Fundamentals Of Genetics

Dr. Veer Bala Rastogi with 45 years of teaching experience, combines in herself the academic as well as pragmatic approach.She retired as Associate Professor from Gargi College, University of Delhi, after teaching biological sciences for more than 45 years. She was a member of the academic staff of Zoology Department, Meerut College from 1961 to 1967 where she taught genetics to post graduate students. Dr. Rastogi was a Fellow of the Academy of Zoology and also a member of the Textbook Evaluation Committee of NCERT. She is author of a number of school books in biology recommended by various boards of studies including ISC, CBSE and Universities. Her latest book is on Genetics which brings functional approach to the subject.Dr. Rastogi was conferred the Distinguished Author Award, 2012 by the Federation of Educational Publishers in India, Delhi.Nirvika Rastogi is a passionate biomedical engineer in the making and is completing her graduate studies at Duke University.She completed her Bachelor of Technology in Biotechnology from GGS Indraprastha University where she graduated as a gold medalist. As a student herself, she understands the crucial significance of accessible scientific information given in a concise form and she strives to improve scientific dissemination in education.ABOUT THE BOOKThe text in this book is divided into six parts.Part I: Transmission GeneticsCovers the basics of heredity and introduction to Genetics. Chapter 1 covers the derivation of the term 'Genetics', its historical background, the various sub-fields of Genetics, their practical applications and relations to the other branches of sciences be it human health, populations statistics or economics. Chapter 2 covers Mendel's experiments and consequently the Mendel's laws of Inheritance. Chapter 3 presents applications of mathematical expressions to derive results from various breeding experiments in the light of Mendel's laws.Chapter 4 provides an opportunity to the students for practicing the numericalproblems based on Mendel's laws, a unique feature of this book.Part Il: Extension and Application of Mendelian GeneticsFocuses on modifications of Mendel's basic laws and explores the reasoning behind these variations. It covers interallelic gene interactions, polygenic inheritance, inheritance of multiple alleles, blood groups and interactions between genes and environment. This part also explains linkage, crossing over and recombination and chromosome maps. Chapters on sex determination, sex linkage and cytoplasmic inheritance are thereby covered in great depth.Part III: Human GeneticsDeals with the identification and inheritance of hereditary characters in human populations, improvements in human population genetics, advancement in the human genome project, all under the notion of utilising genetics for the elevation of the human race.Part IV: Microbial GeneticsInvestigates principles of genetics where the subjects are viruses, bacteria and Neurospora. Within the sphere of microbial genetics, the chapters also reveal information on how mutants are isolated and how the positions of their mutations are mapped on their chromosomes.Part V: Physical and Chemical Basis of HeredityIncludes cell division, mitosis, meiosis and gametogenesis. Chemical basis of heredity explains the organisation of the genomes, genes and the identification of genetic material. The molecular aspect of hereditary material presents our current understanding of structure and functions of DNA and RNA.Part VI: Genetic EngineeringCovers recombinant DNA techniques, its gradual development, the discoveries that led to its evolution and the refinement of this recombinant DNA techniques are discussed to help the understanding where recombination techniques are used. From the synthesis of a recombinant DNA construct to genetically modified organisms, GMO plants and animals to the implementation of these modified organisms for human utility, are all discussed in the final section of this book.