Genetic Switch: Phage Lambda Revisited

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 154 pages
• Published by: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
• Edition: 3rd Edition April 2004
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0879697164
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0879697167
• Book Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.5 x 0.3 inches
• Weighs: 10.4 ounces

Product Description
The first edition of Mark Ptashne's 1986 book describing the principles of gene regulation in phage lambda became a classic in both content and form, setting a standard of clarity and precise prose that has rarely been bettered. This edition is a reprint of the original text, together with a new chapter updating the story to 2004. Among the striking new developments are recent findings on long–range interactions between proteins bound to widely separated sites on the phage genome, and a detailed description of how gene activation works.

Reader Reviews
I found out about this unassuming little book in Sean Carroll's "Endless forms most beautiful" and was delighted. When I first started reading it, a stranger who saw me with it smiled and I soon found out why. It can be read by anyone with a modest scientific education (little more than high school) but it takes you up to the frontiers of research on gene regulation. Readers who remember the way "Scientific American" used to cover molecular biology in 1960's through the '80's (or have read reprints from that era) will appreciate the highly visual style and the clear prose. The genetic switch in question determines whether the genes of a virus that infects a bacterial cell will quietly integrate themselves into the bacterial genome and be copied along with the bacteria's genes each time the cell divides or use the cell's machinery to make many copies of itself, quickly destroying the cell in the process. If you are like me you'll be fascinated to learn how this switch works and about the experiments that revealed its secrets.