GEOGENOMICS - Organisation of the Genosphere

Softcover  300 pp - coloured plates  ISBN 9781872691442      £99.00

The biosphere, as Earth's living body emerged from the world's oceans and spread across the surface of continents step by step, developing into a global web of life, transforming the Earth's atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere into a global integrated life-support system. The dynamic and complementary genetic system of the biosphere currently unites several million of related species genomes reflecting global evolutionary transformations of the past. It reflects the joint hereditary programmes for the planetary biogeochemical cycles based on utilisation of the Earth's elements and the Sun's energy.

The genosphere as an organised entity retrieves genetic information needed for regulation of the metabolic pathways for energy and matter flow on the planetary scale. Each of the several million existing species genomes was developed in the biosphere and can conserve and propagate itself as a constituent part. It is now well understood that an individual genome could not operate and survive on the planet alone in so far as each genome is connected with other species genomes by a system of structural foundations and links as well as by functional interactions and connections.

The system approach adopted here enables the emerging science of geogenomics to mobilise, absorb and integrate the vast data produced by classical genetics and the new molecular branches such as genomics and proteomics for elucidation and understanding of the global planetary role of existing diversity of species genomes in concerted interactions within local and regional ecosystems - each genome consisting of the genetic information defining the species' role in the biosphere i.e. whether it will be producer, consumer or decomposer and defines the area where distribution within the biosphere will occur - from the equatorial tropical forests to the polar tundra.

Since the human genome is linked with prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes within the biosphere. The effective control of many human infections, plant and animal diseases is only possible on the basis of deep understanding of the mechanisms producing the natural genomic associations.

The moral responsibility towards future next human generations oblige everyone to adopt the rational use of biological renewable resources and preservation of the biosphere with its biological and genetic diversity as well as the whole planetary life-supporting system for the fast growing human population. The ecological carrying capacity of our planet is restricted and is also under the control of the planetary genetic system. Any social programmes and measures for biosphere conservation should take the global genomic association into account and shift focus to the ecosystems.

This book will be of interest to both academics and advanced students wishing to learn more about the integration of all living organisms into a globally interdependent framework dependent on their underlying genetic makeup and evolution.

About the author

Professor Uladzimir Kirylavich Sauchanka became a member of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus in1989, having worked at the Institute of Genetics and Cytology in Minsk since 1963. He received the State Prize of Belarus for Science in 1984 and chaired the Belarusian National Committee for the UNESCO Programme on Man and the Biosphere (MAB) working with the MAB programme secretariat at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France between 1990 and 2002

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 Earth System - Planetary system Atmosphere and climate Hydrosphere and ocean Lithosphere and soil Biosphere within Earth system Carbon cycle Oxygen cycle Nitrogen cycle Phosphorus cycle Sulphur cycle Summary

Chapter 2 Earth Biodiversity - Global life web Unity of life web Between genomes diversity Globally threatened species Coenogenomic diversity Ecogenomic diversity Within genome diversity Biodiversity conservation Coenogenomic invasion Summary

Chapter 3 Biosphere Genetics - General approach Subject area Genosphere organisation The genosphere as planetary regulator Biosphere genetics transdisciplinarity Biosphere genetics research agenda Summary

Chapter 4 Genosphere - Genosphere entity Centres of origin Genosphere diversity Genosphere network Genosphere dynamics Genosphere transitions Summary

Chapter 5 Coenogenomics - Coenogenomic association Coenogenomic exchange Genomic association dynamics Fitness balance Coenogenomic coadaptation Genocoenose integration Genocoenose organization Genocoenose equilibrium Summary

Chapter 6 Coenogenomic Cooperation - Cooperation hierarchy Mutualistic systems Symbiotic systems Mycorrhizal networks Plant-bacterial cooperation Genome cooperation in eukaryotes Summary

Chapter 7 Coenogenomic Exploitation - Exploitation hierarchy Herbivore-plant genomic association Predator-prey genomic association Host-parasite genomic association Host-pathogen genomic association Summary

Chapter 8 Coenogenomic Competition - Competition hierarchy Competition and fitness Competition and diversity Competition and succession Competition for niches Competition and coenotic capacity Competitive networks Summary

Chapter 9 Species Genome - Genomic DNA Genome size Genome organisation Genome expression Proteome and metabolome Genome dynamics Genomic system Summary

Chapter 10 Horizontal Transfer - Horizontal genepool Plasmid transfer Transposable elements Spread of transposons Genome defence Introgression Coenogenomic transfer Summary

Chapter 11 Genome Modification - Genetically modified organisms (GMO) Gene transfer Recombination in microorganisms Transgenesis in plants Transgenesis in animals GMOs within the biosphere Risk prevention Summary

Chapter 12 Phylogenomic Tree - Evolution and environment Speciation Phylogenetic classification Lateral transfer in evolution Macroevolutionary trends Universal tree Summary

Chapter 13 Genosphere Self-Organization - Genosphere change Genetic systems parameters Self-organisation process Notion of fitness Variation generation Synergetic model Model analysis Summary

Chapter 14 Genosphere Complexity - Hierarchical complexity Complexity of gene interaction Complexity of genome interaction Complexity of spatial patterns Hierarchy of selection processes Summary

Conclusion
Glossary of terms
Bibliography
Acknowledgements