1 Genetics: past, present, and future 1 --
Search for order and meaning 3 --
Modern image of science 5 --
Prospects of modern genetics 10 --
2 From myth to modern science 13 --
Primitive interest in heredity 15 --
Mythology and the domestication of plants and animals 16 --
Heredity in human society 20 --
How are children made? 23 --
3 What is inherited? 29 --
Molecular structure 34 --
Growth and biosynthesis 41 --
Synthesizing polymers 46 --
Cells as self-renewing, self-reproducing factories 48 --
4 Breakthrough: mendel's laws 49 --
Mendel's discoveries 50 --
Another example: tasters and non-tasters 58 --
Multiple alleles and dominance 63 --
Mendel's first law and disputed paternity 68 --
Answers to blood types questions 70 --
5 Chromosomes, reproduction, and sex 71 --
Cells and reproduction 71 --
Mitosis and the cell cycle 73 --
Meiosis explains Mendel 82 --
Nondisjunction of chromosomes 85 --
XYY males: a genetic dilemma 88 --
6 Function of genes 93 --
Genes and metabolic disease 93 --
Proteins and information 97 --
Modification of hereditary disease 101 --
7 Hereditary material, dna 108 --
Genetic implications 122 --
Testing DNA structure 124 --
8 Genetic dissection of gene structure 127 --
Crossing over within genes 132 --
Fine structure of genes 134 --
Complementation and the definition of a gene 135 --
Restriction enzymes and palindromes 139 --
Restriction mapping 142 --
9 Deciphering the code of life 146 --
How are proteins made? 148 --
RNA molecules: the tools for protein synthesis 150 --
Translation process 154 --
Complexity of eucaryotic genes 156 --
Colinearity of genes and proteins 160 --
Universality of the code 163 --
10 Heredity in the bacterial world 164 --
Resistance factors and antibiotic resistance 168 --
Gene transfer by virus 174 --
Transduction in humans 175 --
11 Gene regulation and development 179 --
Bacterial gene regulation 180 --
Regulating eucaryotic genes 184 --
Embryonic development in general 185 --
Regulation by time in a chick's wing 188 --
Determination by position in a fly's body 189 --
Forming a fly's eye 191 --
12 Dna manipulation: the return of epimetheus? 194 --
Recombinant DNA and restriction enzymes 195 --
Studies of individual cloned fragments 197 --
Transgenic organisms 200 --
Human gene therapy 203 --
Genomics, the study of complete genomes 205 --
13 Geneticist as dr. frankenstein 209 --
Regulation of recombinant-DNA research 209 --
Genetically modified organisms 213 --
Technology in context 215 --
Arguments against producing GMOs 217 --
Cloning as an ethical target 224 --
Responsibility of scientists 226 --
14 Fountain of change: mutation 229 --
Mutation in humans 231 --
What are mutations like? 235 --
DNA repair systems 238 --
General effects of radiation 239 --
Chromosome aberrations 242 --
Looking at human chromosomes 244 --
Duplications and deficiencies 246 --
15 Evolutionary genetics 251 --
Evidence for evolution 253 --
Evolution as a process 255 --
Population genetics 257 --
Migration and diversification of Homo sapiens 261 --