Opportunities in Biology -- Copyright -- Acknowledgments -- Preface -- Contents -- Executive Summary -- THE NEW BIOLOGY -- STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY -- GENES AND CELLS -- DEVELOPMENT -- THE NERVOUS SYSTEM AND BEHAVIOR -- THE IMMUNE SYSTEM AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES -- EVOLUTION, SYSTEMATICS, AND ECOLOGY -- PLANT BIOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE -- INFRASTRUCTURE OF BIOLOGY RESEARCH AND RECOMMENDATIONS -- Training -- Equipment and Facilities -- Funding -- Information Science and Collections -- International Cooperation -- 1 The New Biology -- DIVISIONS BETWEEN TRADITIONAL DISCIPLINES ARE BEING REMOVED -- 2 New Technologies and Instrumentation -- RECOMBINANT DNA TECHNIQUES -- Recombinant DNA Techniques Permit us to Isolate a Single Gene From the Tens of Thousands Encoded in a Complex Genome -- Transformation of Higher Organisms -- Biologists Can Specifically Insert a Functioning Gene Into the Genome of Complex Organisms -- Making a Transgenic Animal -- A Transgenic Animal is Produced Initially by a Combination of Microsurgery And Embryological Techniques -- Transgenic Mice Have Been Used For a Variety of Experiments -- Creating Transgenic Plants -- The Creation of Transformed Plants Has Been one of The Most Exciting Developments in Modern Biology -- Future Prospects -- The Potential for Using Transgenic Organisms to Make Discoveries Over the Next 5 or 10 Years Is Vast -- MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES -- Monoclonal Antibodies Can be Used as Biological Probes For Specific Molecules -- MICROCHEMICAL TECHNIQUES -- Microchemical Instrumentation Has Had a Powerful Impact on Modern Biology That is Just Beginning to be Felt -- FLOW CYTOMETRY -- Flow Cytometry is Used to Sort Cells -- MICROSCOPY -- A Revolution in the Application of Light Microscopy Has Occurred -- Video-Enhanced Contrast Microscopy.

Video-Enhanced Contrast Microscopy Combines the Technologies of Modern Light Microscopy, Video Imaging, and Digital Image... -- Low-Light-Dose Microscopy -- Coupling Biological Chemistry with Advanced Image Processing Has Permitted Low-Light-Dose Microscopy to Evolve as an... -- Scanning Acoustic Microscope -- The Scanning Acoustic Microscope Measures the Elastic Properties of the Cell -- Scanning Tunneling and Atomic Force Microscope -- The Scanning Tunneling Microscope Allows One to Image Surfaces with the Resolution of an Few Angstroms -- The Atomic Force Microscope Holds Great Promise for Analyzing Biological Specimens -- MAGNETIC RESONANCE -- Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy is Becoming an Invaluable Tool for Determining the Structures of Complex Molecules -- COMPUTERS AND DATA ANALYSIS -- Computers are Coming to Play an Central Role in Modern Biology -- BIOLOGY AND THE FUTURE -- Synergistic Interactions of the New Biology Have Shortened the Time Between Fundamental Observations and Applications -- 3 Molecular Structure and Function -- Biological Macromolecules are Machines -- The Main Theme of Structural Biology Is the Relation of Molecular Structure to Function -- Biological Structure Is Organized Hierarchically -- PRIMARY STRUCTURE -- Nucleic Acid and Protein Sequence Data Are Accumulating Rapidly -- Sequence Comparisons Lead to Structural, Functional, and Evolutionary Insights -- The DNA Sequences of Entire Genomes of Some Simple Organisms Will -- Structural and Computational Methods Need to Advance to Keep Pace with the Explosion in Sequence Data -- Carbohydrate Research Is Gaining Momentum -- Several Major Advances in Studying Carbohydrates Can Be Anticipated -- THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURE -- The Three-Dimensional Structure of Biological Macromolecules Determines How They Function.

