Coming to Life: How Genes Drive Development

by Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and Christiane Nusslein-Volhard

Book Overview

Coming to Life is a remarkable journey through developmental biology that reveals miraculous processes in the microscopic world of cells. Through an accounting of groundbreaking discoveries, Christiane Nusslein-Volhard tells us many answers to historical and contemporary questions in science. For example, she brings us the newest knowledge about embryonic forms, explains the genetic mechanisms that influence adult development of all animals, and shares...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0967007674
• ISBN13: 9780967007670
• Release Date: June 2006
• Publisher: Kales Press
• Length: 181 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Solid Primer on the field

This book was pretty good. The material is a little tedious, and not presented in quite a "fun" scientific way (think Sean Carroll). However, if you're looking for a slightly higher level intro to developmental biology, this is a clear, concise book on the topic. The myriad pictures (all hand drawn, if I recall) really help to visualize the concepts. I recommend this as a solid devolpment biology/genetics primer.

An excellent explanation for embryo development

Explain how animal embryos develop, and what guides the differentiation of various cells. Ever wonder how a single embryo cell can develop into so many different cell types in different organs? In a mere 145 pages, the Nobel laureate elucidates how it all happen in a simple and easy-to-understand manner that anyone with a passing knowledge of biology can understand and enjoy. It also gives me a humbling realization of how similar and closely related all animals are.

From Egg to Us: An Elementary Look at the Biology of Development

I think that very few people ever wonder how an egg grows to be an adult. People don't generally think about what tells one cell it's going to be part of a head and another cell that it's going to be part of a foot. Most of us have seen pictures of early fetuses, but how many wonder why the chick looks so much like the pig? For those who do wonder, this book is a very good place to start. (My 5-star rating is my estimate of the book's value to beginners.) The topic is not the development of organisms in general, but of animals -- and only those animals (including us humans and most of the others that are important to us), who are called bilaterians because our bodies have left-right symmetry. We also have distinct anterior and posterior ends, with a mouth at one end and an anus at the other; and we have ventral and dorsal sides (front and back in us humans). In the very beginning of development, chemicals are produced in the right places to say, in effect, "This will be front.", "This will be rear.", and so on. All these chemicals do is to switch on genes that will begin to give shape to the embryo. This is the beginning of a process that goes from a single cell to a very rough shape through stepwise refinements to the final mature animal. This systematic development is what makes the subject interesting and accessible to us non-scientists. Nusslein-Volhard tells the story at a rather elementary level. She covers only a few of the many developmental genes - so that the reader doesn't have to memorize a lot of names - and she says little about molecular mechanisms. She also focuses on the formation of the embryo, with some discussion of the larval and fetal stages and little about adults. Since the same principles apply to the later stages as to the early ones, this allows her to explain how development works while the reader has only a modest amount to memorize. There are introductory chapters on genes, mutations, and how genes lead to proteins. I don't think that a person who has never seen this material before is ready for this book, but I think that many people who need it for review will be OK. There are obvious implications for evolutionary theory, but that is the subject of evolutionary developmental biology ("evo-devo") and is beyond the scope of this book. For readers interested in this topic, I recommend the books by Sean Carroll, which I have reviewed. (Click above on "See all my reviews"; there are 3 pages.) If you already know a bit about how proteins interact with the control regions of genes and want to go straight to the implications for evolution, you may wish to go directly to one of Carroll's books. However, Nusslein-Volhard's description of embryology is interesting in itself. There is a final chapter on current developments, such as cloning and stem-cell research. My first reaction was that this chapter didn't belong. However, the news articles I read on these topics show that a lot of people don't k

Concentration Gradients Govern the Genes

In 1923, Hans Spemann conceived an experiment that became famous. He transplanted cells from an early newt egg to an inappropriate spot in another newt egg. After the transplant, a second head and trunk section grew instead of stomach. Since the donor cells were a different color, it was easy to tell that the new head and neck did not form from the donor cells. Instead, the donor cells influenced the development of its native neighboring cells. Embryology is all about morphogens - chemicals secreted by organizer cells that influence genes in other cells by their concentration gradient. This is where our author has spent her life, becoming only the 11th woman in history to win a Nobel prize in science. She is among the key players who have brought embryology to the center stage of current research in biology. There have been major advancements in our understanding of evolution over the past twenty years. For example: Scientists expected a lot more human genes than 25,000 - that's not too many more than are in a worm. Embryologists began to study evo-devo - how the embryo changed into an adult. Genetic researchers (like Nusslein-Volhard) discovered "core genes" such as the Hox genes that direct body segmentation and the tinman genes that create hearts. Adjacent to the coding genes, "gene switches" were found in the junk DNA. These switches respond to the morphogens, rearranging the effects of the core genes, encouraging dramatic evolutionary change. It came as a surprise that virtually the same core (modular?) genes were found in diverse species - from fungi to humans. Most successful (nonlethal) mutations were found among the gene switches. Complexity and variety may be created by shuffling the patterns of control on the core control genes rather than by mutative changes in the core genes themselves. Constraints imposed by these core genes and deconstraint on the switches enhance the novelty that begged for more explanation. Many have wanted to find "something more" than evolution by genetic variation and natural selection. Gould and his group wanted "Punctuated Equilibrium." Creationists and IDer's just want evolution disrupted and they don't care how. Christiane Nusslein-Volhard in "Coming to Life" describes how these recently discovered processes produce dramatic change in evolution. In the last chapter, she discusses hot political topics - cloning, gene therapy, designer babies, stem cell research, and the moral status of the embryo. She explains, from the point of view of one who has spent her life in research, what is real, what is plausible, and what is utopian. Complete with her own hand-drawn illustrations and concise explanations, this book is a prize.

A ground breaking analysis of the microscopic progression of fertilization and embryonic research

Coming To Life: How Genes Drive Development by Nobel Laureate Christiane Nuesslein-Volhard is the study (in remarkable detail) of developmental biology. Offering a ground breaking analysis of the microscopic progression of fertilization and embryonic research, Coming To Life features collective observations and studies providing readers with a coherent explanation for the complex formation of life forms arising from the minute simplicity of egg cells, as well as other fascinating discoveries detailing the scientific conclusions surrounding the phenomena of life and its development. Coming To Life is very highly recommended for all students of biology for its knowledgeable and "reader friendly" presentation of the intricate concept of life-formation.