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AMERICAN POLITICAL HISTORY Peter Holland
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AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES THE ANTARCTIC Klaus Dodds
AND ELECTIONS L. Sandy Maisel ANTHROPOCENE Erle C. Ellis
AMERICAN POLITICS ANTISEMITISM Steven Beller
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THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY Jason Freeman
Charles O. Jones APPLIED MATHEMATICS
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Robert J. Allison THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS
AMERICAN SLAVERY Paul Foster
Heather Andrea Williams ARCHAEOLOGY Paul Bahn
THE AMERICAN WEST Stephen Aron ARCHITECTURE Andrew Ballantyne
AMERICAN WOMEN’S HISTORY ARISTOCRACY William Doyle
Susan Ware ARISTOTLE Jonathan Barnes
ART HISTORY Dana Arnold CAUSATION Stephen Mumford

ART THEORY Cynthia Freeland and Rani Lill Anjum
ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORY THE CELL Terence Allen
Madeline Y. Hsu and Graham Cowling
ASTROBIOLOGY David C. Catling THE CELTS Barry Cunliffe
ASTROPHYSICS James Binney CHAOS Leonard Smith
ATHEISM Julian Baggini CHEMISTRY Peter Atkins
THE ATMOSPHERE Paul I. Palmer CHILD PSYCHOLOGY Usha Goswami
AUGUSTINE Henry Chadwick CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
AUSTRALIA Kenneth Morgan Kimberley Reynolds
AUTISM Uta Frith CHINESE LITERATURE Sabina Knight
THE AVANT GARDE David Cottington CHOICE THEORY Michael Allingham
THE AZTECS Davíd Carrasco CHRISTIAN ART Beth Williamson
BABYLONIA Trevor Bryce CHRISTIAN ETHICS D. Stephen Long
BACTERIA Sebastian G. B. Amyes CHRISTIANITY Linda Woodhead
BANKING John Goddard and CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS
John O. S. Wilson Russell Foster and Leon Kreitzman
BARTHES Jonathan Culler CITIZENSHIP Richard Bellamy
THE BEATS David Sterritt CIVIL ENGINEERING David Muir Wood
BEAUTY Roger Scruton CLASSICAL LITERATURE William Allan
BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY
Michelle Baddeley Helen Morales
BESTSELLERS John Sutherland CLASSICS Mary Beard and
THE BIBLE John Riches John Henderson
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY CLAUSEWITZ Michael Howard
Eric H. Cline CLIMATE Mark Maslin
BIG DATA Dawn E. Holmes CLIMATE CHANGE Mark Maslin
BIOGRAPHY Hermione Lee CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
BLACK HOLES Katherine Blundell Susan Llewelyn and
BLOOD Chris Cooper Katie Aafjes-van Doorn
THE BLUES Elijah Wald COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
THE BODY Chris Shilling Richard Passingham
THE BOOK OF MORMON THE COLD WAR Robert McMahon
Terryl Givens COLONIAL AMERICA Alan Taylor
BORDERS Alexander C. Diener COLONIAL LATIN AMERICAN
and Joshua Hagen LITERATURE Rolena Adorno
THE BRAIN Michael O’Shea COMBINATORICS Robin Wilson
BRANDING Robert Jones COMEDY Matthew Bevis
THE BRICS Andrew F. Cooper COMMUNISM Leslie Holmes
THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
Martin Loughlin Ben Hutchinson
THE BRITISH EMPIRE Ashley Jackson COMPLEXITY John H. Holland
BRITISH POLITICS Anthony Wright THE COMPUTER Darrel Ince
BUDDHA Michael Carrithers COMPUTER SCIENCE
BUDDHISM Damien Keown Subrata Dasgupta
BUDDHIST ETHICS Damien Keown CONFUCIANISM Daniel K. Gardner
BYZANTIUM Peter Sarris THE CONQUISTADORS
CALVINISM Jon Balserak Matthew Restall and
CANCER Nicholas James Felipe Fernández-Armesto
CAPITALISM James Fulcher CONSCIENCE Paul Strohm
CATHOLICISM Gerald O’Collins CONSCIOUSNESS Susan Blackmore
CONTEMPORARY ART EARLY MUSIC Thomas Forrest Kelly

