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Modern Genetic Analysis Preface
Modern Approach

After an introductory chapter on the relations between genes and phenotypes, there is a chapter on the structure of genes and genomes. This immediately establishes a framework of the molecular nature of the hereditary material on which its various properties can be hung. Chapters 3 through 5 deal with gene function and gene inheritance, which are related back to the structural nature of the genome. Chapter 4, "The Inheritance of Genes," presents the inheritance patterns of single genes. Increasing complexity stepwise, Chapter 5, "Recombination of Genes," covers the principles at work when two genes or more are analyzed. We add further to the complexity of genetics in Chapter 6, "Gene Interaction," in which inheritance patterns are related to functional gene interactions at the molecular level.

Thus, in the first six chapters, the core of our modern view of gene structure and function is presented. However, instead of segregating Mendel's work in its own chapter, we have extracted the principles deduced by Mendel and integrated them where they belong pedagogically, alongside the cellular and molecular structures that drive them. Our belief is that this new organization of material will help those students who have trouble retrospectively fitting molecular biology onto a framework of Mendelian genetics. Moreover, because molecular biology is introduced first, we provide an opportunity for a vertical integration of concepts at the organismal, cellular, chromosomal, protein, and DNA levels. Finally, we hope that this new approach will enable students to understand how genetics is done in the "real world," where classical and molecular approaches are not segregated but complement each other.

In keeping with the book's title, we have strived for currency throughout the text. We have included the latest approaches in genomics, including a section on functional genomics embracing DNA chip technology and the yeast two-hybrid system. As another example, programmed cell death is considered in the contexts of both normal biology and the genetics of cancer.Figure 3-28 Figure 3-25 Figure 15-4

© 1999 by W. H. Freeman and Company. All rights reserved.