The society of genes

Review by Choice Review

Dawkins's The Selfish Gene (CH, May'77) argued that the human body was a mechanism for perpetuating the survival of "selfish genes." In this book, Yanai (biology, the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology) and Lercher (bioinformatics, Heinrich Heine Univ., Düsseldorf, Germany) expand beyond this viewpoint by explaining how individual genes both "compete and cooperate" to maintain an organism. The authors provide examples of this relationship--e.g., a series of failures in this cooperative system results in cancer. In contrast, the authors explain how the immune systems of vertebrates and bacteria distinguish between "self" and "other" genetic information and protect the organism. Unlike cloning, sexual reproduction allows the organism to produce offspring with a different assortment of gene versions (called alleles), which may help organisms survive in a changing environment. Although humans have mostly identical genes, the authors explain where and how variations occur, and how some genes work to make functional proteins, while others control the process. The authors go on to discuss mutations and how genetic variants develop and function (or cause problems), as well as life's earliest ancestors. There is far more detailed information here on human genetics than a review can cover, but it is well worth the interested reader's attention. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --Marit S. Taylor, University of Colorado Denver

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Yanai, professor of biology at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, and Lercher, professor of bioinformatics at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, join forces in an attempt to reconceptualize the way scientists look at the role genes play in evolution. They view their offering as an extension of Richard Dawkins's pivotal 1976 work, The Selfish Gene, helping readers go beyond what they consider to be a perspective that is far too narrow in scope. They hope to reach a general audience while also intending that the book "will be interesting to our colleagues by offering a new angle on the evolution of genes and genomes." This is a tall order, and the latter half of it is not achieved. The writing is engaging and clear, providing ample introductory material to ensure that the interested lay reader will be swept along by both the science and the evolutionary story, but there is little here for the professional scientist. As the authors themselves note, biologists have long appreciated many of the ways that genes interact with one another to form integrated and well-functioning organisms. For the general reader, however, Yanai and Lercher's discussions of cancer, immunology, sexual reproduction, and population genetics are well worth exploring. Illus. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Review by Library Journal Review

Single genes do not hijack organisms to perpetuate themselves. Instead, according to Yanai (biology, Technion, Israel) and Lercher (bioinformatics, Heinriche Heine Univ., Germany), societies of genes work biochemical wonders for survival. In approachable language laced with metaphor, the authors explain how cancer breaches eight defenses, bacteria develop antibiotic resistance, and immune systems create precisely targeted B-cells. Sloppy overgeneralization, however, weakens the authors' arguments about whole organisms' natural history, physiology, and evolution. Can racism genes exist without a firm definition of race? Speciation often begins not with geographic obstacles or incongruous chromosomes but with barriers such as divergent mating calls or pheromones. And complete genomes don't yet exist for many organisms. Much taxonomy is still physical. For information on hominid, genomic evolution try instead Eugene E. Harris's Ancestors in Our Genome; Daniel Davis's The Compatibility Gene covers the molecular genetics of disease susceptibility; and for genomics behind natural history there is Norman A. Johnson's Darwinian Detectives. VERDICT This small bite of the feast that is molecular genetics will leave general readers hungry for more.-Eileen H. Kramer, -Georgia Perimeter Coll. Lib., Clarkston © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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