The internal structure of a cell can be affected by signals in the form of small molecules outside the cell. These changes can then alter the shape or adhesiveness of the cell. This volume centers particularly on one family of cellular proteins which transmit these signals, the Rho Ras-like GTPases, and examines their role in normal cellular processes and development. Also discussed are their roles in cancer formation and microbial pathogenesis.

Epigenetics refers to heritable patterns of gene expression which do not depend on alterations of genomic DNA sequence.

This book provides a state-of-the-art account of a few selected hot spots by scientists at the edge in this extremely active field. It puts special emphasis on two main streams of research. One is the role of post-translational modifications of proteins, mostly histones, on chromatin structure and accessibility. The other one deals with parental genomic imprinting, a process which allows to express a few selected genes from only one of the parental allele while...

Proteins constitute the working-class molecules of the cell. Hence, understanding the way they act is a prerequisite for understanding how a cell functions and how life evolves. Aspects such as the protein-ligand relationship, recognition, protein evolution by point mutation, enzyme-substrate interactions, behaviour of an enzyme in a living cell, control and dynamics of enzyme networks as well as the physico-chemical background of enzyme actions and multi-enzyme complexes are comprehensively treated in this volume.