From a to Alpha: Yeast as a Model for Cellular Differentiation

From a to alpha is a short supplemental textbook that uses control of yeast mating type as a model for many aspects of cell determination in general. Topics covered include gene silencing; genetic recombination; differentiation; combinatorial gene regulation; mRNA transport to establish asymmetric cell division; signal transduction; evolution of genetic networks; and various aspects of cell biology, including action of cytoskeleton and bud site selection. The book includes a foreword by Mark Ptashne, author of A Genetic Switch.

Table of Contents:
Foreword, M. Ptashne 1. Why Read a Book about Yeast? 2. Yeast Cell Types 3. Master Regulatory Transcription Factors Control Cell Type 4. Making and Secreting Cell Type-specific Signals 5. Detecting and Responding to a Signal 6. How Division of a Single Cell Can Produce Two Cell Types 7. Gene Silencing in the Control of Cell Type 8. Controlling Cell Polarity 9. Evolution of Cell Type Determination Index

Review :
The lessons learned from yeast studies are stated refreshingly in a direct, matter-of-fact style, without repeating in detail the experiments that led to the knowledge. A description of the text of each concept is pictorially supported by a figure, and a full one-third of the space is allotted to figures-all features making it one of the most pleasantly readable books in biology... This book should be a 'must read' for anyone beginning to experiment with yeast. I suspect most experts in the yeast field are inundated with literature and selectively keep up with developments primarily in their immediate field. Reading this book will help such experts to appreciate developments in other areas of yeast research. Although yeast has only a handful of cell types, the principles learned form yeast studies are bound to help both beginners and seasoned researchers wishing to discover the underpinnings of cellular differentiation and development and the cause of disease in higher eukaryotes with vast arrays of cell types. Nature Genetics Madhani's book thoughtfully highlights the elegant and ground-breaking work performed in yeast, and the resulting general mechanistic insights and molecular paradigms that emerged... In the specific sense that Madhani intended-as a manual for how yeast studies have led to general principles of eukaryotic cell differentiation-the book succeeds admirably, and proceeds in a logical, iterative and readable manner. It benefits from simple graphics and inserts in most chapters, which present specific concepts in the context of metazoans or of human disease... ...as an illustrative guide of how studies in a model organism can be illuminating for large areas of biology, Madhani's book is well worth the price. Nature Cell Biology