Essentials of Genetics [Paperback]

Balancing classical and modern genetics, Essentials of Genetics helps readers understand basic genetics concepts, apply those concepts to genetics problems, and recognize the logic behind them. This succinct treatment features coverage of new research that will capture readers’ interests.

Mendelian (transmission) genetics, and modern molecular genetics with analytical reasoning woven into discussions, plus references to classical experiments and recent applications. Helps readers connect the science of genetics to the issues of today. Modernizes treatment of timely topics, including genomics, bioinformatics, proteomics (chapter 18), applications and ethics of genetic engineering (chapter 19); updated and extended coverage of gene regulation (chapter 15), cancer genetics (chapter 16). Features beautifully redesigned illustrations throughout, helping readers understand concepts more clearly.

  A useful reference for anyone interested in learning more about genetics.

Essentials of Genetics is written for courses requiring a text that is shorter and more basic than its more comprehensive companion, Concepts of Genetics. While coverage is thorough, current, and of high quality, Essentials is written to be more accessible to biology majors early in their undergraduate careers, as well as by a mixture of students majoring in agriculture, forestry, wildlife management, chemistry, psychology, and so on. Because the text is shorter than many other books, Essentials of Genetics will be more manageable in one-quarter and one-semester courses.

Although Essentials of Genetics is almost 300 pages shorter than its companion volume, our goals are the same for both books. Specifically, we seek to

• Emphasize concepts rather than excessive detail
• Write clearly and directly to students in order to provide understandable explanations of complex, analytical topics
• Establish a careful organization within and between chapters
• Maintain constant emphasis on scientific analysis as the means to illustrate how we know what we know
• Propagate the rich history of genetics that so beautifully illustrates how information is acquired and extended within the discipline as it develops and grows
• Create inviting, engaging, and pedagogically useful full-color figures enhanced by equally helpful photographs to support concept development

These goals serve as the cornerstones of Essentials of Genetics. This pedagogic foundation allows the book to accommodate courses with many different approaches and lecture formats. Chapters are written to be as independent of one another as possible, allowing instructors to utilize them in various sequences. We believe that the varied approaches embodied in these goals work together to provide students with optimal support for their study of genetics.

• Online Media Tutorials—Students are guided in their understanding of important concepts by working through what are simply the best animations, tutorial exercises, and self-assessment tools available.
• Length—Once again we have managed to streamline the text. This new Essentials is 508 pages, 7 pages shorter than the previous edition.
• Revised Organization—We provide an improved chapter sequence designed to flow smoothly from start to finish, including an early (the first chapter) introduction to DNA as well a cohesive sequence of chapters centering on the genetic role of DNA, its structure, replication, expression, and regulation.
• New Chapters—Sex Determination and Sex Chromosomes combines new information with parts of chapters from the previous edition; Genomics and Proteomics is a totally new chapter that gives students concepts and tools necessary to understand the information explosion occurring in these fields. The chapter entitled Conservation Genetics represents the first coverage of this emerging discipline in any genetics textbook.
• Redesign of the Art Program—The pedagogic value, to say nothing of the beautiful execution, of the new art program will be readily apparent to users of the previous edition.
• Section Numbers—All sections are numbered making it easier to assign topics and for students to find topics within chapters
• New Photographs—An even greater number of photographs illustrate and enhance this edition.
• Emerging Topics in Genetics—Coverage of cutting edge topics includes comparative genomics, which analyzes the recently sequenced genomes of a number of organisms, including our own species (Chapter 18); proteomics, which attempts to define the potential role of the genes discovered during the Human Genome Project (Chapter 18); and conservation genetics, which assesses and attempts to maintain genetic diversity in the many endangered species on our planet (Chapter 24).
• Modernization of Topics—In addition to the areas considered in the section above on emerging topics, modernization is particularly evident in the discussions of recombinant DNA technology (Chapter 16), the organization of repetitive DNA sequences in the human genome (Chapter 17), the role of genetics in the origin of cancer (Chapter 21), and the analysis of HIV infection and resistance in population genetic studies (Chapter 22).
• New "Genetics, Technology, and Society" Essays—New topics include "Genetically Modified Foods," "DNA At the Millennium," "Completion of the Human Genome Project: The Hype and the Hope," and "Endangered Species: The Florida Panther."
• Emphasis on Problem Solving—"Insights and Solutions" sections at the ends of chapters guide students in how to think analytically about problems. "Problems and Discussion Questions" have been expanded to offer more opportunity for study.

