BookCarsten Carlberg, Ferdinand Molnár.
Summary: This textbook aims to describe the fascinating area of eukaryotic gene regulation for graduate students in all areas of the biomedical sciences. Gene expression is essential in shaping the various phenotypes of cells and tissues and as such, regulation of expression is a fundamental aspect of nearly all processes in physiology, both in healthy and in diseased states. This pivotal role for the regulation of gene expression makes this textbook essential reading from students of all the biomedical sciences in order to be better prepared for their specialized disciplines. A complete understanding of transcription factors and the processes that alter their activity is a major goal of modern life science research. The availability of the whole human genome sequence (and that of other eukaryotic genomes) and the consequent development of next-generation sequencing technologies have significantly changed nearly all areas of the biological sciences. For example, the genome-wide location of histone modifications and transcription factor biding sites, such as provided by the ENCODE consortium, has greatly improved our understanding of gene regulation. Therefore, the focus of this book is the description of the post-genome understanding of gene regulation. The purpose of this book is to provide, in a condensed form, an overview on the present understanding of the mechanisms of gene regulation.
Contents:
Overview: What is gene expression?
The impact of chromatin
The basal transcriptional machinery
Transcription factors
Linking signal transduction and gene regulation
Switching genes on and off at the example of nuclear receptors
Mapping the genome
Chromatin modifiers
Genomic imprinting
The epigenome
Chromatin remodeling
Chromatin architecture
Regulatory RNA.