biochemical Regulation of Myocardium (Developments in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry)

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0792342593

Book Description

This special issue of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry contains original research papers as well as invited reviews, and is dedicated, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the inauguration of the Heart Research Group in Berlin-Buch that today forms a part of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, to Professor Albert Wollenberger, founder of the Heart Research Group and for 21 years its head.
The papers in this issue are written by researchers working in the field of cardiovascular research who, together with Albert Wollenberger, share the belief that an integrative application of advances in molecular and cellular biology will lead to new concepts for treatment and prevention of cardiovascular diseases. We hope that this special issue will serve as a useful source of information in this regard.

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Cell Volume Regulation
Japan) Taniguchi Foundation Biophysics Symposium 1997 (Okazaki-Shi , and Yasunobu Okada
Manufacturer: Elsevier Science Pub Co
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Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Hardbound. Cell volume regulation is of fundamental importance to animal cells, since persistent swelling or shrinkage results in cell death. Osmotic perturbation confronts the cells with the problem of volume regulation, because most animal cell membrane are highly permeable to water.

A number of cellular physiological activities are associated with osmotic perturbation to cells. Those include active solute uptake by enterocytes, renal tubular cells or hepatocytes, fluid and electrolyte secretion by glandular cells, cell mitogenesis or proliferation, cell differentiation, hormonal action on hepatocytes, lymphocytes or cardiac myocytes, excitation in neurons, and glutamate receptor activation in brain neurons or glial cells. Also, in kidney medulla and intestinal tissues, not only epithelial cells but also blood and mesenchymal cells may be subject to osmotic stress induced by increased extracellular osmolality.

Book Description

This volume reviews basic knowledge of the sensory receptors and reflexes that control respiration and describes recent developments and new directions in research. Thirty-eight distinguished contributors discuss the vascular and comparative aspects of peripheral chemoreceptors; sensory
mechanisms of the carotid body; oxygen sensing mechanisms; peripheral chemoreceptor adaptations; central effects of hypoxia; airway mechanisms; and central mechanisms and effectors. The volume is published in the memory of Julius H. Comroe, who influenced and shaped medical education and research in
the vital areas that are the focus of this volume.

Formation of the Heart & Its Regulation (Cardiovascular Molecular Morphogenesis)

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Formation of the Heart & Its Regulation (Cardiovascular Molecular Morphogenesis)

Manufacturer: Birkhauser
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0817642161

Book Description

The 'Formation of the Heart and its Regulation' reviews in considerable detail the major events in heart development and their control via genes, cell-cell interactions, growth factors and other contributing elements. In addition, there is an extensive and useful overview of the field of heart development taken as a whole. The book appeals to all students and researchers working on cardiovascular development and to pediatric cardiologists.

Frontiers in Modeling and Control of Breathing: Integration at Molecular, Cellular, and Systems Levels

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Frontiers in Modeling and Control of Breathing: Integration at Molecular, Cellular, and Systems Levels

Manufacturer: Springer
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0306466473

Book Description

The field of neural control of breathing has advanced rapidly in the past two decades, with the emergence of many new and promising research directions of increasing sophistication. The complexity and diversity of the current methodologies signify its remarkable vivacity, albeit at the price of much confusion. Captured in this book are the broad and intricate nature of the field and its multifaceted frontiers, including aspects of genetics, cell and molecular biology, comparative biology, neurophysiology, neurochemistry, neuroanatomy, imaging, human physiology in health and disease, and influence of environmental factors. Major topics include chemosensitivity, respiratory sensation, respiratory neurons, rhythmogenesis, plasticity, development, chemoreflex and exercise, respiratory instability and variability with behavioral and sleep states, etc., which are systematically laid out in the book for easy referencing.

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