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The Cytoskeleton, Part B
The Cytoskeleton, Part A
A captivating exploration of the changing definitions of life in biology Biological Motion studies the foundational relationship between motion and life. To answer the question, “What is Life?,” prize-winning historian of science Janina Wellmann engages in a transdisciplinary investigation of motion as the most profound definition of living existence. For decades, information and structure have dominated the historiography of the life sciences with its prevailing focus on DNA structure and function. Now more than ever, motion is a crucial theme of basic biological research. Tracing motion from Aristotle’s animal soul to molecular motors, and from medical soft robotics to mathematical analysis, Wellmann locates biological motion at the intersection of knowledge domains and scientific and cultural practices. She offers signposts to mark the sites where researchers, technologies, ideas, and practices opened up new paths in the constitution of the phenomenon of motion. An ambitious rethinking of the life sciences, Biological Motion uncovers the secret life of movement and offers a new account of what it means to be alive.
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This book describes the evolution of ideas relating to the mechanism of muscular contraction since the discovery of sliding filaments in 1954. An amazing variety of experimental techniques have been employed to investigate the mechanism of muscular contraction and relaxation. Some background of these various techniques is presented in order to gain a fuller appreciation of their strengths and weaknesses. Controversies in the muscle field are discussed along with some missed opportunities and false trails. The pathway to ATP and the high energy phosphate bond will be discussed, as well as the discovery of myosin, contraction coupling and the emergence of cell and molecular biology in the muscle field. Numerous figures from original papers are also included for readers to see the data that led to important conclusions. This book is published on behalf of the American Physiological Society by Springer. Access to APS books published with Springer is free to APS members.
Myosins, actin-dependent molecular motors, are best known for their involvement in muscle contraction. However, besides classical (conventional) myosins, there is a vast number of other myosin motors that structurally and functionally do not resemble muscle myosins and therefore are termed as unconventional myosins. Since discovery in 1973 of the first unconventional myosin, myosin I, in Acanthamoeba castellanii by Thomas D. Pollard and Edward D. Korn, it has been shown that unconventional myosins form a large family, members of which are involved in a plethora of cellular functions, including those associated with intracellular trafficking and cell migration. However, despite the intensive research still many questions persist about their specific role(s) in these processes.
The Development of Dictyostelium discoideum consists of 11 chapters representing the 11 major aspects at which continuous progress are made in the study of Dictyostelium discoideum. This book begins with the discovery, classification, ecology, and development of Dictyostelium discoideum. It then outlines the advances in genetic manipulation and mutant isolation of the organism. Much of the advances in cell biology have been related to a better understanding of the composition and function of the cell membrane. Hence, analyses of Dictyostelium plasma membranes are collated. This reference material also describes the role of chemoattractants in organizing cell movements and the intracellular e...
For almost a century and a half, biologists have gone to the seashore to study life. The oceans contain rich biodiversity, and organisms at the intersection of sea and shore provide a plentiful sampling for research into a variety of questions at the laboratory bench: How does life develop and how does it function? How are organisms that look different related, and what role does the environment play? From the Stazione Zoologica in Naples to the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, the Amoy Station in China, or the Misaki Station in Japan, students and researchers at seaside research stations have long visited the ocean to investigate life at all stages of development and to convene discussions of biological discoveries. Exploring the history and current reasons for study by the sea, this book examines key people, institutions, research projects, organisms selected for study, and competing theories and interpretations of discoveries, and it considers different ways of understanding research, such as through research repertoires. A celebration of coastal marine research, Why Study Biology by the Sea? reveals why scientists have moved from the beach to the lab bench and back.