The Regulatory Genome in Adaptation, Evolution, Development, and Disease


Book Description

The Regulatory Genome in Adaptation, Evolution, Development, and Disease synthesizes insights from recent genomic and gene expression studies across organisms, from humans to plants, animals, and single cell life, exploring common roles gene regulation plays in adaptive evolution, developmental biology and susceptibility to disease. The book sheds light on gene regulation across evolutionary timelines, illuminating new areas of focus and future research. Chapters consider key elements in gene expression regulation, fundamentals of genomic alterations over time, and in response to environmental and local conditions, epigenetics in adaptive evolution, and adaptive gene regulation in healthy processes and developmental biology, and in disease biology. Throughout the book, a comparative approach is adopted across organisms to highlight common evolutionary themes and genome diversity revealed by recent sequencing and GWAS studies, as well as how this informs our understanding of human adaptive evolution. The book finishes by detailing how we can use this knowledge to impact disease outcomes and healthy human metabolism, development, and physiology. Reviews key elements in the regulation of gene expression and modes of studying gene regulation across evolutionary timelines Adopts a cross-species view, synthesizing recent sequencing and GWAS studies across organisms to draw out fresh meaning and highlight pathways for future research Considers altered gene expression associated with developmental defects and disease, as well as healthy biology and physiology, and our adaptive response to disease influence




The Regulatory Genome


Book Description

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




Genomic Control Process


Book Description

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




Genomic Regulatory Systems


Book Description

The interaction between biology and evolution has been the subject of great interest in recent years. Because evolution is such a highly debated topic, a biologically oriented discussion will appeal not only to scientists and biologists but also to the interested lay person. This topic will always be a subject of controversy and therefore any breaking information regarding it is of great interest.The author is a recognized expert in the field of developmental biology and has been instrumental in elucidating the relationship between biology and evolution. The study of evolution is of interest to many different kinds of people and Genomic Regulatory Systems: In Development and Evolution is written at a level that is very easy to read and understand even for the nonscientist. * Contents Include* Regulatory Hardwiring: A Brief Overview of the Genomic Control Apparatus and Its Causal Role in Development and Evolution * Inside the Cis-Regulatory Module: Control Logic and How the Regulatory Environment Is Transduced into Spatial Patterns of Gene Expression* Regulation of Direct Cell-Type Specification in Early Development* The Secret of the Bilaterians: Abstract Regulatory Design in Building Adult Body Parts* Changes That Make New Forms: Gene Regulatory Systems and the Evolution of Body Plans




Ecological Genomics


Book Description

Researchers in the field of ecological genomics aim to determine how a genome or a population of genomes interacts with its environment across ecological and evolutionary timescales. Ecological genomics is trans-disciplinary by nature. Ecologists have turned to genomics to be able to elucidate the mechanistic bases of the biodiversity their research tries to understand. Genomicists have turned to ecology in order to better explain the functional cellular and molecular variation they observed in their model organisms. We provide an advanced-level book that covers this recent research and proposes future development for this field. A synthesis of the field of ecological genomics emerges from this volume. Ecological Genomics covers a wide array of organisms (microbes, plants and animals) in order to be able to identify central concepts that motivate and derive from recent investigations in different branches of the tree of life. Ecological Genomics covers 3 fields of research that have most benefited from the recent technological and conceptual developments in the field of ecological genomics: the study of life-history evolution and its impact of genome architectures; the study of the genomic bases of phenotypic plasticity and the study of the genomic bases of adaptation and speciation.







