In the past few years nucleic acids technologies have grown into a powerful analytical and also increasingly therapeutic tool. It has been applied not only to the uncovering of gene functions in many organisms, but also to pathogenetic analysis and recently also for the treatment of human diseases. The book discusses in depth the potential of these innovative methods in the broad field of central nervous system and brain tumours particularly. Whereas there is currently no comprehensive ove...

This book focuses on the close relationship between aging and neurodegeneration. By highlighting the reversible nature of epigenetic changes, it provides a comprehensive overview of how these modifications can regulate gene expression without altering the DNA sequence, offering promising solutions for clinical intervention.Aging induces a gradual decline in cerebral function, leading to cognitive impairment, memory loss, motor dysfunction, and eventually functional decline and deat...

This volume is comprised of 18 chapters, covering various aspects of DNA modification and RNA modified bases. It also discusses in detail circular RNA, therapeutic oligonucleotides and their different properties.The chemical nature of DNA, RNA, protein and lipids makes these macromolecules easily modifiable, but they are also susceptible to damage from both endogenous and exogenous agents. Alkylation and oxidation show a potential to disrupt the cellular redox equilibrium and cause...

This book reviews the chemical, regulatory, and physiological mechanisms of protein arginine and lysine methyltransferases, as well as nucleic acid methylations and methylating enzymes. Protein and nucleic acid methylation play key and diverse roles in cellular signalling and regulating macromolecular cell functions.Protein arginine and lysine methyltransferases are the predominant enzymes that catalyse S-adenosylmethionine (SAM)-dependent methylation of protein substrates. These e...

The aim of molecular diagnostics is preferentially to detect a developing disease before any symptoms appear. There has been a significant increase, fueled by technologies from the human genome project, in the availability of nucleic acid sequence information for all living organisms including bacteria and viruses. When combined with a different type of instrumentation applied, the resulting diagnostics is specific and sensitive. Nucleic acid-based medical diagnosis detects specific DNAs o...

Modern biology is moving away from reductionist approaches towards holistic studies that encompass whole genomes, transcriptomes, proteomes, and metabolomes. Systems biology is an approach to studying complex biological systems by looking at many biomolecules in a comprehensive way. The aim is to gain a thorough understanding of the biological functions of different classes of molecules and their interactions.Systems Biology II is an up-to-date and comprehensive guide to the latest...

This book will provide latest insights in the functional potentials of ribonucleic acids in medine and the use of Spiegelmer and Spiegelzyme systems. It will also deal with a new type of delivery systems for cellular targeting.

This volume contains 29 engrossing chapters contributed by worldwide, leading research groups in the field of chemical biology. Topics include pre-biology; the establishment of the genetic code; isomerization of RNA; damage of nucleobases in RNA; the dynamic structure of nucleic acids and their analogs in DNA replication, extra- and intra-cellular transport; molecular crowding by the use of ionic liquids; new technologies enabling the modification of gene expression via editing of therapeu...

In the most recent years, each of the RNA silencing pathways of plants have appeared to generate ncRNAs with dedicated functions, specialized biological activities and specific functional scopes. RNA silencing plays a crucial role in coordinating the expression, stability, protection and inheritance of eukaryotic genomes. It compromises several mechanisms, that invariably depend on core small non coding RNAs and that achieve dedicated sequence-specific functions. RNA silencing has been rec...

Despite a half century of structural, biophysical and biochemical investigations of ribonucleic acids, they are still mysterious. RNAs stand at fertile crossroads of disciplines, integrating concepts from genomics, proteomics, dynamics as well as biochemistry and molecular biology. From 20 years it is clear, that genetic regulation of eukaryotic organisms has been misunderstood for the last years that the expression of genetic information is effected only by proteins. Basic understanding o...

This book presents, in 26 chapters, the status quo in epigenomic profiling. It discusses how functional information can be indirectly inferred and describes the new approaches that promise functional answers, collectively referred to as epigenome editing. It highlights the latest important advances in our understanding of the functions of plant epigenomics and new technologies for the study of epigenomic marks and mechanisms in plants. Topics include the deposition or removal of chromatin ...

Many breakthroughs in experimental devices, advanced software, as well as analytical methods for systems biology development have helped shape the way we study DNA, RNA and proteins, on the genomic, transcriptional, translational and posttranslational level. This book highlights the comprehensive topics that encompass systems biology with enormous progress in the development of genome sequencing, proteomic and metabolomic methods in designing and understanding biological systems.To...