X-Ray Diffraction Provides Highly Revealing Images of Molecules -- Structural Motifs are Repeatedly Used to Carry Out Similar Functions -- Three-Dimensional Structures Give Insight Into How Proteins-Fold and How Groups of Proteins Assemble -- The Major Goal of Protein Crystallography Is to Show How Proteins Function -- Knowledge of How Structures Function is Being Used to Design Drugs -- DNA is an Dynamic Molecule That Can Switch Between Different Structural States -- RNA Structure Is an More Challenging Area of Research -- Much Remains to Be Learned About the Structures of Carbohydrates -- A Technical Breakthrough Promises Information About Dynamic Processes in the Function of Proteins -- Crystallography Will Continue to Increase in Importance -- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance is the Technique of Choice for Studying Molecular Structures in Solution -- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and X-Ray Diffraction Form an Strong Partnership -- MOLECULAR ASSEMBLIES -- New Technology Has Improved Our Ability to Determine Complex Structures -- Even Larger Structures Will Be Solved During the Next Decade -- Crystallization of the Sample Is Still an Major Hurdle -- Complex Biological Structures Can Assemble Themselves -- DIRECTED MODIFICATION OF PROTEINS -- We Can Now Design and Construct New Molecular Machines -- The Future Will See an Heightened Interdisciplinary Cooperation Between Structural and Molecular Biology -- Genetically Engineered Proteins Reveal Much About How Proteins Function -- Functional Protein Molecules Can Also Be Synthesized Chemically -- FOLDING -- We Do Not Yet Understand How Proteins Assume Their Intricate Three-Dimensional Forms -- Experimental Studies Search for Folding Intermediates -- A Diverse Range of Theoretical Studies Is in Progress -- The Protein Data Bank is an Rich Resource for Predicting Structure.

New Experimental Tools Will Aid Studies of Protein Folding -- The Folding Problem Now Seems Ripe for Major Advances -- NEW TECHNIQUES AND INSTRUMENTATION -- Improvements in Analytical Techniques and Instrumentation Are Necessary -- Advances in Computation Will Revolutionize the Study of Molecular Structure and Function -- 4 Genes and Cells -- The Fundamental Biological Unit of All Living Organisms Is the Cell -- RESEARCH STRATEGIES -- Many Cellular Functions Are Carried Out By Macromolecular Assemblies That Can Be Isolated and Reconstituted from Their... -- In Each Field of Cell Biology, Particularly Favorable Cells Have Been Identified for Experimental Work -- THE NUCLEUS -- The Nucleus is Both the Warehouse and the Factory for Most of the Cell's Genetic Material and Activity -- Nuclear Envelope -- All Molecular Traffic Between the Nucleus and Cytoplasm Is By Way of the Nuclear Envelope -- Chromosomes -- Chromosomes Are the Structural Units That Contain the DNA -- Centromeres and Kinetochores Play a Key Role in the Migration of Chromosomes During Mitosis -- Telomeres Maintain the Structural Integrity of Chromosomes -- Artificial Chromosomes Are Valuable Research Tools -- The Nucleolus -- The Nucleolus Is the Site in the Nucleus for the Transcription of Ribosomal RNA -- GENES AND GENE ACTION -- The Primary Questions That Have Been Asked for the Past 100 Years by Geneticists Are Still Inspiring Research Innovation -- Genetic Analysis -- The Combination of Classical Genetics and Biochemistry Has Resulted in an Explosion of Genetic Understanding -- Mutations in Essential Metabolic Pathways Have Contributed to Our Understanding of Both Genetics and Biochemistry -- The Analysis of Mutations in Other Types of Genes Requires a Different Approach -- A Gene Isolation Experiment Usually Begins with the Construction of a Gene Library.

Isolating a Specific Gene from All the Rest of the Recombinant Molecules Can Occur in Two General Ways -- The Genome -- The Genome Refers to the Assemblage of All of the Genes of an Organism -- The Physical and Chemical Characterization of Bacteriophages and of Bacterial Genomes Has Revealed a Remarkable Array of... -- DNA Replication -- The Major Components of DNA Replication Have Been Determined -- The Details of DNA Replication Can Now Be Investigated -- The Regulation of Chromosomal Replication Is Poorly Understood -- Initial Efforts Will Emphasize the Further Development of Eukaryotic Experimental Systems for the Study of Replication -- Recombination -- Genetic Recombination Is the Rearrangement of DNA Sequences to Create New Genetic Information -- General Homologous Recombination Is the Simplest and Most Studied Category of Recombination -- Site-Specific Recombination Has Been Studied for the Past 20 Years and Many Systems Have Been Studied in Depth -- DNA Repair and Mutagenesis -- Organisms Correct Mistakes by DNA Repair Mechanisms -- The Molecular Mechanisms of DNA Repair and Mutagenesis Need to Be Studied in Prokaryotes, Yeasts, and Mammals -- Opportunities Abound for Studies of DNA Repair and Mutagenesis in Prokaryotes such as E. Coli -- Major Opportunities Exist to Study DNA Repair in Eukaryotes -- Gene Expression -- Genes Provide the Information Required for the Formation, Function, and Reproduction of Cells and Organisms -- Formation of Primary RNA Transcripts Depends on Specific DNA Signals -- Primary RNA Transcripts Are Modified by Additions at Their Ends and Deletions of Internal Segments -- Specific DNA Modification May Influence Gene Expression and Confer Heritable Traits -- The Study of the Regulation of Gene Expression Offers Great Potential for New Research Opportunities and Practical...

Gene Transfers Provide Many Opportunities to Study in Detail How Genes Function.