The Society of Genes
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- HUF9,290.00
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- HUF9,290.00
Publisher Description
Nearly four decades ago Richard Dawkins published The Selfish Gene, famously reducing humans to “survival machines” whose sole purpose was to preserve “the selfish molecules known as genes.” How these selfish genes work together to construct the organism, however, remained a mystery. Standing atop a wealth of new research, The Society of Genes now provides a vision of how genes cooperate and compete in the struggle for life.
Pioneers in the nascent field of systems biology, Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher present a compelling new framework to understand how the human genome evolved and why understanding the interactions among our genes shifts the basic paradigm of modern biology. Contrary to what Dawkins’s popular metaphor seems to imply, the genome is not made of individual genes that focus solely on their own survival. Instead, our genomes comprise a society of genes which, like human societies, is composed of members that form alliances and rivalries.
In language accessible to lay readers, The Society of Genes uncovers genetic strategies of cooperation and competition at biological scales ranging from individual cells to entire species. It captures the way the genome works in cancer cells and Neanderthals, in sexual reproduction and the origin of life, always underscoring one critical point: that only by putting the interactions among genes at center stage can we appreciate the logic of life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Yanai, professor of biology at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, and Lercher, professor of bioinformatics at Heinrich Heine University in D sseldorf, join forces in an attempt to reconceptualize the way scientists look at the role genes play in evolution. They view their offering as an extension of Richard Dawkins's pivotal 1976 work, The Selfish Gene, helping readers go beyond what they consider to be a perspective that is far too narrow in scope. They hope to reach a general audience while also intending that the book "will be interesting to our colleagues by offering a new angle on the evolution of genes and genomes." This is a tall order, and the latter half of it is not achieved. The writing is engaging and clear, providing ample introductory material to ensure that the interested lay reader will be swept along by both the science and the evolutionary story, but there is little here for the professional scientist. As the authors themselves note, biologists have long appreciated many of the ways that genes interact with one another to form integrated and well-functioning organisms. For the general reader, however, Yanai and Lercher's discussions of cancer, immunology, sexual reproduction, and population genetics are well worth exploring. Illus.
