Gene Activity in Early Development

Content: Front Matter, Page iii Copyright, Page iv Dedication, Page v preface, Pages vii-viii Introduction to: gene activity in early embryogenesis, Page 1 1 - The variable gene activity theory of cell differentiation, Pages 3-11 2 - The onset of genome control in embryogenesis, Pages 12-34 3 - Early molecular indices of differentiation, Pages 35-41 4 - RNA synthesis in the early embryo, Pages 42-81 5 - The fate and function of early informational RNA, Pages 82-92 6 - Maternal template RNA, Pages 93-102 Introduction to: cytoplasmic localization and the onset of differentiation, Page 103 1 - The localization phenomenon, Pages 105-111 2 - Localization and preformationism, Pages 112-116 3 - Definitive experimental evidence for localization, Pages 117-133 4 - Regulative and mosaic development, and the universality of morphogenetic determinants in egg cytoplasm, Pages 134-144 5 - Demonstrations of localization in regulative embryos, Pages 145-154 6 - Interpretations of the localization phenomenon, Pages 155-164 Introduction to: Gene function in oogenesis, Page 165 1 - Origin and differentiation of the female germ line, Pages 167-189 2 - Clues to oocyte genome function from organisms displaying chromosome elimination, Pages 190-192 3 - Accessory cell functions in oogenesis, Pages 193-201 4 - Gene activity in the oocyte nucleus: ribosomal RNA synthesis, Pages 202-216 5 - Gene activity in the oocyte nucleus: synthesis of informational RNA, Pages 217-243 6 - DNA of the oocyte cytoplasm, Pages 244-246 Introduction to: immediacy of gene control and the regulation of gene activity, Page 247 1 - Very long-lived gene products, Pages 249-251 2 - Moderately long-lived informational RNA, Pages 252-266 3 - Rapidly decaying template RNA, Pages 267-281 4 - The rapidity of variations in gene activity in differentiated cells, Pages 282-285 5 - Characteristics of bacterial repression-derepression systems, Pages 286-294 6 - Characteristics of gene regulation systems in differentiated cells, Pages 295-312 7 - Some hypotheses regarding the nature of genomic regulation in differentiated cells, Pages 313-325 Bibliography, Pages 326-356 Author Index, Pages 357-367 Subject Index, Pages 368-375 Gene Activity in Early Development reviews the state of knowledge regarding genomic function in the programming and operation of what Bonnet, in 1762, described as ""the miracle of epigenesis."" The book is divided into four sections. Section I is concerned with gene activity in early embryogenesis, with the time of onset and the nature of embryo genome control, and with recent attempts to analyze the shifting patterns of gene expression as development proceeds. Section II reviews various classic and recent studies relevant to the phenomenon of cytoplasmic localization of morphogenetic potenti ..