As in its companion volume, Essentials of Genetics continues to emphasize the conceptual framework of genetics. Our experience with this approach shows that students more easily comprehend and take with them to succeeding courses the most important ideas in genetics as well as an analytic view of biological problems. To aid students in identifying conceptual aspects of a major topic, each chapter begins with a section called "Chapter Concepts," which in a few sentences captures the essence of the most important ideas about to be presented. Then, each chapter ends with a "Chapter Summary," which enumerates the five to ten key points that have been covered. These two features help to ensure that students focus on concepts and are not distracted by the many, albeit important, details of genetics. Specific examples and carefully designed figures support this approach throughout the book.

Genetics, more than any other discipline within biology, requires problem solving and analytical thinking. At the end of each chapter we include what has become an extremely popular and successful section called "Insights and Solutions." In this section we stress:

• Problem solving
• Quantitative analysis
• Analytical thinking
• Experimental rationale

Problems or questions are posed and detailed solutions or answers are provided. This feature primes students for moving on to the "Problems and Discussion Questions" section that concludes each chapter.

In order to optimize the opportunities for student growth in the important areas of problem solving and analytical thinking, each chapter concludes with an extensive collection of problems and discussion questions. These represent various levels of difficulty, with the most challenging problems located at the end of each section. Brief answers to half the problems are in Appendix A. The Student Handbook is available to students for faculty who wish to expose their students to detailed answers to all problems and questions.

Online Media Tutorials (New)
The most sophisticated learning and tutorial package available for students of genetics, this online tutorial support system addresses students' most difficult concepts as identified through a survey of instructors. Concepts and processes begin with an overview that usually includes animations, proceeds to one or a series of interactive exercises, followed by self quizzes. Each chapter contains a glossary, help function, search function, web links to fascinating and useful web sites, plus additional problem-solving questions. Students who experience difficulty with exercises or quizzes will be directed to specific sections of the text for review.The handbook also contains extra study problems and a thorough review of concepts and vocabulary.

New York Times Themes of the Times: Genetics and Molecular Biology
Coordinated by Furry Nickla, Creighton University (0-13-060462-3)
This exciting newspaper-format supplement brings together recent genetics and molecular biology articles from the pages of the highly respected New York Times. This free supplement, available through your local representative, encourages students to make the connections between genetic concepts and the latest research and breakthroughs in the field. This resource is updated regularly.

Science on the Internet: A Student's Guide
Andrew Stull and Harry Nickla (0-13-028253-7)
The perfect guide to help your students take advantage of explosion of our Essentials of Genetics home page on the World Wide Web. This resource gives clear steps to access our regularly updated genetics resource area as well as an overview of general navigation and research strategies.

Instructor's CD-ROM (0-13-065850-2)
For Essentials adopters, this CD-ROM is partitioned into sections that contain

• All figures from the text
• PowerPoint (TM) format for figures
• The complete Instructor's Manual

Instructors will be able to coordinate lectures presentations with text content knowing students will be studying using the same animations, based upon the text. No more searching for the Instructor's Manual—It's on the CD-ROM.

Instructor's Resource Manual with Testbank
This manual and test bank contains over 800 questions and problems an instructor can use to prepare exams. The manual also provides optional course sequences, a guide to audiovisual supplements, and a section on searching the web. The testbank portion of the manual is also available in electronic format for both Windows and Macintosh users. Prentice Hall Custom Test allows instructors to create and tailor exams to their own needs. With the Online Testing option, exams can also be administered online and data can then be automatically transferred for evaluation. A comprehensive desk reference guide is included, along with online assistance.

