The Nucleolus (Molecular Biology Intelligence Unit)

As the first comprehensive overview of the nucleolus since 1985, The Nucleolus covers our current understanding of the cell nucleolus, including its role in ribosome assembly and its additional newly-discovered activities. The eighteen chapters have been written by experts who are actively engaged in research on the nucleolus and have an in depth review of the following topics:

- nucleolar ultrastructure and dynamics,
- behavior during mitosis,
- ribosomal DNA gene and chromatin structure,
- pre-ribosomal RNA transcription,
- processing and modification,
- ribosome assembly,
- small nucleolar RNAs,
- proteomics and non-traditional functions of the nucleolus.

Separate chapters are also provided for yeast and higher eukaryotes on many topics.
The Nucleolus will appeal not only to scientists directly engaged in nucleolar research, but also those working in related areas such as gene expression, protein biosynthesis, ribosome structure, transcription, chromatin structure, molecular genetics and the structure and functions of the cell nucleus in general.

Within the past two decades, extraordinary new functions for the nucleolus have begun to appear, giving the field a new vitality and generating renewed excitement and interest.  These new discoveries include not only the novel functions of the nucleouls, but also numerous breakthroughs on its conventional role.  Consequently, a large part of this volume is devoted to traditional functions of the nucleolus.  Recent research has led to so much information that the subject cannot be fully contained within one volume, so this book has focused on recent progress in specialized topics within the general subject.

The Nucleolus is divided into three parts: nucleolar structure and organization, the role of the nucleolus in ribosome biogenesis, and novel functions of the nucleolus.  Proteomics has shown that there are hundreds of proteins of unknown function in the nucleolus, which are likely to keep researchers busy for years.  In addition, the roles of many viral components in the nucleolus will continue to intrigue us, hopefully moving beyond the phenomenology that is now the case with many viral components in the nucleolus.  Even now, there is already evidence that we can take advantage of our knowledge of the nucleolus to develop therapeutic strategies, and this book hopes to help build the path to a new era of nucleolar translational medical research.