Microcompartmentation refers to nonhomogeneous distribution of solutes in compartments of cells or associated structures without intervening membranal barriers. Such variations in concentration of ions, metabolites, intracellular messengers, and nutrients can introduce significant heterogeneity in subcellular function and regulation. The current focus on biological examples of microcompartmentation provides ample evidence for its importance and the role of physical structure in determining...

This book provides a comprehensive coverage of the basic principles of structural biology, as well as an up-to-date summary of some main directions of research in the field. The relationship between structure and function is described in detail for soluble proteins, membrane proteins, membranes, and nucleic acids.There are several books covering protein structure and function, but none that give a complete picture, including nucleic acids, lipids, membranes and carbohydrates, all being of ...

Patents protecting biotechnological invention are becoming ever more important. Because biotechnology has many differences with respect to other technologies, lessons learned in other fields of technology cannot simply be transferred to adopt a suitable strategy for dealing with biotechnology inventions.In this volume, general aspects of biopatent law will be discussed. This involves questions of patentability, including ethical issues and issues of technicality, as well as questio...

While most stem cell books focus on basic aspects and/or cell therapy, this book emphasizes the relevance of stem cells obtained from patients, the so-called “patients in a petri dish” as tools to investigate human genetic diseases for which there are no available effective treatment. Chapters embrace several examples of the use of iPS cell technology, a recent Nobel Prize-winning scientific breakthrough, to obtain patient-specific pluripotent cells from which many types of specialized cel...

Carbohydrates are the most widely distributed naturally-occurring organic compounds on Earth. They make up much of our food, clothing and shelter, and are as vital to national economies as they are to our diet. This book is the first broad treatment of carbohydrate chemistry in many years, and presents the structures, reactions, modifications, and properties of carbohydrates. Woven throughout the text are discussions of biological properties of carbohydrates, their industrial applications,...

This book focuses upon air pollution, types of air pollutants and their impact on plant physiological and biochemical systems. The book begins with a brief background on air pollution and continues with a discussion on different types, effects, and solutions to the pollution. The chapters that follow, explore the different effects of pollution on chloroplasts, respiration, biochemistry and physiology of plant cells. Moreover, it covers the basic concepts of atmospheric transport and transf...

Channing Der and colleagues provide an encyclopedic overview of the Rho GTPases, providing enough detail to make any reader well-versed in the Rho field. Finally, Sofia Merajver’s laboratory provides an overview, which details the roles of the Rho proteins in cancer progression. She provides us with the history of the study of the Rho GTPases, their regulatory and effector proteins in cancer and gives us a benchmark of where the field is today. The second section of the book details the cu...

Autophagy: Cancer, Other Pathologies, Inflammation, Immunity, Infection, and Aging is a complete, authoritative examination of the role of autophagy in health and disease. Understanding this phenomenon is vital for the studies of cancer, aging, neurodegeneration, immunology, and infectious diseases. Comprehensive and forward thinking, this four-volume work offers a valuable guide to cellular processes while encouraging researchers to explore their potentially important connections. Underst...

Abiotic stress has a detrimental impact on the living organisms in a specific environment and constitutes a major constraint to global agricultural production. The adverse environmental conditions that plants encounter during their life cycle not only disturb their metabolic reactions, but also hamper their growth and development on cellular and whole plant levels. These conditions are of great concern, particularly for those countries whose economies primarily rely on agriculture. Under a...

Written by experts in their respective fields, this book reviews the expanding knowledge concerning the mechanisms regulating male reproduction at the molecular and cellular levels. It covers the development of the testes and regulatory controls for spermatogenesis and steroidogenesis, and it considers aspects of Sertoli cell function. Areas of emphasis include communication between the various cell types involved in reproduction by hormone and growth factors and the mechanisms by which th...

This book highlights recent advances in and diverse techniques for exploring the plasma membrane’s structure and function. It starts with two chapters reviewing the history of membrane research and listing recent advances regarding membrane structure, such as the semi-mosaic model for red blood cell membranes and the protein layer-lipid-protein island model for nucleated tissue cell membranes. It subsequently focuses on the localization and interactions of membrane components, dynamic proc...

This book explores the journey of biotechnology, searching for new avenues and noting the impressive accomplishments to date. It has harmonious blend of facts, applications and new ideas. Fast-paced biotechnologies are broadly applied and are being continuously explored in areas like the environmental, industrial, agricultural and medical sciences. The sequencing of the human genome has opened new therapeutic opportunities and enriched the field of medical biotechnology while analysis of b...