What do you think?
Rate this book
Human Epigenomics
The term epigenetics describes regulatory and information storing mechanisms of specific genes that do not involve any change of their DNA sequence. Epigenetics is closely related to the extensively folded state, in which the genome is packaged, known as chromatin. New genomic tools nowadays allow the genome-wide assessment of, for example, chromatin states and DNA modifications, and led to the discovery of unexpected new epigenetic principles, such as epigenomic memory. This was the start of the field of epigenomics , the relation of which to human health and disease is discussed in this textbook. This book aims to summarize, in a condensed form, the role of epigenomics in defining chromatin states that are representative of active genes (euchromatin) and repressed genes (heterochromatin). Moreover, this book discusses the principles of gene regulation, chromatin stability, genomic imprinting and the reversibility of DNA methylation and histone modifications. This information should enable a better understanding of cell type identities and will provide new directions for studies of, for example, cellular reprograming, the response of chromatin to environmental signals and epigenetic therapies that can improve or restore human health. In order to facilitate the latter, we favor a high figure-to-text ratio following the rule “a picture tells more than thousand words”. The content of the book is based on the lecture course “Molecular Medicine and Genetics” that is given by one of us (C. Carlberg) in different forms since 2002 at the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio. Thematically, this book is located between our textbooks “Mechanisms of Gene Regulation” (ISBN 978-94-017-7741-4) and “Nutrigenomics” (ISBN 978-3-319-30415-1), studying of which may also be interesting to our readers. The book is sub-divided into three sections and 13 chapters. Following the Introduction (section A), section B will explain the molecular basis of epigenomics, while section C will provide examples for the impact of epigenomics in human health and disease. The lecture course is primarily designed for Master level students of biomedicine, but is also frequented by PhD students as well as by students of other bioscience disciplines. Besides its value as a textbook, Human Epigenomics will be a useful reference for individuals working in biomedicine.
242 pages, Paperback
Published January 30, 2019
3 people are currently reading
4 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 13, 2019
i am reviewing an online copy of this work which has been kindly provided by the publisher.
Epigenomics is a relatively new and emerging field and there are very few student text books in this area. Therefore the authors and the publisher are to be complemented for bringing up this volume to bridge the obvious gap.
The book is clearly written and presented and the chapters are well and logically organised. There are 13 chapters in all, the first part devoted to structural aspects and the second and concluding part to the many applications of epigenomics.
The important feature of the book, as brought out in the preface, is the importance given to human based studies in this field. Hence the book might apply to graduate students and reasearchers and also to clinical scientists.
For a difficult and new subject, the authors have adopted a balanced and integrative approach to the subject and the subject is introduced gradually. Hence, the initial chapters are devoted to the analysis of genetic apparatus of the human cell and nicely move on to the chromatin structure and function. The chapters are kept short probably to promote student understanding and they contain sufficient information for the advanced readers.
The second part is the more interesting one, because of the various applications of epigenomics studies. The chapters are woven around topics like Aging, Cancer, Nutrition and Immunity and they rightly discuss the roles of epigenomes in these critical areas.
However, I feel that the authors could have devoted some more attention to the gaps in our knowledge and could have pointed to areas which may gain prominence in the coming years. This could have aroused the interest of graduate students who can go on to further research in such areas.
The figures are good and accurate and properly convey the relationships among the different aspects of the epigenome. The language is clear and direct.
Overall, I consider this as a good synthesis of the current state of knowledge in this new and exciting field and it should serve advanced students and researchers well.
Epigenomics is a relatively new and emerging field and there are very few student text books in this area. Therefore the authors and the publisher are to be complemented for bringing up this volume to bridge the obvious gap.
The book is clearly written and presented and the chapters are well and logically organised. There are 13 chapters in all, the first part devoted to structural aspects and the second and concluding part to the many applications of epigenomics.
The important feature of the book, as brought out in the preface, is the importance given to human based studies in this field. Hence the book might apply to graduate students and reasearchers and also to clinical scientists.
For a difficult and new subject, the authors have adopted a balanced and integrative approach to the subject and the subject is introduced gradually. Hence, the initial chapters are devoted to the analysis of genetic apparatus of the human cell and nicely move on to the chromatin structure and function. The chapters are kept short probably to promote student understanding and they contain sufficient information for the advanced readers.
The second part is the more interesting one, because of the various applications of epigenomics studies. The chapters are woven around topics like Aging, Cancer, Nutrition and Immunity and they rightly discuss the roles of epigenomes in these critical areas.
However, I feel that the authors could have devoted some more attention to the gaps in our knowledge and could have pointed to areas which may gain prominence in the coming years. This could have aroused the interest of graduate students who can go on to further research in such areas.
The figures are good and accurate and properly convey the relationships among the different aspects of the epigenome. The language is clear and direct.
Overall, I consider this as a good synthesis of the current state of knowledge in this new and exciting field and it should serve advanced students and researchers well.
Displaying 1 of 1 review