Development

Studies of organisms have led to a greatly improved understanding of the genetic mechanisms underlying developmental processes, and the epigenetic and environmental influences on these processes. This second edition reviews these three levels and their relative importance to give the reader a clear picture of one of the most exciting areas of current biological research.

The last 10 years have shown a dramatic revolution in our understanding of development, particularly at the level of molecular genetics, and the profound importance of epigenetic and environmental regulation has been recognized only recently. Development: Genetics, Epigenetics and Environmental Regulation describes the results of this revolution. It is written in a clear way and includes many informative figures. This textbook is intended for students who want a current overview and introduction to specific areas of developmental biology and for researchers who are interested in a summary of developments beyond their individual research interests. Most of the organisms currently being studied are covered, including viruses, bacteria, yeast, Neurospora, Aspergillus, Dictyostelium, Arabidopsis, maize, snapdragon, C. elegans, Drosophila, zebrafish, mouse, hamster, and humans. The subjects discussed range from self-assembly to spatial and temporal gene regulation, from cell type determination to cell-cell communication, and from environmental regulation to genetic imprinting.