The evolution of single cells into multicellular organisms was mediated, in large part, by the extracellular matrix. The proteins and glycoconjugates that make up the extracellular matrix provide structural support to cellular complexes, facilitate cell adhesion and migration, and impart mechanical properties that are important for tissue function. Each class of ECM macromolecule has evolved to incorporate distinctive properties that are defined by conserved modules that are mixed together to achieve appropriate function. This volume provides a comprehensive analysis of how the major ECM components evolved over time in order to fill their specific roles found in modern organisms. The major focus is on the structural matrix proteins, matricellular proteins, and more complex ECM structures such as basement membranes. Adhesive proteins and their receptors are also discussed.

Knowledge of the extracellular matrix (ECM) is essential to understand cellular differentiation, tissue development, and tissue remodeling. This volume of the series “Biology of Extracellular Matrix” provides a timely overview of the structure, regulation, and function of the major macromolecules that make up the extracellular matrix. It covers topics such as collagen types and assembly of collagen-containing suprastructures, basement membrane, fibronectin and other cell-adhesive glycoproteins, proteoglycans, microfibrils, elastin, fibulins and matricellular proteins, such as thrombospondin. It also explores the concept that ECM components together with their cell surface receptors can be viewed as intricate nano-devices that allow cells to physically organize their 3-D-environment. Further, the role of the ECM in human disease and pathogenesis is discussed as well as the use of model organisms in elucidating ECM function.

Structure and Function of the Extracellular Matrix: A Multiscale Quantitative Approach introduces biomechanics and biophysics with applications to understand the biological function of the extracellular matrix in health and disease. A general multiscale approach is followed by investigating behavior from the scale of single molecules, through fibrils and fibers, to tissues of various organ systems. Through mathematical models and structural information, quantitative description of the extracellular matrix function is derived with tissue specific details. The book introduces the properties and organization of extracellular matrix components and quantitative models of the matrix, and guides the reader through predicting functional properties. This book integrates evolutionary biology with multiscale structure to quantitatively understand the function of the extracellular matrix. This approach allows a fresh look into normal functioning as well as the pathological alterations of the extracellular matrix. Professor Suki's book is written to be useful to undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers interested in the quantitative aspects of the extracellular matrix. Researchers working in mechanotransduction, respiratory and cardiovascular mechanics, and multiscale biomechanics of tendon, cartilage, skin, and bone may also be interested in this book. - Examines the evolutionary origins and consequences of the extracellular matrix - Delivers the first book to quantitatively treat the extracellular matrix as a multiscale system - Presents problems and a set of computational laboratory projects in various chapters to aid teaching and learning - Provides an introduction to the properties and organization of the extracellular matrix components

In the ten-year interval since the first edition of this volume went to press, our knowledge of extracellular matrix (ECM) function and structure has enor mously increased. Extracellular matrix and cell-matrix interaction are now routine topics in the meetings and annual reviews sponsored by cell biology societies. Research in molecular biology has so advanced the number of known matrix molecules and the topic of gene structure and regulation that we won dered how best to incorporate the new material. For example, we deliberated over the inclusion of chapters on molecular genetics. We decided that with judicious editing we could present the recent findings in molecular biology within the same cell biology framework that was used for the first edition, using three broad headings: what is extracellular matrix, how is it made, and what does it do for cells? Maintaining control over the review of literature on the subject of ECM was not always an easy task, but we felt it was essential to production of a highly readable volume, one compact enough to serve the the student as an introduction and the investigator as a quick update on graduate the important recent discoveries. The first edition of this volume enjoyed con hope the reader finds this edition equally useful. siderable success; we D. Hay Elizabeth vii Contents Introductory Remarks 1 Elizabeth D. Hay PART I. WHAT IS EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX? Chapter 1 Collagen T. F. Linsenmayer 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2. The Collagen Molecule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2. 1. Triple-Helical Domain(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Genomic Control Process explores the biological phenomena around genomic regulatory systems that control and shape animal development processes, and which determine the nature of evolutionary processes that affect body plan. Unifying and simplifying the descriptions of development and evolution by focusing on the causality in these processes, it provides a comprehensive method of considering genomic control across diverse biological processes. This book is essential for graduate researchers in genomics, systems biology and molecular biology seeking to understand deep biological processes which regulate the structure of animals during development. - Covers a vast area of current biological research to produce a genome oriented regulatory bioscience of animal life - Places gene regulation, embryonic and postembryonic development, and evolution of the body plan in a unified conceptual framework - Provides the conceptual keys to interpret a broad developmental and evolutionary landscape with precise experimental illustrations drawn from contemporary literature - Includes a range of material, from developmental phenomenology to quantitative and logic models, from phylogenetics to the molecular biology of gene regulation, from animal models of all kinds to evidence of every relevant type - Demonstrates the causal power of system-level understanding of genomic control process - Conceptually organizes a constellation of complex and diverse biological phenomena - Investigates fundamental developmental control system logic in diverse circumstances and expresses these in conceptual models - Explores mechanistic evolutionary processes, illuminating the evolutionary consequences of developmental control systems as they are encoded in the genome