The Human Genome
1st Edition
A User's Guide
Description
The Human Genome: A User's Guide provides a concise discussion of contemporary and relevant topics in human genetics. It begins coverage of the fundamental concepts of genetics and heredity, then illustrates these concepts as they relate to the development of human sexual differentiation and sexuality. The book describes the role of the X and Y chromosomes, the role of hormone-controlled differential gene expression in sex determination, and the role of genetics in sexual orientation and sex-role development. The Human Genome discusses the interface between science and society, covering the basic intellectual processes that underlie genetic analysis and gene therapy. It also looks at the use of cloning techniques to search for genes responsible for such human disease states as cystic fibrosis, cancer, AIDS, and mental illness. Written in an inviting and engaging style, The Human Genome meets the interests and answers the questions of today's students.
Key Features
@introbul:Key Features: @bul:* Offers a concise discussion of contemporary human genetics and relevant topics
- Accessible to the reader with no formal science background
- Reviews the fundamental principles that und
Readership
Lower-division undergraduate students in courses in genetics, human genetics, and molecular biology; medical students; non-majors taking genetics or human genetics courses.
Table of Contents
THE BASICS OF HEREDITY The Answer in a Nut Shell: Genes, Proteins, and the Meaning of Life Mendel and the Concept of the Gene. How Genes Work: The Story of How Genes Encode Proteins or "The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology" How Genes Move: Chromosomes and the Physical Basis of the Laws of Mendel Absent Essentials and Monkey Wrenches: How Mutations Produce a Phenotype
HOW GENES DETERMINE OUR SEX Sex and Chromosomes, Sex and Hormones, Sex and... Sex Causes Problems: The Inactivation of the Second X Chromosome Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation
WHEN MEIOSIS OR MENDELIAN INHERITANCE FAILS Failed Chromosome Segregation and the Etiology of Down's Syndrome Extreme Mutation: Triplet Repeat Syndromes Imprinting or Epigenetic Changes in Genes and Chromosomes
HUMAN GENES Introduction to Gene Cloning DNA Polymorphisms as Genetic Markers in Humans (and the Miracle of PCR) Human Gene Mapping: A General Approach Cystic Fibrosis Mammoth Genes: Muscular Dystrophy and Neurofibromatosis Genes and Cancer
INTERACTIONS OF GENES AND THE ENVIRONMENT Multifactorial Inheritance: Towards Finding the Genes for Manic Depression and Schizophrenia The Monoamine Oxidose A Gene and a Genetic Basis for Criminality? Genetics of the Human AIDS Virus.
PRENATAL DIAGNOSIS Methods of Prenatal Diagnosis Potential for Gene Therapy
EPILOGUE: FEARS, FAITH AND FANTASIES
Details
- No. of pages:
- 413
- Language:
- English
- Copyright:
- © Academic Press 1999
- Published:
- 1st October 1998
- Imprint:
- Academic Press
- eBook ISBN:
- 9780080518855
About the Author
R. Scott Hawley
R. Scott Hawley (PhD, Genetics, University of Washington) is an American Cancer Society Research Professor and Investigator at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. He has served as President of the Genetics Society of America in 2010 and in 2008 he received that society's Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence in Teaching. He widely known for his teaching, for his research on meiosis and for the authorship of numerous textbooks and research papers.
Affiliations and Expertise
Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO
Catherine Mori
Catherine Mori is an accomplished health education writer. Her previous writing has concentrated on drug- and alcohol-related risks to health and on the treatment and prevention of drug and alcohol addiction. Her interest in human genetics began when she attended Dr. Hawley's Human Genetics course for non-majors at UC Davis. She has worked extensively as a management consultant in the private sector and is currently working at IBM Global Services in Mountain View, California.
Affiliations and Expertise
IBM Global Services, Mountain View, California
Reviews
A very complex subject is broken into understandable pieces and then put back together to form a complicated but comprehensible whole. @source:--LIBRARY JOURNAL (November 1999) @qu:"...an excellent guide to the advances made in human genetics and their relevance to daily life. It is both reasonably accessible to general audiences and unlikely to cause specialist readers to cringe. The engaging, informal style of this book is most apparent in its unusual use of asides, set off in italics... Far from being distracting, the asides are an unexpected bonus... [In the section on sex determination,] Hawley and Mori are willing to tackle controversial and sensitive issues (e.g., the genetics of sexual orientation). They approach these topics with accuracy, fairness, and compassion." @source:--TRENDS IN GENETICS (April 1999) @qu:"The examples are excellent and the topics covered are just the ones you'd like to see....There is a real need for a text on this topic that goes beyond the very introductory concepts, but is not so advanced as to be unusable outside an advanced genetics course. This book clearly fits that need." @source:--ROBERT HOLMGREN, Northwestern University @qu:"This textbook relates the WOW! aspects of human genetics.... It will be a valuable resource for teachers and students who want to, and need to, understand human genetics at a basic level so as to unravel new findings reported in the lay press on a daily basis." @source:--STEPHANIE SHERMAN, Emory University School of Medicine @qu:"...a wonderful addition to the human genetics landscape." @source:--TERRY HASSOLD, Case Western Reserve University