Julian Stallabrass THE EARTH Martin Redfern
CONTEMPORARY FICTION EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE Tim Lenton
Robert Eaglestone ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta
CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY EDUCATION Gary Thomas
Simon Critchley EGYPTIAN MYTH Geraldine Pinch
COPERNICUS Owen Gingerich EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN
CORAL REEFS Charles Sheppard Paul Langford
CORPORATE SOCIAL THE ELEMENTS Philip Ball
RESPONSIBILITY Jeremy Moon EMOTION Dylan Evans
CORRUPTION Leslie Holmes EMPIRE Stephen Howe
COSMOLOGY Peter Coles ENGELS Terrell Carver
CRIME FICTION Richard Bradford ENGINEERING David Blockley
CRIMINAL JUSTICE Julian V. Roberts THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
CRITICAL THEORY Simon Horobin
Stephen Eric Bronner ENGLISH LITERATURE Jonathan Bate
THE CRUSADES Christopher Tyerman THE ENLIGHTENMENT
CRYPTOGRAPHY Fred Piper and John Robertson
Sean Murphy ENTREPRENEURSHIP Paul Westhead
CRYSTALLOGRAPHY A. M. Glazer and Mike Wright
THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION ENVIRONMENTAL
Richard Curt Kraus ECONOMICS Stephen Smith
DADA AND SURREALISM ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
David Hopkins Elizabeth Fisher
DANTE Peter Hainsworth and ENVIRONMENTAL
David Robey POLITICS Andrew Dobson
DARWIN Jonathan Howard EPICUREANISM Catherine Wilson
THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS EPIDEMIOLOGY Rodolfo Saracci
Timothy H. Lim ETHICS Simon Blackburn
DECOLONIZATION Dane Kennedy ETHNOMUSICOLOGY Timothy Rice
DEMOCRACY Bernard Crick THE ETRUSCANS Christopher Smith
DEPRESSION Jan Scott and EUGENICS Philippa Levine
Mary Jane Tacchi THE EUROPEAN UNION John Pinder
DERRIDA Simon Glendinning and Simon Usherwood
DESCARTES Tom Sorell EUROPEAN UNION LAW
DESERTS Nick Middleton Anthony Arnull
DESIGN John Heskett EVOLUTION Brian and
DEVELOPMENT Ian Goldin Deborah Charlesworth
DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn
Lewis Wolpert EXPLORATION Stewart A. Weaver
THE DEVIL Darren Oldridge THE EYE Michael Land
DIASPORA Kevin Kenny FAIRY TALE Marina Warner
DICTIONARIES Lynda Mugglestone FAMILY LAW Jonathan Herring
DINOSAURS David Norman FASCISM Kevin Passmore
DIPLOMACY Joseph M. Siracusa FASHION Rebecca Arnold
DOCUMENTARY FILM FEMINISM Margaret Walters
Patricia Aufderheide FILM Michael Wood
DREAMING J. Allan Hobson FILM MUSIC Kathryn Kalinak
DRUGS Les Iversen THE FIRST WORLD WAR
DRUIDS Barry Cunliffe Michael Howard
FOLK MUSIC Mark Slobin THE HEBREW BIBLE AS LITERATURE

