The Human Genome Project : deciphering the blueprint of heredity /

This book will be an important acquisition because it provides information about the widely publicized human genome project on a number of different levels. Thus, it can be read by, and can prove useful to, well-educated general readers as well as advanced academics and lifelong scholars. The book is divided into sections (eight) rather than into traditional chapters. The first provides introductory material including the classics of Mendelian genetics and cell division, extending through the recent ascension of molecular biology to provide a collection of tools for the study of molecular genetics. The second section is an exciting roundtable discussion among, in the words of the text, "some of the modern-day explorers" of molecular biology, about the steps required to envision the project in the first place, to gather the scientific expertise and resources for its accomplishment, and to mount the effort for its implementation. Other sections describe the actual mapping of human chromosome 16, provide information about genetic sequences maintained in so-called DNA libraries, describe the indispensable role of computerization in the process of genome mapping, and illustrate this importance by showing how DNA can be mapped rapidly from a single molecule. The final two sections consider the humanistic concerns of such a project in ethical, legal, and social terms, and explore in roundtable fashion the progression of this project into the next century. A bargain. All levels. L. A. Meserve; Bowling Green State University