Genetic Investigations for the Laboratory

Genetic Investigations for the Laboratory includes a balanced mix of topics for the introductory genetics laboratory. The text emphasizes genetic science as an on-going process of inquiry and investigation in which skills such as data gathering, measuring, calculating, hypothesizing, inferring, analyzing, report writing and utilization of the resources of the World Wide Web are utilized. Students explore genetics by using a wide range of model organisms including Escherichia coli (bacterium), Zea mays (corn), Sordaria fimicola (sac fungus), Helianthus annus (sunflower), Pisum sativum (garden pea), and Drosophila melanogaster (fruit-fly). Most chapters can be completed in a single two or three-hour laboratory period, but several do require follow-up data gathering during a subsequent period. Chapters throughout the third edition provide both a theoretical and historical overview on each topic, making it unnecessary for the user to supplement procedural instructions. The third edition includes new chapters on gene expression (Chapter 13), complementation (Chapter 15), and bioinformatics (Chapter 17).