T-box Genes in Development and Disease


Book Description

T-box Genes in Development and Disease looks at the genes encoding the T-box family of transcription factors function as key regulators of many important decision processes during embryonic and tissue development. The importance of these genes is further underlined by the fact that most members of this gene family have been conserved during evolution from worms to humans. This book brings together the current information on conserved aspects with the evolutionary innovations of the functions of these genes during developmental regulation in various animal species and then discusses their important roles in human disease. Brings together current knowledge from a wide variety of animal species and humans Presents commentary from authoritative experts, and includes many prominent scientists and their research Illuminates the connections between developmental biology, evolution, and human disease Allows researchers and newcomers to this research area to gain a thorough picture of the current knowledge




Evolutionary Biology


Book Description

An integrative view of the evolution of genetics and the naturalworld Even in this advanced age of genomics, the evolutionary processof unicellular and multicellular organisms is continually indebate. Evolutionary Biology, Cell–Cell Communication, andComplex Disease challenges current wisdom by using physiology topresent an integrative view of the nature, origins, and evolutionof fundamental biological systems. Providing a deeper understanding of the way genes relate to thetraits of living organisms, this book offers useful informationapplying evolutionary biology, functional genomics, and cellcommunication studies to complex disease. Examining the 4.5billion-year evolution process from environment adaptations tocell-cell communication to communication of genetic information forreproduction, Evolutionary Biology hones in on the "why and how" ofevolution by uniquely focusing on the cell as the smallest unit ofbiologic structure and function. Based on empirically derived data rather than associationstudies, Evolutionary Biology covers: A model for forming testable hypotheses in complex diseasestudies The integrating role played by the evolution of metabolism,especially lipid metabolism The evolutionary continuum from development to homeostasis Regeneration and aging mediated by signaling molecules Ambitious and game-changing Evolutionary Biology suggests thatbiology began as a mechanism for reducing energy within the cell,defying the Second Law of Thermodynamics. An ideal text for thoseinterested in forward thinking scientific study, the insightspresented in Evolutionary Biology help practitioners effectivelycomprehend the evolutionary process.




Molecular Mechanisms of Notch Signaling


Book Description

This book describes the Notch signaling pathway with a focus on molecular mechanisms. The Notch signaling pathway is a seemingly simple pathway that does not involve any second messenger. Upon ligand binding two consecutive proteolytic cleavages of the NOTCH receptor release the Notch intracellular domain from the membrane. The Notch intracellular domain migrates into the nucleus and activates gene expression. Recently, new technologies allowed us to better understand this pivotal signaling cascade and revealed new regulatory mechanisms. The different chapters cover many aspects of the Notch signaling focusing on the mechanisms governing the receptor/ligand interaction as well as on the downstream intracellular signaling events. Aspects of both canonical and non-canonical signaling are discussed and the function of Notch signaling in physiological and pathological contexts are elucidated. This book is not only intended for experts but it should also be a useful resource for young, sprouting scientists or interested scientists from other research areas, who may use this book as a stimulating starting point for further discoveries and developments.




Evolution, the Logic of Biology


Book Description

By focusing on the cellular mechanisms that underlie ontogeny, phylogeny and regeneration of complex physiologic traits, Evolution, the Logic of Biology demonstrates the use of homeostasis, the fundamental principle of physiology and medicine, as the unifying mechanism for evolution as all of biology. The homeostasis principle can be used to understand how environmental stressors have affected physiologic mechanisms to generate condition-specific novelty through cellular mechanisms. Evolution, the Logic of Biology allows the reader to understand the vertebrate life-cycle as an intergenerational continuum in support of effective, on-going environmental adaptation. By understanding the principles of physiology from their fundamental unicellular origins, culminating in modern-day metazoans, the reader as student, researcher or practitioner will be encouraged to think in terms of the prevention of disease, rather than in the treatment of disease as the eradication of symptoms. By tracing the ontogeny and phylogeny of this and other phenotypic homologies, one can perceive and understand how complex physiologic traits have mechanistically evolved from their simpler ancestral and developmental origins as cellular structures and functions, providing a logic of biology for the first time. Evolution, the Logic of Biology will be an invaluable resource for graduate students and researchers studying evolutionary development, medicine and biology, anthropology, comparative and developmental biology, genetics and genomics, and physiology.