Molecular Cell Biology

Grounding its coverage in experiments, Molecular Cell Biology emphasizes medical relevance while fousing on the information which defines our understanding of cell biology.

Harvey Lodish is Professor of Biology and Professor of Bioengineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Dr. Lodish is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was President (2004) of the American Society for Cell Biology. He is well known for his work on cell membrane physiology, particularly the biosynthesis of many cell-surface proteins, and on the cloning and functional analysis of several cell-surface receptor proteins, such as the erythropoietin and TGF-ß receptors. His lab also studies hematopoietic stem cells and has identified novel proteins that support their proliferation. Dr. Lodish teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in cell biology and biotechnology. Arnold Berk is Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics and a member of the Molecular Biology Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Berk is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is one of the original discoverers of RNA splicing and of mechanisms for gene control in viruses. His laboratory studies the molecular interactions that regulate transcription nitiation in mammalian cells, focusing particular attention on transcription factors encoded by oncogenes and tumor suppressors. He teaches introductory courses in molecular biology and virology and an advanced course in cell biology of the nucleus. Chris A. Kaiser is Professor and Head of the Department of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His laboratory uses genetic and cell biological methods to understand the basic processes of how newly synthesized membrane and secretory proteins are folded and stored in the compartments of the secretory pathway. Dr. Kaiser is recognized as a top undergraduate educator at MIT, where he has taught genetics to undergraduates for many years. Monty Krieger is the Whitehead Professor in the Department of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For his innovative teaching of undergraduate biology and human physiology as well as graduate cell biology courses, he has received numerous awards. His laboratory has made contributions to our understanding of membrane trafficking through the Golgi apparatus and has cloned and characterized receptor proteins important for the movement of cholesterol into and out of cells, including the HDL receptor. Anthony Bretscher is Professor of Cell Biology at Cornell University. His laboratory is well known for identifying and characterizing new components of the actin cytoskeleton, and elucidating their biological functions in relation to cell polarity and membrane traffic. For this work, his laboratory exploits biochemical, genetic and cell biological approaches in two model systems, vertebrate epithelial cells and the budding yeast. Dr. Bretscher teaches cell biology to graduate students at Cornell University. Hidde Ploegh is Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. One of the world’s leading researchers in immune system behavior, Dr. Ploegh studies the various tactics that viruses employ to evade our immune responses, and the ways in which our immune system distinguishes friend from foe. Dr. Ploegh teaches immunology to undergraduate students at Harvard University and MIT. Angelika Amon is Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Her laboratory studies the molecular mechanisms that govern chromosome segregation during mitosis and meiosis and the consequences—aneuploidy—when these mechanisms fail during normal cell proliferation and cancer development. Dr. Amon teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in cell biology and genetics. Matthew P. Scott is Professor of Developmental Biology, Genetics and Bioengineering at Stanford University School of Medicine and Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a past president of the Society for Developmental Biology. He is known for his work in developmental biology and genetics, particularly in areas of cell-cell signaling and homeobox genes and for discovering the roles of developmental regulators in cancer. Dr. Scott teaches cell and developmental biology to undergraduate students, development and disease mechanisms to medical students and developmental biology to graduate students at Stanford University

Table of Contents with New Discoveries and Methodologies

Part I. Chemical and Molecular Foundations
1. Molecules, Cells, and Model Organisms
Model organisms Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (for study of flagella, chloroplast formation, photosynthesis, and phototaxis) and Plasmodium falciparum (novel organelles and a complex life cycle)

2. Chemical Foundations

3. Protein Structure and Function
Intrinsically disordered proteins
Chaperone-guided folding and updated chaperone structures
Unfolded proteins and the amyloid state and disease
Hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HXMS)
Phosphoproteomics

4. Culturing and Visualizing Cells
Two-photon excitation microscopy
Light sheet microscopy
Super resolution microscopy
3D culture matricies and 3D printing

Part II. Biomembranes, Genes, and Gene Regulation
5. Fundamental Molecular Genetic Mechanisms
Ribosome structural comparison across domains shows conserved core

6. Molecular Genetic Techniques
CRISPR/Cas9 system in bacteria and its application in genomic editing

7. Biomembrane Structure

8. Genes, Genomics, and Chromosomes
Chromosome conformation capture techniques reveal topological domains in chromosome territories within the nucleus

9. Transcriptional Control of Gene Expression
DNase I hypersensitivity mapping reveals cell developmental history
Long non-coding RNAs involved in X-inactivation in mammals
ENCODE databases

10. Post-transcriptional Gene Control
Improved discussion of mRNA degradation pathways and RNA surveillance in the cytoplasm
Nuclear bodies: P bodies, Cajal bodies, histone locus bodies, speckles, paraspeckles, and PML-nuclear bodies

Part III. Cellular Organization and Function
11. Transmembrane Transport of Ions and Small Molecules
GLUT1 molecular model and transport cycle

12. Cellular Energetics

13. Moving Proteins into Membranes and Organelles
Expanded discussion of the pathway for import of PTS1-bearing proteins into the peroxisomal matrix

14. Vesicular Traffic, Secretion, and Endocytosis
Expanded discussion of Rab proteins and their role in vesicle fusion with target membranes

15. Signal Transduction and G Protein–Coupled Receptors
Human G protein-coupled receptors of pharmaceutical importance

16. Signaling Pathways That Control Gene Expression
Wnt concentration gradients in planaria development and regeneration
Inflammatory hormones in adipose cell function and obesity
Regulation of insulin and glucagon function in control of blood glucose

17. Cell Organization and Movement I: Microfilaments
Use of troponins as an indicator of the severity of a heart attack

18. Cell Organization and Movement II: Microtubules and Intermediate Filaments
Neurofilaments and keratins involved in skin integrity, epidermolysus bullosa simplex
New structures and understanding of function of dynein and dynactin

19. The Eukaryotic Cell Cycle
The Hippo pathway
Spindle checkpoint assembly and nondisjunction and aneuploidy in mice, and nondisjunction increases with maternal age

Part IV. Cell Growth and Differentiation
20. Integrating Cells Into Tissues
Expanded discussion of the functions of the extracellular matrix and the role of cells in assembling it
Mechanotransduction
Structure of cadherins and their cis and trans interactions
Cadherins as receptors for Class C rhinoviruses and asthma
Improved discussion of microfibrils in elastic tissue and in LTBP-mediated TGF-B signaling
Tunneling nanotubes
Functions of WAKs in plants as pectin receptors

21. Stem Cells, Cell Asymmetry, and Cell Death
Pluripotency of mouse ES cells and the potential of differentiated cells derived from iPS and ES cells in treating various diseases
Pluripotent ES cells in planaria
Cells in intestinal crypts can dedifferentiate to replenish intestinal stem cells
Cdc42 and feedback loops that control cell polarity

22. Cells of the Nervous System
Prokaryotic voltage-gated Na+ channel structure, allowing comparison with voltage-gated K+ channels
Optogenetics techniques for linking neural circuits with behavior
Mechanisms of synaptic plasticity that govern learning and memory

23. Immunology
Inflammasomes and non-TLR nucleic sensors
Expanded discussion of somatic hypermutation
Improved discussion of the MHC molecule classes, MHC-peptide complexes and their interactions with T-cells
Lineage commitment of T cells
Tumor immunology

24. Cancer
The characteristics of cancer cells and how they differ from normal cells
How carcinogens lead to mutations and how mutations accumulate to cancer