This work offers a fascinating insight into a crucial genetic process. Recombination is, quite simply, one of the most important topics in contemporary biology. This book is a totally comprehensive treatment of the subject, summarizing all existing views on the topic and at the same time putting them into context. It provides in-depth and up-to-date analysis of the chapter topics, and has been written by international experts in the field.
Genetic recombination, in the broadest sense, can be defined as any process in which DNA sequences interact and undergo a transfer of information, producing new “recombinant” sequences that contain information from each of the original molecules. All organisms have the ability to carry out recombination, and this striking universality speaks to the essential role recombination plays in a variety of biological processes fundamentally important to the maintenance of life. Such processes include DNA repair, regulation of gene expression, disease etiology, meiotic chromosome segregation, and evolution. One important aspect of recombination is that it typically occurs only between sequences that display a high degree of sequence identity. The stringent requirement for homology helps to ensure that, under normal circumstances, a cell is protected from deleterious rearrangements since a swap of genetic information between two nearly identical sequences is not expected to dramatically alter a genome. Recombination between dissimilar sequences, which does happen on occasion, may have such harmful consequences as chromosomal translocations, deletions, or inversions. For many organisms, it is also important that recombination rates are not too high lest the genome become destabilized. Curiously, certain organisms, such as the trypanosome parasite, actually use a high rate of recombination at a particular locus in order to switch antigen expression continually and evade the host immune system effectively.
Introduction; Synthesis of deoxyribonucleotides; Phosphorylation of deoxyribonucleotides; Synthesis of DNA by escherichia coli polymerase; Synthesis of DNA by calf thymus polymerase; Synthesis of DNA in bacteriophage-infected escherichia coli; A morphological picture of the chromosome; Replication of DNA; Exchanges between DNA subunits and genetic recombination; Sequences of replication of DNA in chromosomes.
Molecular Genetics, Part II covers the significant developments in various areas of molecular genetics. This book is composed of 10 chapters that also consider the gene expression and regulation of some enzymes. The opening chapters deal with the mechanisms of nucleic acid replication and repair, as well as the structural aspects of the genetic apparatus of viruses and cells. The next chapters explore the patterns and mechanisms of genetic recombination, the in vitro and in vivo experiments to delineate the genetic code, and the initiation of peptide chains in Escherichia coli. These topics are followed by discussions of the mechanism of DNA-dependent RNA synthesis, the regulation of enzyme synthesis in microorganisms, and the regulation of viral replication. The final chapters consider the theoretical and practical aspects of the metabolic regulation in metazoan system and the procedures for the study of DNA-DNA and DNA-RNA interactions. This book will be of great value to molecular geneticists, biochemists, and researchers.
Mechanisms of Eukaryotic DNA Recombination is a collection of papers that discusses advances in eukaryotic genetic recombination. Papers address issues in eukaryotic genetic recombination, particularly DNA integration in mammalian genomes, genetic recombination in Drosophila or Caenorhabditis; the manipulation of the mouse genome; genome organization; and genetic recombination in protozoa. One paper discusses chromatid interactions during intrachromosomal recombination in mammalian cells, namely, intrachromatid and sister chromatid. Another paper analyzes the implication for chromosomal recombination and gene targeting; results on extrachromosomal recombination show that circles are inefficient substrates for recombination even if only one of two substrates in an intermolecular reaction is circular. One author discusses the genetics and molecular biology of recombination, citing the work of Watson and Crick, stating that crossing-over occurs between genes (not within them). He also explains that the formation and resolution of recombination intermediaries depend on enzyme or other proteins. This book will prove invaluable to cellular biologists, microbiologists, and researchers engaged in genetics and general biology.
