Life sciences: general issues

Transposable elements have played a major role in shaping plant genome structure and gene expression.

Not only is the quantity of life science data expanding, but new types of biological data continue to be introduced as a result of technological development and a growing understanding of biological systems.

In the early years of microarray technology, efforts were directed mainly at profiling expressed genes, while recently the microarray platform has been adapted into diverse applications directed toward the investigation of the physical genome.

Understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the development of specific neural circuits is not just an intellectual curiosity but also central to our ability to develop therapeutic approaches to repair damaged pathways in the future.

As the presence of genetically modified animal models in research laboratories has multiplied, the role of genetic factors in the pathogenesis of brain disorders has become particularly important.

A DNA barcode in its simplest definition is one or more short gene sequences taken from a standardized portion of the genome that is used to identify species through reference to DNA sequence libraries or databases.

we might seek alternative sources of donor tissues.

Transcriptional regulation controls the basic processes of life.

Non-coding, inhibitory microRNAs have emerged as important modulators of cellular gene expression, through a process called RNA interference (RNAi).

Once a tedious, highly skilled operation, reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has become a routine and invaluable technique used in most laboratories.

Since the early days, the field of neuropeptide biology has dramatically widened, and today the ultimate frontiers in neuropeptide research lie in the development of pharmacologically active compounds that are capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier to exert their biological role(s) in vivo and in the construction of genetic vectors to be employed in gene therapy.

The discovery of stem and progenitor cells in the adult mammalian CNS challenged the long standing "e;no new neuron"e; doctrine and opened the door to the potential for cell replacement therapy.

Estimation of the metabolite complement of plant material involves a wide range of techniques and technologies and that breadth continues to increase.

Recent improvements in the efficiency, quality, and cost of genome-wide sequencing have prompted biologists and biomedical researchers to move away from microarray-based technology to ultra high-throughput, massively parallel genomic sequencing (Next Generation Sequencing, NGS) technology.

With the ultimate goal of systematically and robustly defining the specific perturbations necessary to alter a cellular phenotype, systems metabolic engineering has the potential to lead to a complete cell model capable of simulating cell and metabolic function as well as predicting phenotypic response to changes in media, gene knockouts/overexpressions, or the incorporation of heterologous pathways.

New high throughput techniques in neuroscience and psychiatry have enhanced the development of experimental, customizable animal models that are predictive of human neuropsychiatric pathology and give vital insights on the mechanisms and pathways involved.

Plant genomics is a growing and constantly evolving field of study, one which has gained much ground in past years through the development of advanced research and data management tools.

In Protein Dynamics: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers in the field detail both experimental and computational methods to interrogate molecular level fluctuations.

Cytogenetic studies of malignancy have become an essential tool in the clinical management of cancer patients.

The transfer of hereditary information from genes to proteins is one of the essential pr- esses in all living organisms on our planet.

Fluorescence in situ Hybridization (FISH) belongs to that special category of well-established molecular biology techniques that, since their inception a few decades ago, have succeeded in keeping a prominent position within the constantly expanding list of laboratory pro- dures for biomedical research and clinical diagnostics.

With the detailed genomic information that is now becoming available, we have a plethora of data that allows researchers to address questions in a variety of areas.

Metagenomics has proven to be a powerful tool for exploring the ecology, metabolic profiling, and comparison of complex microbial communities as well as its important applications in the mining of metagenomes for genes encoding novel biocatalysts and drug molecules for bioindustries.

Molecular modeling has undergone a remarkable transformation in the last 20 years, as biomolecular simulation moves from the realm of specialists to the wider academic community.

Integrated bioinformatics solutions have become increasingly valuable in past years, as technological advances have allowed researchers to consider the potential of omics for clinical diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic purposes, and as the costs of such techniques have begun to lessen.

Systems biology is the study of interactions between assorted components of biological systems with the aim of acquiring new insights into how organisms function and respond to different stimuli.

