Abstract

Extrachromosomal DNA contains the proceedings of the 1979 ICN-UCLA Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology held in Keystone, Colorado. Contributors focus on extrachromosomal DNA, paying particular attention to the biogenesis of yeast mitochondria. They discuss topics based on the premise that the diversity and complexity of primitive mitochondrial and perhaps chloroplast DNA structure and replication have more in common with many viral systems than with either prokaryotic or eukaryotic systems. This is especially striking in the case of so-called split genes.
This book is organized into nine sections encompassing 34 chapters and begins with an overview of extranuclear genetics and the evolution and regulation of mitochondrial biogenesis. The following chapters explore the genetic capacity and structure of chloroplast DNA, viral replication and function, and viral nucleic acids. The possibility of isolating mutants in some intervening sequences and analyzing their effect in loci of known genetic function is demonstrated. The reader is also introduced to the analysis of intervening genes and its importance in yeast mitochondria, as well as the sequencing of a variety of genes of known function. This book also considers the organization, function, and expression of extrachromosomal DNA in yeast, along with the genetics and biogenesis of mitochondrial DNA from higher eukaryotes, and then concludes with a description of the biological and structural characteristics of kinetoplast and Podospora mitochondrial DNA.
This book will be of interest to researchers involved in mitochondrial, chloroplast, plasmid, and viral DNA function and replication.