This text explains the key biochemical and cell biological principles behind some of today's most commonly used applications of molecular genetics, using clear terms and well-illustrated flow schemes. The book is divided into several sections and moves from basic to advanced topics while providing a concise overview of fundamental concepts in modern biotechnology. Each chapter concludes with a Laboratory Practicum describing a hypothetical research objective and the sequence of steps that are most often used to investigate biological questions using molecular genetic methods. In addition, the book provides informative summaries of the latest advances in molecular genetics, using attractive illustrations and a comprehensive reference list. This text also introduces the use of Internet resources through the World Wide Web as a powerful new tool in molecular genetic research. Seven appendices are included in the book, providing a convenient information resource for properties of nucleic acids, protein and restriction enzymes, a description of common E. coli genetic markers and gel electrophoresis parameters, as well as a list of useful Internet address sites.

This volume contains pedagogical and elementary introductions to genetics for mathematicians and physicists as well as to mathematical models and techniques of population dynamics. It also offers a physicist''s perspective on modeling biological processes. Each chapter starts with an overview followed by the recent results obtained by authors. Lectures are self-contained and are devoted to various phenomena such as the evolution of the genetic code and genomes, age-structured populations, demography, sympatric speciation, the Penna model, Lotka-Volterra and other predator-prey models, evolutionary models of ecosystems, extinctions of species, and the origin and development of language. Authors analyze their models from the computational and mathematical points of view.

Statistical genetics has become a core course in many graduate programs in public health and medicine. This book presents fundamental concepts and principles in this emerging field at a level that is accessible to students and researchers with a first course in biostatistics. Extensive examples are provided using publicly available data and the open source, statistical computing environment, R.

Plant breeding, animal breeding, medical genetics and the genetics of industrial fungi are usually taught separately, but they are all linked by strong central concepts regarding the generation, control and fate of genetic variation at the levels of genes, chromosomes, genomes and populations. Mutation, recombination, selection, population genetics and karyotype changes are involved, together with breeding systems. This book constitutes an integrated undergraduate course in applied genetics based on those central concepts. It is suitable for those interested in working with plants, animals, humans or fungi. Such a course, or selected parts of it, is applicable to students of biological, microbiological, agricultural and biomedical sciences.

A century of research on heterostylous plants has passed since the publication of Charles Darwin's book "The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species" in 1877 summarizing his extensive observations and experiments on these complex breeding systems involving genetic polymorphisms of floral sex organs. Since then heterostylous plants have provided a rich source of material for evolutionary biologists and today they represent one of the classic research paradigms for approaches to the study of evolution and adaptation. The present book is the first modern and comprehensive accont of the subject. In 10 chapters it is concerned with the evolution, genetics, development, morphology, and adaptive significance of heterostyly. Broad syntheses of research on heterostyly as well as new theoretical ideas and experimental data are included.

A comprehensive introduction to modern applied statistical genetic data analysis, accessible to those without a background in molecular biology or genetics. Human genetic research is now relevant beyond biology, epidemiology, and the medical sciences, with applications in such fields as psychology, psychiatry, statistics, demography, sociology, and economics. With advances in computing power, the availability of data, and new techniques, it is now possible to integrate large-scale molecular genetic information into research across a broad range of topics. This book offers the first comprehensive introduction to modern applied statistical genetic data analysis that covers theory, data preparation, and analysis of molecular genetic data, with hands-on computer exercises. It is accessible to students and researchers in any empirically oriented medical, biological, or social science discipline; a background in molecular biology or genetics is not required. The book first provides foundations for statistical genetic data analysis, including a survey of fundamental concepts, primers on statistics and human evolution, and an introduction to polygenic scores. It then covers the practicalities of working with genetic data, discussing such topics as analytical challenges and data management. Finally, the book presents applications and advanced topics, including polygenic score and gene-environment interaction applications, Mendelian Randomization and instrumental variables, and ethical issues. The software and data used in the book are freely available and can be found on the book's website.

The aim of the monographs is to foster effective intra- and interdisciplinary communication between geneticists, and plant and animal breeders. This is to be achieved by publishing authoritative up-to-date texts; concise, but at the same time comprehensive, monographs, and multiauthor volumes on theoretical and applied genetics. The following broad fields of genetics and breeding are within the scope of the series: Evolutionary genetics Developmental genetics Population genetics Biochemical genetics Ecological genetics Somatic cell genetics Biometrical genetics Agricultural genetics Cytogenetics Mutation breeding Radiation genetics Breeding methodology Acceptable subjects for the Monographs on Theoretical and Applied Genetics are basic and applied aspects of genetic variation; genetic resources; genetic exchange and reproduction; mutagenesis; genotype-environment interaction; gene structure, regulation, action, expression and interaction; chromosomal and extrachromosomal inheritance of economic traits, and genetic models and simulations. September 1975 The Editors Preface Meiotic configurations are looked at from a special point of view in this book: the extraction from them of the maximal amount of quantitative information of genetic interest. Although this requires a certain understanding of their origin and consequences, much of what is known about chromosomes and their for mation into the special structures collected under the rather indiscriminate term I "configuration", is not considered relevant for this purpose, and simply neglected.