B. Alberts, A. Johnson, J. Lewis и др. - Molecular Biology of The Cell (6th edition), страница 2

To avoid interruptions to the text, some materialhas been moved into new, readily accessible panels. Most of the important protein structures depicted have now been redrawn and consistently colored. In eachviiiPREFACEcase, we now provide the corresponding Protein Data Bank (PDB) code for theprotein, which can be used to access online tools that provide more informationabout it, such as those on the RCSB PDB website (www.rcsb.org). These connections allow readers of the book to explore more fully the proteins that lie at the coreof cell biology.John Wilson and Tim Hunt have again contributed their distinctive and imaginative problems to help students gain a more active understanding of the text.The problems emphasize quantitative approaches and encourage critical thinkingabout published experiments; they are now present at the end of all chapters.

Theanswers to these problems, plus more than 1800 additional problems and solutions,all appear in the companion volume that John and Tim have written, MolecularBiology of the Cell, Sixth Edition: The Problems Book.We live in a world that presents us with many complex issues related to cellbiology: biodiversity, climate change, food security, environmental degradation,resource depletion, and human disease. We hope that our textbook will help thereader better understand and possibly contribute to meeting these challenges.Knowledge and understanding bring the power to intervene.We are indebted to a large number of scientists whose generous help we mention separately in the detailed acknowledgments.

Here we must mention some particularly significant contributors. For Chapter 8, Hana El-Samad provided the coreof the section on Mathematical Analysis of Cell Functions, and Karen Hopkin madevaluable contributions to the section on Studying Gene Expression and Function.Werner Kuhlbrandt helped to reorganize and rewrite Chapter 14 (Energy Conversion: Mitochondria and Chloroplasts). Rebecca Heald did the same for Chapter 16(The Cytoskeleton), as did Alexander Schier for Chapter 21 (Development of Multicellular Organisms), and Matt Welch for Chapter 23 (Pathogens and Infection).Lewis Lanier aided in the writing of Chapter 24 (The Innate and Adaptive ImmuneSystems). Hossein Amiri generated the enormous online instructor’s question bank.Before starting out on the revision cycle for this edition, we asked a number ofscientists who had used the last edition to teach cell biology students to meet withus and suggest improvements.

They gave us useful feedback that has helped informthe new edition. We also benefited from the valuable input of groups of studentswho read most of the chapters in page proofs.Many people and much effort are needed to convert a long manuscript and alarge pile of sketches into a finished textbook.

The team at Garland Science thatmanaged this conversion was outstanding. Denise Schanck, directing operations,displayed forbearance, insight, tact, and energy throughout the journey; she guidedus all unerringly, ably assisted by Allie Bochicchio and Janette Scobie. Nigel Ormeoversaw our revamped illustration program, put all the artwork into its final form,and again enhanced the back cover with his graphics skills. Tiago Barros helped usrefresh our presentation of protein structures.

Matthew McClements designed thebook and its front cover. Emma Jeffcock again laid out the final pages, managing endless rounds of proofs and last-minute changes with remarkable skill and patience;Georgina Lucas provided her with help. Michael Morales, assisted by Leah Christians, produced and assembled the complex web of videos, animations, and othermaterials that form the core of the online resources that accompany the book. AdamSendroff provided us with the valuable feedback from book users around the worldthat informed our revision cycle. Casting expert eyes over the manuscript, Elizabeth Zayatz and Sherry Granum Lewis acted as development editors, Jo Clayton ascopyeditor, and Sally Huish as proofreader.

Bill Johncocks compiled the index. InLondon, Emily Preece fed us, while the Garland team’s professional help, skills, andenergy, together with their friendship, nourished us in every other way throughoutthe revision, making the whole process a pleasure. The authors are extremely fortunate to be supported so generously.We thank our spouses, families, friends, and colleagues for their continuing support, which has once again made the writing of this book possible.Just as we were completing this edition, Julian Lewis, our coauthor, friend, andcolleague, finally succumbed to the cancer that he had fought so heroically for tenyears.