FOOD John Krebs Tod Linafelt
FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY HEGEL Peter Singer
David Canter HEIDEGGER Michael Inwood
FORENSIC SCIENCE Jim Fraser THE HELLENISTIC AGE
FORESTS Jaboury Ghazoul Peter Thonemann
FOSSILS Keith Thomson HEREDITY John Waller
FOUCAULT Gary Gutting HERMENEUTICS Jens Zimmermann
THE FOUNDING FATHERS HERODOTUS Jennifer T. Roberts
R. B. Bernstein HIEROGLYPHS Penelope Wilson
FRACTALS Kenneth Falconer HINDUISM Kim Knott
FREE SPEECH Nigel Warburton HISTORY John H. Arnold
FREE WILL Thomas Pink THE HISTORY OF ASTRONOMY
FREEMASONRY Andreas Önnerfors Michael Hoskin
FRENCH LITERATURE John D. Lyons THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION William H. Brock
William Doyle THE HISTORY OF CINEMA
FREUD Anthony Storr Geoffrey Nowell-Smith
FUNDAMENTALISM Malise Ruthven THE HISTORY OF LIFE
FUNGI Nicholas P. Money Michael Benton
THE FUTURE Jennifer M. Gidley THE HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS
GALAXIES John Gribbin Jacqueline Stedall
GALILEO Stillman Drake THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE
GAME THEORY Ken Binmore William Bynum
GANDHI Bhikhu Parekh THE HISTORY OF PHYSICS
GENES Jonathan Slack J. L. Heilbron
GENIUS Andrew Robinson THE HISTORY OF TIME
GENOMICS John Archibald Leofranc Holford‑Strevens
GEOGRAPHY John Matthews and HIV AND AIDS Alan Whiteside
David Herbert HOBBES Richard Tuck
GEOPOLITICS Klaus Dodds HOLLYWOOD Peter Decherney
GERMAN LITERATURE Nicholas Boyle HOME Michael Allen Fox
GERMAN PHILOSOPHY HORMONES Martin Luck
Andrew Bowie HUMAN ANATOMY
GLOBAL CATASTROPHES Bill McGuire Leslie Klenerman
GLOBAL ECONOMIC HISTORY HUMAN EVOLUTION Bernard Wood
Robert C. Allen HUMAN RIGHTS Andrew Clapham
GLOBALIZATION Manfred Steger HUMANISM Stephen Law
GOD John Bowker HUME A. J. Ayer
GOETHE Ritchie Robertson HUMOUR Noël Carroll
THE GOTHIC Nick Groom THE ICE AGE Jamie Woodward
GOVERNANCE Mark Bevir IDEOLOGY Michael Freeden
GRAVITY Timothy Clifton THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE Paul Klenerman
NEW DEAL Eric Rauchway INDIAN CINEMA Ashish Rajadhyaksha
HABERMAS James Gordon Finlayson INDIAN PHILOSOPHY Sue Hamilton
THE HABSBURG EMPIRE Martyn Rady THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
HAPPINESS Daniel M. Haybron Robert C. Allen
THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE INFECTIOUS DISEASE Marta L. Wayne
Cheryl A. Wall and Benjamin M. Bolker
INFINITY Ian Stewart LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews

INFORMATION Luciano Floridi LITERARY THEORY Jonathan Culler
INNOVATION Mark Dodgson and LOCKE John Dunn
David Gann LOGIC Graham Priest
INTELLIGENCE Ian J. Deary LOVE Ronald de Sousa
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MACHIAVELLI Quentin Skinner
Siva Vaidhyanathan MADNESS Andrew Scull
INTERNATIONAL LAW MAGIC Owen Davies
Vaughan Lowe MAGNA CARTA Nicholas Vincent
INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION MAGNETISM Stephen Blundell
Khalid Koser MALTHUS Donald Winch
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS MAMMALS T. S. Kemp
Paul Wilkinson MANAGEMENT John Hendry
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY MAO Delia Davin
Christopher S. Browning MARINE BIOLOGY Philip V. Mladenov
IRAN Ali M. Ansari THE MARQUIS DE SADE
ISLAM Malise Ruthven John Phillips
ISLAMIC HISTORY Adam Silverstein MARTIN LUTHER Scott H. Hendrix
ISOTOPES Rob Ellam MARTYRDOM Jolyon Mitchell
ITALIAN LITERATURE MARX Peter Singer
Peter Hainsworth and David Robey MATERIALS Christopher Hall
JESUS Richard Bauckham MATHEMATICS Timothy Gowers
JEWISH HISTORY David N. Myers THE MEANING OF LIFE
JOURNALISM Ian Hargreaves Terry Eagleton
JUDAISM Norman Solomon MEASUREMENT David Hand
JUNG Anthony Stevens MEDICAL ETHICS Tony Hope
KABBALAH Joseph Dan MEDICAL LAW Charles Foster
KAFKA Ritchie Robertson MEDIEVAL BRITAIN John Gillingham
KANT Roger Scruton and Ralph A. Griffiths
KEYNES Robert Skidelsky MEDIEVAL LITERATURE
KIERKEGAARD Patrick Gardiner Elaine Treharne
KNOWLEDGE Jennifer Nagel MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
THE KORAN Michael Cook John Marenbon
LAKES Warwick F. Vincent MEMORY Jonathan K. Foster
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE METAPHYSICS Stephen Mumford
Ian H. Thompson THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION
LANDSCAPES AND Alan Knight
GEOMORPHOLOGY MICHAEL FARADAY
Andrew Goudie and Heather Viles Frank A. J. L. James
LANGUAGES Stephen R. Anderson MICROBIOLOGY Nicholas P. Money
LATE ANTIQUITY Gillian Clark MICROECONOMICS Avinash Dixit
LAW Raymond Wacks MICROSCOPY Terence Allen
THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS THE MIDDLE AGES Miri Rubin
Peter Atkins MILITARY JUSTICE Eugene R. Fidell
LEADERSHIP Keith Grint MILITARY STRATEGY
LEARNING Mark Haselgrove Antulio J. Echevarria II
LEIBNIZ Maria Rosa Antognazza MINERALS David Vaughan
LIBERALISM Michael Freeden MIRACLES Yujin Nagasawa
LIGHT Ian Walmsley MODERN ART David Cottington
LINCOLN Allen C. Guelzo MODERN CHINA Rana Mitter
MODERN DRAMA NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS

