This book provides a comprehensive overview of ZIC-family research. Part1 summarizes the ZIC family in animal evolution and development and presents an overall picture of the ZIC family gene structure in eumetazoan animals, providing an evolutionary hypothesis and reviewing the studies on the role of ZIC family proteins in developmental processes for each animal model. Part 2 shows that the ZIC family are the causative genes for developmental disorders, and discusses the role of the ZIC family in stem cell biology. It also presents studies on the ZIC family in the medical biology field. This interdisciplinary book is a valuable resource not only for those people directly involved in ZIC-family-related research, but also researchers in diverse research fields who are interested in the latest advances in biology and medicine.

Autorentext
Jun Aruga is a professor of pharmacology at Nagasaki University Institute of Biomedical Sciences, and a former head of the Laboratory for Behavioral and Developmental Disorder at RIKEN Brain Science Institute. He has been researching the biological significance of ZIC family genes since their discovery in 1991.

Inhalt
Part1: Zic family in animal evolution and development. Comparative genome analysis of Zic genes.- Drosophila Zic genes.- Nematode Zic genes.- Planarian Zic genes.- Ascidian (Halocynthia) Zic genes.- Ascidian (Ciona) Zic genes.- Amphibian Zic genes.- Teleost fish (Oryzias) Zic genes.- Teleost fish (Danio) Zic genes.- Overview of rodent Zic genes.- Rodent Zic genes in neural network wiring.- Rodent Zic genes in meninx and vasculature development.- Part2ZIC family in Medicine: ZIC family as the causative genes for developmental disorders. ZIC1 in Dandy-Walker malformation.- ZIC2 in holoprosencephaly Maximilian.- Ch.16 ZIC3 in heterotaxy.- Part3ZIC family in Medicine: ZIC family in stem cell biology. Role of Zic family in transcriptional regulation and chromatin remodeling.- Deregulation of ZIC family in oncogenesis.- ZIC family and stemness.- ZIC2 in cancer stem cell.