Understanding DNA, Second Edition: The Molecule and How It Works - Softcover

Calladine, Chris R.; Drew, Horace

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0121550885 ISBN 13: 9780121550882

Publisher: Academic Press, 1997

Synopsis

The Second Edition of Understanding DNA has been entirely revised and updated, and expanded by more than 50% to cover new advances. The book explains step-by-step how DNA forms specific structures, the nature of these structures, and how they fundamentally affect the biological processes of transcription and replication.
The functional properties of any molecule are directly related to and affected by its structure; this is especially true for DNA, the molecule that carries the code for all life on earth. Written in a clear, concise, and at times lively fashion, Understanding DNA is essential reading for all molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics students, for newcomers to the field from such areas as physics or chemistry, and for even the most seasoned researchers who really want to understand DNA.

Key Features
* New edition, expanded by more than 50%
* Completely revised and updated
* Includes many additional and updated references
* Summarizes the recent studies of DNA in disease and medicine
* Contains more than 110 illustrations, some in full color
* Describes the basic units of DNA and how these form the double helix
* Characterizes the various types of DNA double helix that have been found
* Explains how and why DNA twists and curves
* Discusses the mechanisms of DNA supercoiling
* Summarizes the assembly of DNA and proteins into chromosomes
* Outlines the methods used to study DNA structure
Describes the latest work on protein-DNA complexes
* Contains simple exercises and further reading at the end of each chapter

About this title

About the Author

Chris Calladine is Professor of Structural Mechanics at the University of Cambridge. In addition to researching aspects of structural engineering, he has applied the methods of structural mechanics to the study of flagella and DNA.

Horace Drew solved several of the first DNA crystal X-ray structures with Richard Dickerson at Caltech, and subsequently spent five years researching DNA and chromosome structures with Aaron Klug at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK He now lives in Australia and is a Principle Research Scientist at the CSIRO Division of Biomolecular Engineering in Sydney.

From the Back Cover

The functional properties of any molecule are directly related to, and affected by, its structure. This is especially true for DNA, the molecule that carries the code for all life on earth.
The Second Edition of Understanding DNA has been entirely revised and updated, and expanded to cover new advances in our understanding. It explains, step by step, how DNA forms specific structures, the nature of these structures and how they fundamentally affect the biological processes of transcription and replication.
Understanding DNA
* Describes the basic units of DNA and how these form the double helix
* Characteries the various types of DNA double helix that have been found
* Explains how and why DNA twists and curves
* Discusses the mechanisms of DNA supercoiling
* Summarizes the assembly of DNA and protein into chromosomes
* Describes the latest work on protein-DNA complexes
* Outlines the methods used to study DNA structure
* Summarizes recent studies of DNA in disease and medicine
* Contains over 120 illustrations, some in full color
* Contains simple exercises and further reading at the end of chapters
Written in a clear, concise and lively fashion, Understanding DNA is essential reading for all molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics students, to newcomers to the field from other areas such as chemistry, or physics, and even for the most seasoned researchers, who really want to understand DNA.

Edition details

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0121550885
• ISBN 13: 9780121550882
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 283