Kirsten E. Shepherd-Barr Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green
MODERN FRANCE NORTHERN IRELAND
Vanessa R. Schwartz Marc Mulholland
MODERN INDIA Craig Jeffrey NOTHING Frank Close
MODERN IRELAND Senia Pašeta NUCLEAR PHYSICS Frank Close
MODERN ITALY Anna Cento Bull NUCLEAR POWER Maxwell Irvine
MODERN JAPAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Christopher Goto-Jones Joseph M. Siracusa
MODERN LATIN AMERICAN NUMBERS Peter M. Higgins
LITERATURE NUTRITION David A. Bender
Roberto González Echevarría OBJECTIVITY Stephen Gaukroger
MODERN WAR Richard English OCEANS Dorrik Stow
MODERNISM Christopher Butler THE OLD TESTAMENT
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY Aysha Divan Michael D. Coogan
and Janice A. Royds THE ORCHESTRA D. Kern Holoman
MOLECULES Philip Ball ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
MONASTICISM Stephen J. Davis Graham Patrick
THE MONGOLS Morris Rossabi ORGANISED CRIME
MOONS David A. Rothery Georgios A. Antonopoulos and
MORMONISM Georgios Papanicolaou
Richard Lyman Bushman ORGANIZATIONS Mary Jo Hatch
MOUNTAINS Martin F. Price PAGANISM Owen Davies
MUHAMMAD Jonathan A. C. Brown PAIN Rob Boddice
MULTICULTURALISM Ali Rattansi THE PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI
MULTILINGUALISM John C. Maher CONFLICT Martin Bunton
MUSIC Nicholas Cook PANDEMICS Christian W. McMillen
MYTH Robert A. Segal PARTICLE PHYSICS Frank Close
THE NAPOLEONIC WARS PAUL E. P. Sanders
Mike Rapport PEACE Oliver P. Richmond
NATIONALISM Steven Grosby PENTECOSTALISM William K. Kay
NATIVE AMERICAN PERCEPTION Brian Rogers
LITERATURE Sean Teuton THE PERIODIC TABLE Eric R. Scerri
NAVIGATION Jim Bennett PHILOSOPHY Edward Craig
NELSON MANDELA Elleke Boehmer PHILOSOPHY IN THE ISLAMIC
NEOLIBERALISM Manfred Steger and WORLD Peter Adamson
Ravi Roy PHILOSOPHY OF LAW
NETWORKS Guido Caldarelli and Raymond Wacks
Michele Catanzaro PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
THE NEW TESTAMENT Samir Okasha
Luke Timothy Johnson PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
THE NEW TESTAMENT AS Tim Bayne
LITERATURE Kyle Keefer PHOTOGRAPHY Steve Edwards
NEWTON Robert Iliffe PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY Peter Atkins
NIETZSCHE Michael Tanner PILGRIMAGE Ian Reader
NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN PLAGUE Paul Slack
Christopher Harvie and PLANETS David A. Rothery
H. C. G. Matthew PLANTS Timothy Walker
THE NORMAN CONQUEST PLATE TECTONICS Peter Molnar
George Garnett PLATO Julia Annas
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY THE ROMAN REPUBLIC