Chemogenomics aims toward the systematic identification of small molecules that interact with the products of the genome and modulate their biological function.

Metabolomics: Methods and Protocols examines the state-of-the-art in metabolomic analysis.

Together with early theoretical work in population genetics, the debate on sources of genetic makeup initiated by proponents of the neutral theory made a solid contribution to the spectacular growth in statistical methodologies for molecular evolution.

Due to their novel concepts and extraordinary high-throughput sequencing capacity, the "e;next generation sequencing"e; methods allow scientists to grasp system-wide landscapes of the complex molecular events taking place in various biological systems, including microorganisms and microbial communities.

Chemical library technologies have brought about dramatic changes in the drug discovery process, and, though still evolving, they have become an integral part of ongoing drug discovery research.

Phytoplasmas are a group of bacteria that are capable of multiplying and causing severe diseases in a wide range of plant species and are transported between plants by insect vectors in which the bacteria can also multiply.

In this new volume, renowned authors contribute fascinating, cutting-edge insights into microarray data analysis.

Transcriptomics and proteomics, studying the profile of the expression of nucleic acids and proteins respectively, are increasingly applied to gain a mechanistic insight into a wide spectrum of investigation, and the use of expression profiling studies for the central nervous system and brain function aids in the understanding of neurodegenerative disorders and tumor development mechanisms.

Due to their versatility, along with the diminishing costs of library synthesis and the growth of commercial support, peptide microarrays will likely expand beyond being just a research tool into an adaptable and powerful platform to be harnessed for wider drug discovery and point-of-care applications.

Protein microarrays have been used for a wide variety of important tasks, such as identifying protein-protein interactions, discovering disease biomarkers, identifying DNA-binding specificity by protein variants, and for characterization of the humoral immune response.

Most life science researchers will agree that biology is not a truly theoretical branch of science.

Patch Clamp Methods and Protocols surveys the typical patch clamp applications and advises scientists on identifying problems and selecting the best technique in each instance.

Gene regulatory networks play a vital role in organismal development and function by controlling gene expression.

Plants are amazing organisms to study, some are important sources for pharmaceuticals, and others can help to elucidate molecular mechanisms required for a plant's development and its interactions with the biotic or abiotic environment.

Computational biology is an interdisciplinary field that applies mathematical, statistical, and computer science methods to answer biological questions, and its importance has only increased with the introduction of high-throughput techniques such as automatic DNA sequencing, comprehensive expression analysis with microarrays, and proteome analysis with modern mass spectrometry.

Bringing together techniques and methods currently being applied to the study of exocytosis, Exocytosis Methods collects chapters from experts in the field, examining this fundamental process essential to functions ranging from protein secretion to hormone release and neurotransmission.

Since the discovery of DNA structure and throughout the ensuing "e;DNA era"e;, the field of DNA replication has expanded to cover a vast number of experimental systems.

The discovery of wide-spread RNA-based regulation in bacteria has led to new evaluations of the importance of bacterial regulatory RNA in every aspect of bacterial physiology.

Many fundamental discoveries concerning epigenetics and the elucidation of mechanisms of epigenetic regulation have developed from studies performed in plants.

With an ever-increasing elderly population and the resultant rising levels of dementia-related disorders, preclinical research based on animal models is pivotal to our knowledge of underlying molecular mechanisms and drug discovery aiming at the development of therapeutic strategies alleviating or preventing the neurological devastation.

Societal, ethical, and cost-related issues, not to mention the need for sound scientific methods, have led to new and refined methods for the evaluation of health risks associated with neurotoxic compounds, relevant and predictive of exposure, relatively inexpensive, and ideally amenable to high throughput analysis and a reduction in animal use.

Drosophila melanogaster has been the model system of choice for many inv- tigators over the past hundred years.

The existence of genes for RNA molecules not coding for proteins (ncRNAs) has been recognized since the 1950's, but until recently, aside from the critically important ribosomal and transfer RNA genes, most focus has been on protein coding genes.