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Laura Czaja
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February 3, 2009 (New York, NY) – Human beings have astonishing genetic vulnerabilities. More than half of us will die from complex diseases that trace directly to those vulnerabilities, and the modern world we've created places us at unprecedented risk from them. The human genome is experiencing "genetic culture shock."
In It Takes a Genome: How a Clash Between Our Genes and Modern Life is Making Us Sick (FT Press, ISBN 13: 9780137137466, $24.99, 208 pps, February 2009, www.ftpress.com/science), by Dr. Greg Gibson, pioneer in the emerging science of genomics, presents a revolutionary new hypothesis: Our genome is out of equilibrium, both with itself and its environment. Simply put, our genes and our cultures are not at peace. This book explains the latest results emerging from the Human Genome Project, an international 13-year effort formally begun in October 1990 that determined the compete sequence of the 3 billion DNA subunits (bases) in the human genome. Now the project has expanded to explain the functions of all human genes, as well as the variation in them, that makes us different. It Takes a Genome places those results in the context of modern life.
Selected insights from It Takes a Genome chapters include:
Chapter 1—The Adolescent Genome—explains how genes are for the most part extraordinarily interactive and cooperative entities. Every single gene comes in a variety of flavors, and whether you are shorter, more or less prone to diabetes, or better at shooting a basketball than the other guy is influenced by the flavors you get with dozens if not hundreds of genes.
Chapter 2—Breast Cancer's Broken Genes—concentrates on breast cancer. Cancers take multiple mutations to get started, and each of us inherits a set of mutations whose effects are veiled by the rest of the healthy genome, only to exert their effects as other mutations accumulate. They're really not Cancer genes, in the sense that there are not genes whose role it is to promote cancer: when normal genes break they lead to cancer.
Chapter 7—"The Alzheimer's Generation"—There's plenty of evolutionary theory about conflicts between genes that are good for us when we're young but turn against us as we age, or about genes not caring as much about keeping us alive after we've raised offspring. However, some of us are predisposed genetically to decay mentally at an accelerated rate, and modern genomics tells this one last story of disequilibrium between our genetic past and contemporary lifestyle.
It Takes a Genome shuns yesterday's stale debates over "nature vs. nurture," and introduces a new view that is far closer to the truth, including:
- Investigation of the genetic "mismatches" that are driving increases in major diseases, including AIDS, Alzheimer's, cancer, and diabetes.
- Getting you "inside" the human genome, and explaining the surprising and subtle ways in which it really works.
- Looking at the probable sources of genetic variations in human psychology; offering evidence that very different traits are grounded in complex genetic interactions.
"Genes are not instructions engraved in the tablet of our DNA determining this or that. They are sequences of letters that orchestrate tendencies, and we ought to embrace their variety," says Dr. Gibson.
To request a copy of It Takes a Genome, or request an interview with the author, please contact Laura Czaja at 212-641-6627 or laura.czaja@pearson.com.
Please click on the link below to view this book on ftpress.com.
http://www.ftpress.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=9780137137466
About the Author
Gregory C. Gibson is Professor of Genetics at the University of Queensland, Australia and was previously William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Genetics at North Carolina State University. He is a leader in the emerging field of empirical evolutionary quantitative genomics, which uses genomic approaches to study how genes and the environment interact to produce quantitative variation. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Basel, Switzerland, and did postdoctoral work at Stanford University. With Spencer V. Muse, he co-authored A Primer of Genome Science, one of the field's leading textbooks.
About FT Press
FT Press (www.ftpress.com), an imprint of Pearson plc, publishes high-quality books in the areas of General Business, Finance and Investing, Sales and Marketing, Leadership, Management and Strategy, Human Resources, and Global Business. Our brand is built on the concept of signing and publishing the world's best minds on the most relevant topics.
About Pearson
Pearson (NYSE:PSO), the global leader in education and education technology, reaches and engages today's digital natives with effective and personalized learning, as well as dedicated professional development for their teachers. This commitment is demonstrated in the company's investment in innovative print and digital education materials for preK through professional learning, student information systems and learning management systems, teacher development, career certification programs, and testing and assessment products that set the standard for the industry. The company's respected brands include Scott Foresman, Prentice Hall, Addison Wesley, Benjamin Cummings, the Stanford Achievement Test, the Wechsler family of assessments, SuccessNet, MyLabs, PowerSchool, SuccessMaker, and many others. Pearson's comprehensive offerings help inform targeted instruction and intervention so that success is within reach of every student at every level of education. Pearson's commitment to education for all is supported by the global charitable giving initiatives of the Pearson Foundation. Pearson's other primary businesses include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group. For more information, go to www.pearson.com.
It Takes a Genome: How a Clash Between Our Genes and Modern Life is Making Us Sick
Dr. Greg Gibson
February 2009
$24.99
208 pp
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-713746-6
