Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Explain the process of epigenetic regulationDescribe how access to DNA is controlled by histone modification

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Discuss the role of transcription factors in gene regulationExplain how enhancers and repressors regulate gene expression

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Apoptosis, a form of programmed cell death, plays critical roles in animal development and in repair of DNA damage. Since DNA damage is a major factor in cancer development, identifying the regulators of damage-induced apoptosis could help researchers develop treatments. A recent study investigated whether NHR-14, an important developmental protein in the model organism C. elegans, also contributes to damage-induced apoptosis . using mutant C. elegans that are especially susceptible to radiation-induced DNA damage. Deletion of the gene encoding NHR-14, which corresponds to HNF4 in humans, decreased radiation-induced apoptosis of sex cells without affecting the levels of normal (non-damage-induced) apoptosis, indicating a specific role in the damage-induced death pathway. Further exploration revealed that the NHR-14 gene acts “downstream” of the DNA damage checkpoint pathway and regulates the transcription of the genes egl-1 and ced-13 after DNA is damaged..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"RXRβ is one of three types of retinoid X receptors, which play important roles in how cells grow, differentiate, and die and might be targets for the treatment of conditions such as insulin resistance, autoimmunity, and neurodegeneration. A recent study into the physical behavior of RXRβ could bring researchers closer to that possibility. A combination of lab experiments and computer modeling revealed the unique properties of the receptor’s AB region. This region, common to this family of receptors, enables the activation of target genes. But in RXRβ, researchers found, the AB region also supports liquid-liquid phase separation a biochemical phenomenon that is fundamental to the compartmentalization of the cell. As a driver of RXRβ’s physical behavior, this capacity for phase separation could also influence the receptor’s transcriptional behavior. Understanding how could give researchers a better idea of RXRβ’s role in disease and how it might be modulated to promote human health..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This exercise is intended to help students understand the role of transcription factors and enhancers in differentiation in general and with sex determination specifically. Students will put events in order for male and female sex determination. Note that students do not need to know anything about sex determination to complete the exercise (but they learn it as they play), but they should have been exposed to the concepts of enhancers and transcription factors.
It should be noted that the cards saying "It's a boy" and "It's a girl" were selected to emphasize that this pathway is relevant for anatomical sex determination as opposed to gender.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The body’s response to cancer is complex, and boosting it requires strategy. White blood cells known as effector T cells are programmed to infiltrate tumors and control or kill tumor cells. But the microenvironment around a tumor can inhibit T cells, preventing an effective anti-tumor response. Although immune checkpoint blockade therapies can restore anti-tumor immunity, these treatments aren’t effective for everyone, and innovative approaches combining multiple pathways are needed. Now, researchers have identified a new potential target for anti-tumor therapy. Orphan nuclear receptor NR2F6 inhibits T cell activation. A recent study combined deletion of NR2F6 in T cells with conventional immune checkpoint therapy in mice. Researchers deleted NR2F6 in T cells using CRISPR/ Cas9 technology and reintroduced them into mice. NR2F6-deleted T cells in combination with checkpoint therapy allowed mice to survive injection of tumor cells, while checkpoint therapy alone did not..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Nerves, and the signals that modulate them, play critical roles during wound healing. CGRP (calcitonin gene-related peptide) is one such modulator and is a potential treatment target for chronic wounds, like ulcers. But CGRP doesn’t last long in blood samples, so researchers recently focused on RAMP1 (receptor activity-modifying protein 1), which is part of the CGRP receptor. First, in mouse experiments, they determined that RAMP1 expression was altered during skin wound healing. Then, they used mouse skin fibroblasts (MSFs) to determine the mechanisms at play. Overexpressing RAMP1 in MSFs promoted proliferation by increasing expression of YAP (Yes-associated protein). Subsequent experiments showed that overexpressed RAMP1 increased expression of Gαi3 (inhibitory G protein α subunit 3). While Gαi3 is typically inhibitory, here Gαi3 activated PKA (protein kinase A) through a non-classical pathway..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.