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Werner Maas is Professor Emeritus of Microbiology at New York University School of Medicine. Since his student days in 1941 he has been involved in the development of the new science of molecular genetics. His main contributions have been in the discovery of regulatory genes that are essential for the proper functioning of all genes in the maintenance of living cells. In 1955 he discovered that the formation of the amino acid arginine was feedback-regulated by arginine in combination with the product of a regulatory gene. This single gene product controls the formation of the eight enzymes of arginine biosynthesis. The main part of this book deals with the analysis of the molecular mechanism of this regulation.
This is the only book written by someone working in the field that deals with the history of gene action. As a college student, Werner Maas took a course in genetics in 1941 and wondered why so little was said about the biochemical action of genes in controlling the specific function of an organism. Just at that time, biochemists and geneticists began to investigate jointly the basis of gene action, especially in microorganisms. Thus, Maas was able to witness firsthand the spectacular developments that led in the next twenty-five years to a clear picture of the action of genes. The history of these remarkable discoveries is the core of this book. After 1965, building on insights gained from the work with microorganisms, studies of gene action turned to animals and plants and concentrated on processes not present in microorganisms, such as embryonic development, the role of genes in diseases, and the function of the nervous system. Because of the rapidity of technical advances made in handling genes, it has been possible to learn much about these complex processes. The last part of the book deals with these developments, which are ongoing parts of the history of gene action.
„The Roots of Modern Biochemistry ist eine gute Einführung in die moderne Biochemie, und als Einstieg sehr zu empfehlen.” Prof. Dr. Hans Fritz, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Although the physical nature of the gene was essentially clear by the late 1950s, the study of gene action, particularly during the development of higher organisms, is ongoing. Wallace and Falkinham explain how intimately progress has relied on technology. Initially limited to an examination of external features and subsequently to classical genetics and cytogenetic analyses, research was revolutionized by Watson and Crick's discovery of the double helix structure of DNA.
Exile and Everyday Life focusses on the everyday life experience of refugees fleeing National Socialism in the 1930s and 1940s as well as the representation of this experience in literature and culture. The contributions in this volume show experiences of loss, strategies of adaptation and the creation of a new identity and life. It covers topics such as Exile in Shanghai, Ireland, the US and the UK, food in exile, the writers Gina Kaus, Vicki Baum and Jean Améry, refugees in the medical profession and the creative arts, and the Kindertransport to the UK.
50 years of DNA double helix; what was before, and afterwards The present book, although written mainly for science students and research scientists, is also aimed at those readers who look at science, not for its own sake, but in search of a better understanding of our world in general. What were the fundamental questions asked by the early pioneers of molecular biology? What made them tick for decades, trying to elucidate the basic mechanisms of heredity and life itself? In each chapter, the development of a particular aspect of modern biology is described in a historical and logical context, not missing to take into account human aspects of the protagonists of the story. At the end of each chapter, there are some excursus with additional information, technical and otherwise, which can be read separately. The book is enriched with many illustrations, including facsimile reproductions from the original descriptions of key experiments.
This book explains the role of simple biological model systems in the growth of molecular biology. Essentially the whole history of molecular biology is presented here, tracing the work in bacteriophages in E. coli, the role of other prokaryotic systems, and also the protozoan and algal models - Paramecium and Chlamydomonas, primarily - and the move into eukaryotes with the fungal systems - Neurospora, Aspergillus and yeast. Each model was selected for its appropriateness for asking a given class of questions, and each spawned its own community of investigators. Some individuals made the transition to a new model over time, and remnant communities of investigators continue to pursue questions in all these models, as the cutting edge of molecular biological research flowed onward from model to model, and onward into higher organisms and, ultimately, mouse and man.