Plant Centromere Biology

Plant Centromere Biology is dedicated to plant centromere research. Chapters cover the structure of centromeres from several plant species including Arabidopsis thaliana, rice, maize, wheat and beet, while other sections cover several unique characteristics associated with plant centromeres, including classical and modern neocentromeres, centromere drive and centromere misdivision.  Additional chapters are dedicated to epigenetic modification and evolution of plant centromeres, and development and application of plant artificial chromosomes. 

Written by an international group of experts in the field, Plant Centromere Biology is a valuable handbook for all plant scientists working on plant genome research.  Beyond the bench, it can also serve as a helpful reference tool or textbook for upper level college classes on cytogenetics or genome analysis.

Jiming Jiang is a Professor of Horticulture at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His research focuses on plant molecular cytogenetics, plant centromeres, potato breeding and genomics. In addition to his research activities Dr. Jiang also teaches a course on introductory cytogenetics, and he is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

James A. Birchler is Curators Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia. His lab studies gene expression in multicellular eukaryotes at the gene and chromosomal level, using maize and Drosophila as experimental organisms. Dr. Birchler has published widely in such journals as The New Phytologist, The Plant Cell, and Genes and Chromatin, and he is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.