Master Control Genes in Development and Evolution

Master Control Genes in Development and Evolution
Author: Walter J. Gehring
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 270
Release: 1998-01-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780300074093

In this fascinating book, one of the world's most eminent developmental biologists discusses some of the exciting new insights into how genes control development. Walter Gehring describes in vivid detail his essential contributions to the landmark discovery of the homeobox, a characteristic DNA segment found in the genes of all higher organisms from the fruitfly to humans, and he explains how this has provided the key to our modern understanding of development and evolution. The book thus becomes not only a lucid discussion of genetics but also an engaging description of the art of scientific investigation. Gehring begins his story by looking at the work of the many researchers who laid the foundation for the fields of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, providing insightful vignettes of past and present investigators. He then describes his laboratory's hunt for the gene that caused odd mutations in the fruitfly--in which, for example, antennae on the head were transformed into legs. He explains that researchers eventually found that the same master control genes that dictate the body plan in flies also pattern human bodies, limbs, hands, heart, and brain. And he illustrates the universality of the genetic control of development by describing the development of the eye; eyes as different as those of humans, squids, and flies, he shows, develop under the same master control gene.

The Regulatory Genome

The Regulatory Genome
Author: Eric H. Davidson
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 303
Release: 2010-07-19
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0080455573

Gene regulatory networks are the most complex, extensive control systems found in nature. The interaction between biology and evolution has been the subject of great interest in recent years. The author, Eric Davidson, has been instrumental in elucidating this relationship. He is a world renowned scientist and a major contributor to the field of developmental biology. The Regulatory Genome beautifully explains the control of animal development in terms of structure/function relations of inherited regulatory DNA sequence, and the emergent properties of the gene regulatory networks composed of these sequences. New insights into the mechanisms of body plan evolution are derived from considerations of the consequences of change in developmental gene regulatory networks. Examples of crucial evidence underscore each major concept. The clear writing style explains regulatory causality without requiring a sophisticated background in descriptive developmental biology. This unique text supersedes anything currently available in the market. - The only book in the market that is solely devoted to the genomic regulatory code for animal development - Written at a conceptual level, including many novel synthetic concepts that ultimately simplify understanding - Presents a comprehensive treatment of molecular control elements that determine the function of genes - Provides a comparative treatment of development, based on principles rather than description of developmental processes - Considers the evolutionary processes in terms of the structural properties of gene regulatory networks - Includes 42 full-color descriptive figures and diagrams

Drosophila Eye Development

Drosophila Eye Development
Author: Kevin Moses
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2002-03-12
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9783540425908

1 Kevin Moses It is now 25 years since the study of the development of the compound eye in Drosophila really began with a classic paper (Ready et al. 1976). In 1864, August Weismann published a monograph on the development of Diptera and included some beautiful drawings of the developing imaginal discs (Weismann 1864). One of these is the first description of the third instar eye disc in which Weismann drew a vertical line separating a posterior domain that included a regular pattern of clustered cells from an anterior domain without such a pattern. Weismann suggested that these clusters were the precursors of the adult ommatidia and that the line marks the anterior edge of the eye. In his first suggestion he was absolutely correct - in his second he was wrong. The vertical line shown was not the anterior edge of the eye, but the anterior edge of a moving wave of patterning and cell type specification that 112 years later (1976) Ready, Hansen and Benzer would name the "morphogenetic furrow". While it is too late to hear from August Weismann, it is a particular pleasure to be able to include a chapter in this Volume from the first author of that 1976 paper: Don Ready! These past 25 years have seen an astonishing explosion in the study of the fly eye (see Fig.

The Concept of the Gene in Development and Evolution

The Concept of the Gene in Development and Evolution
Author: Peter J. Beurton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2000-05-29
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0521771870

Advances in molecular biological research in the latter half of the twentieth century have made the story of the gene vastly complicated: the more we learn about genes, the less sure we are of what a gene really is. Knowledge about the structure and functioning of genes abounds, but the gene has also become curiously intangible. This collection of essays renews the question: what are genes? Philosophers, historians and working scientists re-evaluate the question in this volume, treating the gene as a focal point of interdisciplinary and international research. It will be of interest to professionals and students in the philosophy and history of science, genetics and molecular biology.

Chance and Necessity

Chance and Necessity
Author: Jacques Monod
Publisher:
Total Pages: 198
Release: 1997
Genre: Biology
ISBN: 9780140256468

Change and necessity is a statement of Darwinian natural selection as a process driven by chance necessity, devoid of purpose or intent.

Morpho-functional Machines: The New Species

Morpho-functional Machines: The New Species
Author: F. Hara
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2011-06-28
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 4431678697

Morpho-functional Machines are a set of tools for investigating the design of embodied intelligence in autonomous bio-artifact systems. The focus in Morpho-functional Machines is on the balance of morphology, materials, and control; intelligent behavior emerges from the interaction of an autonomous system with a real-world environment. How, then, should body morphology, body materials, and sensory systems be designed to achieve a certain set of tasks or desired behaviors in a particular environment? This and other questions were addressed at the International Workshop on Morpho-functional Machines held in Tokyo in 2001. Collected here are the revised papers from the workshop, providing a new perspective for understanding embodied intelligence. Presenting the innovative concept of Morpho-functional Machines, this book is a valuable source for scientists and engineers working in ethnology, cognitive sciences, robotic engineering, and artificial intelligence.

Genes, Development and Cancer

Genes, Development and Cancer
Author: Howard D. Lipshitz
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 548
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1441989811

- For the first time, Nobel Prize winner, Edward B. Lewis' research papers are published within one volume - Papers are organized into sections that reflect the focus of the research - Commentaries by Howard Lipshitz highlight key methods and results by explaining the science so it is accessible to upper-level undergraduates, graduate students, and professional researchers

Endless Forms Most Beautiful

Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Author: Sean B. Carroll
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2005
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780393060164

As described in this fascinating book, Evo Devo is evolutionary development biology, the third revolution in the science, which shows how the endless forms of animals--butterflies and zebras, trilobites and dinosaurs, apes and humans--were made and evolved.

Gene Sharing and Evolution

Gene Sharing and Evolution
Author: Joram Piatigorsky
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2007-02-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780674023413

In Gene Sharing and Evolution Piatigorsky explores the generality and implications of gene sharing throughout evolution and argues that most if not all proteins perform a variety of functions in the same and in different species, and that this is a fundamental necessity for evolution.