David Miller David M. Gwynn
POLITICS Kenneth Minogue ROMANTICISM Michael Ferber
POPULISM Cas Mudde and ROUSSEAU Robert Wokler
Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser RUSSELL A. C. Grayling
POSTCOLONIALISM Robert Young RUSSIAN HISTORY Geoffrey Hosking
POSTMODERNISM Christopher Butler RUSSIAN LITERATURE Catriona Kelly
POSTSTRUCTURALISM THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
Catherine Belsey S. A. Smith
PREHISTORY Chris Gosden SAVANNAS Peter A. Furley
PRESOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY SCHIZOPHRENIA Chris Frith and
Catherine Osborne Eve Johnstone
PRIVACY Raymond Wacks SCHOPENHAUER Christopher Janaway
PROBABILITY John Haigh SCIENCE AND RELIGION
PROGRESSIVISM Walter Nugent Thomas Dixon
PROJECTS Andrew Davies SCIENCE FICTION David Seed
PROTESTANTISM Mark A. Noll THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
PSYCHIATRY Tom Burns Lawrence M. Principe
PSYCHOANALYSIS Daniel Pick SCOTLAND Rab Houston
PSYCHOLOGY Gillian Butler and SEXUALITY Véronique Mottier
Freda McManus SHAKESPEARE’S COMEDIES
PSYCHOTHERAPY Tom Burns and Bart van Es
Eva Burns-Lundgren SHAKESPEARE’S SONNETS AND
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION POEMS Jonathan F. S. Post
Stella Z. Theodoulou and Ravi K. Roy SHAKESPEARE’S TRAGEDIES
PUBLIC HEALTH Virginia Berridge Stanley Wells
PURITANISM Francis J. Bremer SIKHISM Eleanor Nesbitt
THE QUAKERS Pink Dandelion THE SILK ROAD James A. Millward
QUANTUM THEORY SLANG Jonathon Green
John Polkinghorne SLEEP Steven W. Lockley and
RACISM Ali Rattansi Russell G. Foster
RADIOACTIVITY Claudio Tuniz SOCIAL AND CULTURAL
RASTAFARI Ennis B. Edmonds ANTHROPOLOGY
THE REAGAN REVOLUTION Gil Troy John Monaghan and Peter Just
REALITY Jan Westerhoff SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY Richard J. Crisp
THE REFORMATION Peter Marshall SOCIAL WORK Sally Holland and
RELATIVITY Russell Stannard Jonathan Scourfield
RELIGION IN AMERICA Timothy Beal SOCIALISM Michael Newman
THE RENAISSANCE Jerry Brotton SOCIOLINGUISTICS John Edwards
RENAISSANCE ART SOCIOLOGY Steve Bruce
Geraldine A. Johnson SOCRATES C. C. W. Taylor
REVOLUTIONS Jack A. Goldstone SOUND Mike Goldsmith
RHETORIC Richard Toye THE SOVIET UNION Stephen Lovell
RISK Baruch Fischhoff and John Kadvany THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR
RITUAL Barry Stephenson Helen Graham
RIVERS Nick Middleton SPANISH LITERATURE Jo Labanyi
ROBOTICS Alan Winfield SPINOZA Roger Scruton
ROCKS Jan Zalasiewicz SPIRITUALITY Philip Sheldrake
ROMAN BRITAIN Peter Salway SPORT Mike Cronin
THE ROMAN EMPIRE STARS Andrew King
Christopher Kelly STATISTICS David J. Hand
STEM CELLS Jonathan Slack THE U.S. CONGRESS Donald A. Ritchie

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING THE U.S. SUPREME COURT
David Blockley Linda Greenhouse
STUART BRITAIN John Morrill UTILITARIANISM
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek and
Stephen Blundell Peter Singer
SYMMETRY Ian Stewart UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES
TAXATION Stephen Smith David Palfreyman and Paul Temple
TEETH Peter S. Ungar UTOPIANISM Lyman Tower Sargent
TELESCOPES Geoff Cottrell VETERINARY SCIENCE James Yeates
TERRORISM Charles Townshend THE VIKINGS Julian Richards
THEATRE Marvin Carlson VIRUSES Dorothy H. Crawford
THEOLOGY David F. Ford VOLTAIRE Nicholas Cronk
THINKING AND REASONING WAR AND TECHNOLOGY Alex Roland
Jonathan St B. T. Evans WATER John Finney
THOMAS AQUINAS Fergus Kerr WEATHER Storm Dunlop
THOUGHT Tim Bayne THE WELFARE STATE David Garland
TIBETAN BUDDHISM WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Matthew T. Kapstein Stanley Wells
TOCQUEVILLE Harvey C. Mansfield WITCHCRAFT Malcolm Gaskill
TRAGEDY Adrian Poole WITTGENSTEIN A. C. Grayling
TRANSLATION Matthew Reynolds WORK Stephen Fineman
THE TROJAN WAR Eric H. Cline WORLD MUSIC Philip Bohlman
TRUST Katherine Hawley THE WORLD TRADE
THE TUDORS John Guy ORGANIZATION Amrita Narlikar
TWENTIETH‑CENTURY WORLD WAR II Gerhard L. Weinberg
BRITAIN Kenneth O. Morgan WRITING AND SCRIPT
THE UNITED NATIONS Andrew Robinson
Jussi M. Hanhimäki ZIONISM Michael Stanislawski
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GEOPHYSICS William Lowrie DEMOGRAPHY Sarah Harper