Transparencies
200 figures from the text are included in the transparency package: 150 four-color transparencies from the text plus 50 transparency masters. The font size of the labels has been increased for easy viewing from the back of the classroom.

WebCT Course for Essentials of Genetics, 4th edition
The Prentice Hall WebCT course content for Essentials helps you meet the challenge of creating robust, interactive and educationally rich online courses. Our WebCT course material provides you with high quality, class-tested material pre-programmed and fully functional in the WebCT environment. Whether used as an online supplement to either a campus-based or distance learning course, our pre-assembled course content gives you a tremendous head start in developing your own online courses.

Blackboard Course for Essentials of Genetics, 4th edition
The Essentials Blackboard course contains web-based content and resources such as online study guides, assessment databanks, and lecture resource material. The abundant online content from Essentials, combined with Blackboard's popular tools and easy-to-use interface, result in a robust web-based course that is easy to implement, manage, and use—taking your courses to new heights in student interaction and learning. The Blackboard course management solution enable you to quickly add an online component to your campus-based course to provide you with a sophisticated technology base for total customization, scalability, and integration into your distance learning course.

CourseCompass Course for Essentials of Genetics, 4th edition
The Essentials CourseCompass™ course is the perfect course management solution that combines quality content with state-of-the-art Blackboard technology! CourseCompass™ is a dynamic, interactive online course management tool powered by Blackboard but hosted by Pearson Education. This exciting product allows you to teach with market-leading Essentials content in an easy-to-use customizable format.

All comprehensive texts are dependent on the valuable input provided by many reviewers and colleagues. While we take full responsibility for any errors in this book, we gratefully acknowledge the help provided by those individuals who reviewed or otherwise contributed to the content and pedagogy of this and previous editions.

In particular, we thank Sarah Ward at Colorado State University for creating Chapter 24-Conservation Genetics and Jon Herron at the University of Washington for his input into Chapter 22-Population Genetics and Chapter 23-Genetics and Evolution. As in past editions, Charlotte Spencer at the Cross Cancer Institute in Alberta wrote or revised most of the Genetics, Technology, and Society essays. Others essays were previously contributed by Mark Shotwell at Slippery Rock University.

Robert W. Adkinson, Louisiana State University
Janice Bossart, The College of New Jersey
Paul Bottino, University of Maryland
Jim Bricker, The College of New Jersey
Hugh Britten, University of South Dakota
Aaron Cassill, University of Texas, San Antonio
Jimmy D. Clark, University of Kentucky
Stephen J. DSurney, University of Mississippi
Scott Erdman, Syracuse University
Nancy H. Ferguson, Clemson University
Kim Gaither, Oklahoma Christian Univeristy
David Galbreath, McMaster University
Derek J. Girman, Sonoma State University
Elliot Goldstein, Arizona State University
Mark L. Hammond, Campbell University
Mike Hoopman, The College of New Jersey
David Hoppe, University of Minnesota, Morris
John A. Hunt, University of Hawaii, Honolulu
David Kass, Eastern Michigan University
Arlene Larson, University of Colorado at Denver
Beth A. Krueger, Monroe Community College
Hsiu-Ping Liu, Southwest Missouri State University
Paul F. Lurquin, Washington State University
Sally Mackenzie, University of Nebraska
Terry C. Matthews, Millikan University
Cynthia Moore, Washington University
Janet Morrison, The College of New Jersey
Michelle A. Murphy, University of Notre Dame
Marcia L. OConnell, The College of New Jersey
Malcolm Schug, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Ralph Seelke, University of Wisconsin, Superior
Gurel S. Sidhu, California State University
Gerald Schlink, Missouri Southern State College
Randy Scholl, Ohio State University
Mark Sturtevant, Northern Arizona University
Christine Tachibana, University of Washington
R. C. Woodruff, Bowling Green State University
Marie Wooten, Auburn University