1、tantNotes inMOLECULARBIOLOGY分子生物速览P.C.Turner,A.G.McLennan,A.D.Bates M.R.H.WhiteSchool of Biological SciencesUniversity of Liverp苏工业学院图书馆藏书章BIOSSCIENTIFICSpringerPUBLISHERSAbbreviationsRT-PCRreverse transcriptase-polymerasea-TIFa-trans-inducing factorchain reactionTristris(hydroxymethyl)amino-SAMS-ad
2、enosylmethioninemethaneSDSsodium dodecyl sulfatetRNAtransfer RNASL1selectivity factor 1UBFupstream binding factorsnRNAsmall nuclear RNAUCEupstream control elementsnRNPsmall nuclear ribonucleoproteinUREupstream regulatory elementSRPsignal recognition particleUVultravioletSsbsingle-stranded binding pr
3、oteinX-gal5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-B-D-ssDNAsingle-stranded DNAgalactopyranosideSV40simian virus 40XPxeroderma pigmentosumTAFTBP-associated factorYACyeast artificial chromosomeTBPTATA-binding proteinYEPyeast episomal plasmidPREFACEThe last 20 years have witnessed a revolution in our understanding
4、of the processes responsible forthe maintenance,transmission and expression of genetic information at the molecular level-the verybasis of life itself.Of the many technical advances on which this explosion of knowledge has beenbased,the ability to remove a specific fragment of DNA from an organism,m
5、anipulate it in the testtube,and return it to the same or a different organism must take pride of place.It is around thisessence of recombinant DNA technology,or genetic engineering to give it its more popular title,thatthe subject of molecular biology has grown.Molecular biology seeks to explain th
6、e relationshipsbetween the structure and function of biological molecules and how these relationships contribute tothe operation and control of biochemical processes.Of principal interest are the macromolecules andmacromolecular complexes of DNA,RNA and protein and the processes of replication,trans
7、criptionand translation.The new experimental technologies involved in manipulating these molecules arecentral to modern molecular biology.Not only does it yield fundamental information about the mole-cules,but it has tremendous practical applications in the development of new and safe products sucha
8、s therapeutics,vaccines and foodstuffs,and in the diagnosis of genetic disease and in gene therapy.An inevitable consequence of the proliferation of this knowledge is the concomitant proliferation ofcomprehensive,glossy textbooks,which,while beautifully produced,can prove somewhat over-whelming in b
9、oth breadth and depth to first and second year undergraduate students.With this inmind,Instant Notes in Molecular Biology aims to deliver the core of the subject in a concise,easily assim-ilated form designed to aid revision.The book is divided into 19 sections containing 70 topics.Eachtopic consist
10、s of a Key Notespanel,with extremely concise statements of the key points covered.Theseare then amplified in the main part of the topic,which includes simple and clear black and white fig-ures,which may be easily understood and reproduced.To get the best from this book,material shouldfirst be learnt
11、 from the main part of the topic;the Key Notes can then be used as a rapid revision aid.Whilst there is a reasonably logical order to the topics,the book is designed to be dipped intoat anypoint.For this reason,numerous cross-references are provided to guide the reader to related topics.The contents
12、 of the book have been chosen to reflect both the major techniques used and the conclu-sions reached through their application to the molecular analysis of biological processes.They arebased largely on the molecular biology courses taught by the authors to first and second year under-graduates on a
13、range of biological science degree courses at the University of Liverpool.Section Aintroduces the classification of cells and macromolecules and outlines some of the methods used toanalyze them.Section B considers the basic elements of protein structure and the relationship of struc-ture to function
14、.The structure and physico-chemical properties of DNA and RNA molecules arediscussed in Section C,including the complex concepts involved in the supercoiling of DNA.Theorganization of DNA into the intricate genomes of both prokaryotes and eukaryotes is covered inSection D.The related subjects of mut
15、agenesis,DNA replication,DNA recombination and the repairof DNA damage are considered in Sections E and F.Section G introduces the technology available for the manipulation of DNA sequences.As describedabove,this underpins much of our detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms of cellularpro
16、cesses.A simple DNA cloning scheme is used to introduce the basic methods.Section H describesa number of the more sophisticated cloning vectors which are used for a variety of purposes.SectionI considers the use of DNA libraries in the isolation of new gene sequences,while Section J coversmore compl
17、ex and detailed methods,including DNA sequencing and the analysis of cloned sequences.This section concludes with a discussion of some of the rapidly expanding applications of gene cloningtechniques.The basic principles of gene transcription in prokaryotes are described in Section K,while SectionL gives examples of some of the sophisticated mechanisms employed by bacteria to control specific