Book Summary:
Genes and 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. Evolution has generated many complex life forms from a restricted set of signals and enzymatic functions. The book has an overarching aim: to illustrate the kinds of rather simple molecular interactions required to achieve this. Mark Ptashne (author of the influential A Genetic Switch) and Alex Gann have written a book that is short, extensively illustrated, and readable from beginning to end. A Foreword is provided by Tony Pawson, in which he says: "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." |