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Author Wills, Christopher.

Title Exons, introns, and talking genes : the science behind the Human Genome Project / Christopher Wills.

Publication Info. [New York] : BasicBooks, [1991]
©1991

Copies

Location Call No. Status
 Manchester, Main Library - Non Fiction  616.042 WILLS    Check Shelf
Description xvi, 368 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages [327]-340) and index.
Summary This book tells the story behind one of the most difficult--and ultimately rewarding--scientific endeavors in modern history: a multibillion-dollar international undertaking that will revolutionize our understanding of the human body. Exons, Introns, and Talking Genes is a scientist's view of the Human Genome Project. Wills explains the science as no layperson could, telling the story of the scientists involved in the project, the biomedical breakthroughs that led up to it, and how the new information it generates will change the way we understand and treat disease. Ever since Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA, scientists have been trying to "read" the human genetic code locked in the millions and millions of bases that make up DNA. But over the past thirty years, as many new questions have been raised as answered. Why, for example, do we carry long, repeating stretches of DNA that play no discernible role in heredity and that are currently referred to simply as "junk DNA"? Is it really true that much of human DNA is actually viral DNA-remnants, that is, of past infections? And why is most of the DNA that codes for genes quickly removed as useless "introns," leaving only the tiny but key "exons"? When completed in the next century, the Human Genome Project will have determined every gene sequence in the human body, illuminating for scientists some of the outstanding problems in human biology: the genesis of cancer, how embryos and fetuses develop, the mechanisms of aging, and the origin of mutations.
Contents Introduction: How Brave a New World? -- Pt. I. Origins. 1. Cancer. 2. DNA. 3. Therapy. 4. Politics -- Pt. II. Connections. 5. Through the Genome with Gun and Camera. 6. Dismantling the Genome. 7. The Search for a New Sequencing Technology. 8. Sherlock Holmes Meets the Human Genome. 9. Racing After the Killer Genes. 10. The Early Days of Gene Therapy -- Pt. III. Extrapolations. 11. Cancer Revisited. 12. Voices Heard in a Tiny Piece of Chromosome. 13. Fanfare for the Common Person. 14. Ethical Hurdles and Opposing World Views. 15. Stop Press.
Subject Human Genome Project.
Medical genetics -- Popular works.
Molecular genetics -- Popular works.
Exons (Genetics) -- Popular works.
Introns -- Popular works.
Human Genome Project -- Popular Works.
Genetics, Medical -- Popular Works.
Genome, Human -- Popular Works.
Other Form: Online version: Wills, Christopher. Exons, introns, and talking genes. [New York] : BasicBooks, c1991 (OCoLC)551253837
ISBN 0465050204: $23.00 ($31.00 Can.)
9780465050208
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