Genes and Signals [Paperback]

Mark Ptashne and Alexander Gann (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0879696338 | ISBN-13: 978-0879696337 | Publication Date: November 13, 2001 | Edition: 1st

Genes & Signals analyzes gene regulation from a new perspective. The first chapter describes mechanisms found in bacteria, and two subsequent chapters discuss which of these is most highly exploited in higher organisms. A final chapter relates these molecular strategies to other enzymatic processes, including those involving kinases, RNA splicing enzymes, proteases, and others. A general theme emerges, one that proposes how a rather restricted set of signals and enzymatic functions has been used in evolution to generate complex life forms of different types.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book opens up the basic molecular language that cells use for their internal organization and to communicate with the outside world. This is important, and fascinating, for anyone interested in how cells work and how regulatory systems evolve." ---From the Foreword by Tony Pawson

"I read this book with great pleasure. I have always been convinced that the same principles operating in bacteria are also operating in higher organisms with added complexity. The question therefore is to understand what kind of complexity is involved and how it is geared. This is a necessary book (which is a rare thing!)." ---François Jacob

"It's a great synthesis making the field accessible to a wide scientific audience and putting forward provocative and stimulating ideas. Scientists interested in interpretting genomes will find it an invaluable guide to thinking about the regulatory information encoded in the chromosomes." ---Eric Lander

From the Publisher

“I read this book with great pleasure. I have always been convinced that the same principles operating in bacteria are also operating in higher organisms with added complexity. The question therefore is to understand what kind of complexity is involved and how it is geared. This is a necessary book (which is a rare thing!)” --François Jacob

"It's a great synthesis, making the field accessible to a wide scientific audience and putting forward provocative and stimulating ideas. Scientists interested in interpreting genomes will find it an invaluable guide to thinking about the regulatory information encoded in the chromosomes." --Eric Lander

"Genes & Signals reduces the immense and sometimes bewildering literature on the control of gene expression to simple principles. Amazingly, it manages to do so by providing a framework for the experimental evidence rather than concealing it. It is a beautiful presentation, which can be appreciated by readers at all levels." --Frank Stahl

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; 1st edition (November 13, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879696338
• ISBN-13: 978-0879696337
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #895,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Transcription at its best!, November 20, 2003

By 

Santosh Narayan (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Genes and Signals (Paperback)

Transcription is digital. It was the concept first introduced by François Jacob, André Lwoff and Jacques Monod that won them the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965. Switching between ON/OFF states, cells are constantly faced with a decision-making process (to transcibe or not?) that contributes to its fate- be it differentiation (as in development), survival or suicide (as in programmed cell death).
Mark Ptashne is one of the leading gurus in this area of research, especially in the area of transcriptional regulation in prokaryotes (author of the Genetic Switch). In this book, Ptashne and Gann emphasize on how cells execute this elaborate process. Signaling specificity is the major focus in this area of research. How does a cell know when to transcribe a particular gene in response to a signal (extracellular or intracellular)? Put differently, how does the same signal upstream result in a different output (transcription of a particular gene) at any given time? The authors provide answers to such questions and take it a step further by discussing the plasticity or `evolvability' in transcription.
The book is beautifully organized with four chapters (forward by Tony Pawson), from transcription in prokaryotes and lower eukaryotes to metazoans that allows the reader to appreciate the evolutionarily conserved biochemistry behind the process. They drive home the idea of regulated recruitment at the proximal and distal promoter regions of the gene- protein-protein interactions (by cooperrativity and allostery) on DNA involve low affinity interactions, that help increase local concentrations of transcription factors at cis-acting regions. The conclusions are simple and very elegant. The book features excellent illustrations without too many details that one normally encounters with gene structures. The reader is referred to papers and articles that are all categorized under subtitles that complement the text. On-line material at genesandsignals.org provides references that link to Pubmed. The website also features four lectures (one on each chapter) delivered by Ptashne at Rockefeller University. The parts of the book that I most liked were the footnotes. The footnotes in each chapter takes the reader to more details on ongoing research. The entire book is meant to be read beginning from the first chapter. I thoroughly recommend this book that should be used for graduate course work. As a graduate student myself, I found this book extremely helpful and a valuable reference. A definite must-read!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book for beginners, October 12, 2008

By 

Natalia Murataeva "Natalia" (Bloomington, Indiana United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Genes and Signals (Paperback)

I got this book my freshman year in college, and it seemed as a bit complicated, but when I re-read it my junior year I realized that there were a lot of oversimplifications...

It is a good book to start with---it explains ideas very well with out too much fuss.
However, if you already have a BS in biology or related field you might be better off looking for something more advanced.