Development: Genetics, Epigenetics and Environmental.

Studies of selected model organisms have led to a greatly improved understanding not only of the molecular events which take place during development under the control of specific sets of genes, but also of epigenetic and environmental influences on these processes. This book gives an overview of all three of these levels and their relative importance, and as such will 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.