Description:Biologists have long been puzzled by the peculiar arrangement of genes on the strands of DNA. Genes are interrupted by non-coding regions--intervening sequences or introns--that function in some developmental systems and probably were involved in the evolution of the earliest genes. However, biologists did not anticipate the existence of introns on either functional or evolutionary grounds, and many questions about them remain unsolved. This research level book is ideal for molecular and developmental biologists, evolutionary biologists, and geneticists. It addresses the wide range of issues in this field, including gene structure in primordial organisms, the relationship between gene and protein structure, and gene regulation via differential RNA processing. The first comprehensive treatment of intervening sequences, this unique treatise brings readers a wealth of previously scattered information in one convenient reference source.