Fumio Hanaoka – DNA Replication Recombination and Repair (2016)

Автор: Fumio Hanaoka
Название книги: DNA Replication Recombination and Repair
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Биология
Страницы: 548
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

Replication, recombination, and repair of DNA are fundamental molecular mechanisms
for organisms to maintain (and sometimes intentionally alter) genetic
information. Although these processes, individually, have been important subjects
of molecular biology since its emergence, we have recently become aware that they
are actually much more intimately related to one another than we used to realize.
Furthermore, the research fields of DNA replication, recombination, and repair
have been growing even more interdisciplinary, with better understanding of
molecular mechanisms underlying other pivotal processes, such as chromosome
structures and functions, cell cycle and checkpoints, transcriptional and epigenetic
regulation of gene expression, and so on. Most importantly, now we know that
DNA replication, recombination, repair, and related functions form a sophisticated
network in order to maintain, regulate, and even evolve genetic information. Since
quite some time ago, perturbation of normal DNA replication, recombination, or the
repair process has been implicated in carcinogenesis, mainly through inducing
genome instability. However, recent studies have revealed that malfunctioning of
the above network system, as a whole, may be implicated in a much wider variety of
pathological states of higher organisms (e.g., ageing, and neurological and developmental
abnormalities).
This book is intended to comprehensively overview the detailed molecular
mechanisms of and functional crosstalk among DNA replication, recombination,
repair, and related processes, with the special consciousness of their biological as
well as clinical consequences. It comprises 7 parts and 21 chapters, contributed by
more than 50 outstanding scientists from the related research fields. The first
3 parts, each containing 3 chapters, are dedicated to describing basic molecular
mechanisms and regulation of DNA replication, recombination, and repair, respectively.
Part IV is concerned with the biological processes involved in generation
and/or prevention of genome instability and mutagenesis, particularly during DNA
replication or after DNA double-strand breaks. In part V, there is discussion of how
characteristic structural elements of eukaryotic chromosomes, centromeres, and
telomeres are organized and contribute to maintenance of genome stability. Part
VI describes the molecular mechanisms underlying checkpoint controls of the cell
cycle as well as regulation of cellular senescence and apoptosis, all of which play
crucial roles in prevention of carcinogenesis. The final part is concerned with
histone modifications and DNA methylation, which are involved in epigenetic
controls of transcription and other DNA metabolisms and are regulated by DNA
replication and/or repair machineries.
This book is expected to be used by a wide audience: graduate students,
postdoctoral fellows, and senior scientists in broad research fields of basic molecular
biology, not only those directly related to DNA replication, recombination, and
repair, but also those from related fields (chromosomes, cell cycles, transcription,
epigenetics, and similar processes). Considering the diversity of physiological
functions as well as diseases related to the genome regulatory networks, individuals
in cancer biology, neurological sciences, developmental biology, immunology,
evolutionary biology, and many other fields may be interested as well. We are
especially thankful to all the authors for their great contributions, devoting their
valuable time to preparation of the manuscripts. We are also indebted to the
editorial staff members of Springer for their kind support in making this book
publishable. We hope that the book will help many researchers to acquire and
understand the current knowledge in these fields, which are expected to grow into
innovative areas in the near future.
Tokyo, Japan Fumio Hanaoka