Genomes And What To Make Of Them

The announcement in 2003 that the Human Genome Project had completed its map of the entire human genome was heralded as a stunning scientific breakthrough: our first full picture of the basic building blocks of human life. Since then, boasts about the benefits - and warnings of the dangers - of genomics have remained front-page news, with everyo...

The announcement in 2003 that the Human Genome Project had completed its map of the entire human genome was heralded as a stunning scientific breakthrough: our first full picture of the basic building blocks of human life. Since then, boasts about the benefits—and warnings of the dangers—of genomics have remained front-page news, with everyone agreeing that genomics has the potential to radically alter life as we know it. For the nonscientist, the claims and counterclaims are dizzying—what does it really mean to understand the genome? Barry Barnes and John Dupré offer an answer to that question and much more in Genomes and What to Make of Them, a clear and lively account of the genomic revolution and its promise. The book opens with a brief history of the science of genetics and genomics, from Mendel to Watson and Crick and all the way up to Craig Venter; from there the authors delve into the use of genomics in determining evolutionary paths—and what it can tell us, for example, about how far we really have come from our ape ancestors. Barnes and Dupré then consider both the power and risks of genetics, from the economic potential of plant genomes to overblown claims that certain human genes can be directly tied to such traits as intelligence or homosexuality. Ultimately, the authors argue, we are now living with a new knowledge as powerful in its way as nuclear physics, and the stark choices that face us—between biological warfare and gene therapy, a new eugenics or a new agricultural revolution—will demand the full engagement of both scientists and citizens. Written in straightforward language but without denying the complexity of the issues, Genomes and What to Make of Them is both an up-to-date primer and a blueprint for the future.

Flowers evolved to attract pollinators, so new generations of plant can form. But how do plants know when to bloom, and how do they construct their flowers? This book describes what we have learnt of the astonishing genetic and epigenetic processes behind the dazzling variety of flower shapes, colours, and scents.--

There is growing enthusiasm in the scientific community about the prospect of mapping and sequencing the human genome, a monumental project that will have far-reaching consequences for medicine, biology, technology, and other fields. But how will such an effort be organized and funded? How will we develop the new technologies that are needed? What new legal, social, and ethical questions will be raised? Mapping and Sequencing the Human Genome is a blueprint for this proposed project. The authors offer a highly readable explanation of the technical aspects of genetic mapping and sequencing, and they recommend specific interim and long-range research goals, organizational strategies, and funding levels. They also outline some of the legal and social questions that might arise and urge their early consideration by policymakers.

The triumphant memoir of the man behind one of the greatest feats in scientific history Of all the scientific achievements of the past century, perhaps none can match the deciphering of the human genetic code, both for its technical brilliance and for its implications for our future. In A Life Decoded, J. Craig Venter traces his rise from an uninspired student to one of the most fascinating and controversial figures in science today. Here, Venter relates the unparalleled drama of the quest to decode the human genome?a goal he predicted he could achieve years earlier and more cheaply than the government-sponsored Human Genome Project, and one that he fulfilled in 2001. A thrilling story of detection, A Life Decoded is also a revealing, and often troubling, look at how science is practiced today.

The laws of inheritance were considered quite superficial until 1903, when the chromosome theory of heredity was established by Sutton and Boveri. The discovery of the double helix and the genetic code led to our understanding of gene structure and function. For the past quarter of a century, remarkable progress has been made in the characterization of the human genome in order to search for coherent views of genes. The unit of inheritance termed factor or gene, once upon a time thought to be a trivial an imaginary entity, is now perceived clearly as the precise unit of inheritance that has continually deluged us with amazement by its complex identity and behaviour, sometimes bypassing the university of Mendel's law. The aim of the fifth volume, entitled Genes and Genomes, is to cover the topics ranging from the structure of DNA itself to the structure of the complete genome, along with everything in between, encompassing 12 chapters. These chapters relate much of the information accumulated on the role of DNA in the organization of genes and genomes per se. Several distinguished scientists, all pre-eminent authorities in each field to share their expertise. Obviously, since the historical report on the double helix configuration in 1953, voluminous reports on the meteoric advances in genetics have been accumulated, and to cover every account in a single volume format would be a Herculean task. Therefore, only a few topics are chosen, which are of great interest to molecular geneticists. This volume is intended for advanced graduate students who would wish to keep abreast with the most recent trends in genome biology.

The latest edition of this highly successful textbook introduces the key techniques and concepts involved in cloning genes and in studying their expression and variation. The new edition features: Increased coverage of whole-genome sequencing technologies and enhanced treatment of bioinformatics. Clear, two-colour diagrams throughout. A dedicated website including all figures. Noted for its outstanding balance between clarity of coverage and level of detail, this book provides an excellent introduction to the fast moving world of molecular genetics.

Data in the genomics field is booming. In just a few years, organizations such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will host 50+ petabytes—or over 50 million gigabytes—of genomic data, and they’re turning to cloud infrastructure to make that data available to the research community. How do you adapt analysis tools and protocols to access and analyze that volume of data in the cloud? With this practical book, researchers will learn how to work with genomics algorithms using open source tools including the Genome Analysis Toolkit (GATK), Docker, WDL, and Terra. Geraldine Van der Auwera, longtime custodian of the GATK user community, and Brian O’Connor of the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, guide you through the process. You’ll learn by working with real data and genomics algorithms from the field. This book covers: Essential genomics and computing technology background Basic cloud computing operations Getting started with GATK, plus three major GATK Best Practices pipelines Automating analysis with scripted workflows using WDL and Cromwell Scaling up workflow execution in the cloud, including parallelization and cost optimization Interactive analysis in the cloud using Jupyter notebooks Secure collaboration and computational reproducibility using Terra