Coming to Life: How Genes Drive Development

by Christiane Nusslein-Volhard

Overview

Christiane Nusslein-Volhard, winner of The Nobel Prize in Medicine, gives a concise and illustrative overview of genetics, evolution, and cellular processes as well as a discussing of current ethical issues in human biology.

Coming to Life is a remarkable journey through developmental biology that reveals miraculous processes in the microscopic world of cells. Through an accounting of groundbreaking discoveries, Christiane Nusslein-Volhard tells us many answers to historical and contemporary questions in science. For example, she brings us the newest knowledge about embryonic forms, explains the genetic mechanisms that influence adult development of all animals, and shares insights into the ethical standards society moist uphold in the face of new scientific discoveries.

As the author leads us from laboratory research to its applications in human beings, we also come to understand why children look like their parents, how an embryonic cell knows to become an eye rather than an eyelash, and other incredible influences hat result in variety in life. Complete with her own hand-drawn illustrations, Coming to Life gives a rare opportunity to understand a Nobel Prize-winner's passion for science in concise, understandable language. 55 b/w illustrations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780967007670
Publisher:	Kales Press
Publication date:	04/17/2006
Pages:	181
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard is a German biologist. She won the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research and the Nobel Prize in Physiology for her research on the genetic control of embryonic development. She lives in Bebenhausen, Germany.

Table of Contents

Preface     xi
Origin and Heredity
The Natural System: Carl Linnaeus     2
The Theory of Evolution: Charles Darwin     3
The Laws of Heredity: Gregor Mendel     6
Cells and Chromosomes
Cells and Cell Division     12
Fertilization     14
Chromosomes and Genes     16
Germ Line and Clones     18
The Influences of the Cytoplasm and the Environment     21
Genes and Proteins
The Genetics of Drosophila     26
Mutation     29
The Molecular Nature of Genes     31
Protein Synthesis and the Genetic Code     33
DNA Replication     35
Gene Technology     36
Genes of Multicellular Organisms     38
Development and Genetics
Model Organisms     45
The Development of Drosophila     45
The Search for Genes that Control Development     49
The Logic of Genes     52
Molecular Prepatterns
Gradients     58
Combinations     62
Induction and Signal Transduction     68
Form and Form Changes
Cells and Tissues     75
Form Building Movements     79
Cell Division, Growth, and Death     81
Vertebrates
Frogs, Fish, and Birds     88
Mammals: The Mouse     95
Gradients, Prepatterns and Induction in Vertebrates     101
Humans
The Development of Germ Cells     108
The Development of the Egg     110
The Development in the Uterus     111
Genes and Disease     115
Evolution, Body Plans, and Genomes
Evolutionary History of Organisms     120
The Cambrian Explosion     122
New Construction Principles     124
Genomes     126
The Evolution of Humans     129
Current Topics
Utopias     135
Cloning     136
Human In Vitro Embryos     138
Designer Babies     140
Gene Therapy     141
Human Embryonic Stem Cells     142
The Moral Status of the Embryo     144
Appendix     147
Time Table     149
Glossary     153
Index     159