CRIMINOLOGY Tim Newburn GEOLOGY Jan Zalasiewicz
SEXUAL SELECTION Marlene Zuk and
Leigh W. Simmons
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John Archibald
GENOMICS
A Very Short Introduction
1
1
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
United Kingdom
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries
© John Archibald 2018
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
First edition published in 2018
Impression: 1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics
rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017959740
ISBN 978–0–19–878620–7
Printed in Great Britain by
Ashford Colour Press Ltd, Gosport, Hampshire
Contents
Preface xv
Acknowledgements xvii
List of illustrations xix
Common abbreviations xxi
1 What is genomics? 1
2 How to read the book of life 12
3 Making sense of genes and genomes 28
4 The human genome in biology and medicine 44
5 Evolutionary genomics 59
6 Genomics and the microbial world 88
7 The future of genomics 109
References 125
Further reading 129
Index 131
Preface
Genomics has transformed the biological sciences. From

epidemiology and medicine to evolution and forensics, the
ability to determine an organism’s complete genetic makeup has
changed the way science is done and the questions that can be
asked of it. Far and away the most celebrated achievement of
genomics is the Human Genome Project, a technologically
challenging endeavour that took thousands of scientists around
the world thirteen years and ~US$3 billion to complete. In 2000,
American President William Clinton referred to the resulting
genome sequence as ‘the most important, most wondrous map
ever produced by humankind.’ Important though it was, this
‘map’ was a low-resolution first pass—a beginning not an
endpoint. As of this writing, thousands of human genomes have
been sequenced, the primary goals being to better understand
our biology in health and disease, and to ‘personalize’ medicine.
Sequencing a human genome now takes only a few days and
costs as little as US$1,000. The genomes of simple bacteria
and viruses can be sequenced in a matter of hours on a device
that fits in the palm of your hand. The information is being used
in ways unimaginable only a few years ago.
The term genomics can mean different things to different people.

It is in one sense a collection of experimental methods used to
analyse the sequence and structure of an organism’s genome.
Genomics is also a mature, far-reaching branch of science whose

subject is ‘the genome’ and the genes contained therein. This book
explores the science of genomics and its rapidly expanding toolbox.
The goal is to provide the reader with a broad overview of the
topic, including the molecular biology upon which genomics is
based; examples of the scientific questions it is used to address;
how it impacts our daily lives; and how it is likely to do so in the
future. As we shall see, genomics is a fast-paced field, one that
continues to push not only technological boundaries but social,
legal, and ethical ones as well. Indeed, DNA sequencing techniques
are evolving so rapidly that methods developed within the last
decade have already become obsolete. Exploration of the
topic requires a certain amount of technical detail, but I have
endeavoured to keep such information to a minimum. Readers
should also feel free to jump to wherever their interests take them;
lists of further reading and references for each chapter appear
at the end of the book for those wishing to dig deeper into
Genomics
specific topics.
xvi

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OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 28/12/17, SPi

Genomics: A Very Short Introduction

VERY SHORT INTRODUCTIONS are for anyone wanting a stimulating

Very Short Introductions available now:

ACCOUNTING Christopher Nobes ANAESTHESIA Aidan O’Donnell

ART HISTORY Dana Arnold CAUSATION Stephen Mumford

CONTEMPORARY ART EARLY MUSIC Thomas Forrest Kelly

FOLK MUSIC Mark Slobin THE HEBREW BIBLE AS LITERATURE

INFINITY Ian Stewart LINGUISTICS Peter Matthews

MODERN DRAMA NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY THE ROMAN REPUBLIC

STEM CELLS Jonathan Slack THE U.S. CONGRESS Donald A. Ritchie

GEOPHYSICS William Lowrie DEMOGRAPHY Sarah Harper

For more information visit our website

List of illustrations xix

Common abbreviations xxi

2 How to read the book of life 12

3 Making sense of genes and genomes 28

4 The human genome in biology and medicine 44

6 Genomics and the microbial world 88

7 The future of genomics 109

Further reading 129

Genomics has transformed the biological sciences. From

The term genomics can mean different things to different people.

Genomics is also a mature, far-reaching branch of science whose

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