Starting in 1979, Julian made major contributions to all six editions, and,as our most elegant wordsmith, he elevated and enhanced both the style and toneof all the many chapters he touched. Noted for his careful scholarly approach,clarity and simplicity were at the core of his writing. Julian is irreplaceable, and wewill all deeply miss his friendship and collaboration. We dedicate this Sixth Editionto his memory.ixNote to the ReaderStructure of the BookAlthough the chapters of this book can be read independently of one another, theyare arranged in a logical sequence of five parts. The first three chapters of Part Icover elementary principles and basic biochemistry. They can serve either as anintroduction for those who have not studied biochemistry or as a refresher coursefor those who have.

Part II deals with the storage, expression, and transmissionof genetic information. Part III presents the principles of the main experimentalmethods for investigating and analyzing cells; here, a new section entitled “Mathematical Analysis of Cell Functions” in Chapter 8 provides an extra dimension inour understanding of cell regulation and function. Part IV describes the internalorganization of the cell. Part V follows the behavior of cells in multicellular systems, starting with development of multicellular organisms and concluding withchapters on pathogens and infection and on the innate and adaptive immunesystems.End-of-Chapter ProblemsA selection of problems, written by John Wilson and Tim Hunt, appears in the textat the end of each chapter.

New to this edition are problems for the last four chapters on multicellular organisms. The complete solutions to all of these problemscan be found in Molecular Biology of the Cell, Sixth Edition: The Problems Book.ReferencesA concise list of selected references is included at the end of each chapter. Theseare arranged in alphabetical order under the main chapter section headings.These references sometimes include the original papers in which important discoveries were first reported.Glossary TermsThroughout the book, boldface type has been used to highlight key terms at thepoint in a chapter where the main discussion occurs.

Italic type is used to set offimportant terms with a lesser degree of emphasis. At the end of the book is anexpanded glossary, covering technical terms that are part of the common currency of cell biology; it should be the first resort for a reader who encounters anunfamiliar term. The complete glossary as well as a set of flashcards is availableon the Student Website.Nomenclature for Genes and ProteinsEach species has its own conventions for naming genes; the only common feature is that they are always set in italics. In some species (such as humans), genenames are spelled out all in capital letters; in other species (such as zebrafish), allin lowercase; in yet others (most mouse genes), with the first letter in uppercaseand rest in lowercase; or (as in Drosophila) with different combinations of uppercase and lowercase, according to whether the first mutant allele to be discoveredproduced a dominant or recessive phenotype.

Conventions for naming proteinproducts are equally varied.This typographical chaos drives everyone crazy. It is not just tiresome andabsurd; it is also unsustainable. We cannot independently define a fresh convention for each of the next few million species whose genes we may wish to study.NOTE TO THE READERxMoreover, there are many occasions, especially in a book such as this, where weneed to refer to a gene generically—without specifying the mouse version, thehuman version, the chick version, or the hippopotamus version—because theyare all equivalent for the purposes of our discussion.

What convention thenshould we use?We have decided in this book to cast aside the different conventions that areused in individual species and follow a uniform rule: we write all gene names, likethe names of people and places, with the first letter in uppercase and the rest inlowercase, but all in italics, thus: Apc, Bazooka, Cdc2, Dishevelled, Egl1. The corresponding protein, where it is named after the gene, will be written in the sameway, but in roman rather than italic letters: Apc, Bazooka, Cdc2, Dishevelled, Egl1.When it is necessary to specify the organism, this can be done with a prefix to thegene name.For completeness, we list a few further details of naming rules that we shallfollow. In some instances, an added letter in the gene name is traditionally usedto distinguish between genes that are related by function or evolution; for thosegenes, we put that letter in uppercase if it is usual to do so (LacZ, RecA, HoxA4).We use no hyphen to separate added letters or numbers from the rest of the name.Proteins are more of a problem.

Many of them have names in their own right,assigned to them before the gene was named. Such protein names take manyforms, although most of them traditionally begin with a lowercase letter (actin,hemoglobin, catalase), like the names of ordinary substances (cheese, nylon),unless they are acronyms (such as GFP, for Green Fluorescent Protein, or BMP4,for Bone Morphogenetic Protein #4). To force all such protein names into a uniform style would do too much violence to established usages, and we shall simplywrite them in the traditional way (actin, GFP, and so on).