Mechanistic Studies of DNA Replication and Genetic Recombination emerged from a symposium on DNA replication and genetic recombination held from March 16-21, 1980 in Keystone, Colorado. The event featured 30 plenary session talks, 13 workshop discussion groups, and the 210 poster sessions. The studies described in this book are paving the way for the elucidation of other basic genetic mechanisms, including ""new"" areas in molecular genetics such as those of eukaryotic gene expression and the transposition of mobile genetic elements. This book is divided into 10 parts: summaries of workshop discussion groups (Part I); studies on eukaryotic model systems for DNA replication (Part II); studies on bacterial replication origins (Part III); studies on replication origins of bacterial phages and plasmids (Part IV); studies on eukaryotic replication origins (Part V); studies on prokaryotic replication enzymology (Part VI); studies on eukaryotic replication enzymology (Part VII); studies on the fidelity of DNA replication (Part VIII); studies on DNA topoisomerases (Part IX); and studies of genetic recombination mechanisms (Part X).
This book is a comprehensive review of the detailed molecular mechanisms of and functional crosstalk among the replication, recombination, and repair of DNA (collectively called the "3Rs") and the related processes, with special consciousness of their biological and clinical consequences. The 3Rs are fundamental molecular mechanisms for organisms to maintain and sometimes intentionally alter genetic information. DNA replication, recombination, and repair, individually, have been important subjects of molecular biology since its emergence, but we have recently become aware that the 3Rs are actually much more intimately related to one another than we used to realize. Furthermore, the 3R research fields have been growing even more interdisciplinary, with better understanding of molecular mechanisms underlying other important processes, such as chromosome structures and functions, cell cycle and checkpoints, transcriptional and epigenetic regulation, and so on. This book comprises 7 parts and 21 chapters: Part 1 (Chapters 1–3), DNA Replication; Part 2 (Chapters 4–6), DNA Recombination; Part 3 (Chapters 7–9), DNA Repair; Part 4 (Chapters 10–13), Genome Instability and Mutagenesis; Part 5 (Chapters 14–15), Chromosome Dynamics and Functions; Part 6 (Chapters 16–18), Cell Cycle and Checkpoints; Part 7 (Chapters 19–21), Interplay with Transcription and Epigenetic Regulation. This volume should attract the great interest of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and senior scientists in broad research fields of basic molecular biology, not only the core 3Rs, but also the various related fields (chromosome, cell cycle, transcription, epigenetics, and similar areas). Additionally, researchers in neurological sciences, developmental biology, immunology, evolutionary biology, and many other fields will find this book valuable.
As researchers have pursued biology's secrets to the molecular level, mathematical and computer sciences have played an increasingly important roleâ€"in genome mapping, population genetics, and even the controversial search for "Eve," hypothetical mother of the human race. In this first-ever survey of the partnership between the two fields, leading experts look at how mathematical research and methods have made possible important discoveries in biology. The volume explores how differential geometry, topology, and differential mechanics have allowed researchers to "wind" and "unwind" DNA's double helix to understand the phenomenon of supercoiling. It explains how mathematical tools are revealing the workings of enzymes and proteins. And it describes how mathematicians are detecting echoes from the origin of life by applying stochastic and statistical theory to the study of DNA sequences. This informative and motivational book will be of interest to researchers, research administrators, and educators and students in mathematics, computer sciences, and biology.
Recombinant DNA, Third Edition, is an essential text for undergraduate, graduate, and professional courses in Genomics, Cell and Molecular Biology, Recombinant DNA, Genetic Engineering, Human Genetics, Biotechnology, and Bioinformatics. The Third Edition of this landmark text offers an authoritative, accessible, and engaging introduction to modern, genome-centered biology from its foremost practitioners. The new edition explores core concepts in molecular biology in a contemporary inquiry-based context, building its coverage around the most relevant and exciting examples of current research and landmark experiments that redefined our understanding of DNA. As a result, students learn how working scientists make real high-impact discoveries. The first chapters provide an introduction to the fundamental concepts of genetics and genomics, an inside look at the Human Genome Project, bioinformatic and experimental techniques for large-scale genomic studies, and a survey of epigenetics and RNA interference. The final chapters cover the quest to identify disease-causing genes, the genetic basis of cancer, and DNA fingerprinting and forensics. In these chapters the authors provide examples of practical applications in human medicine, and discuss the future of human genetics and genomics projects.
