ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION The impact of molecular biology and genetic research on the discovery o f the root causes o f a wide variety o f hereditary and acquired diseases has long been self-evident. As the later chapters o f this volume testify, that impact is being increasingly felt in defining the molecular basis o f a variety o f cardiovascular disorders and their treatments. The purpose o f this initial chapter is to provide a brief outline o f basic molecular and genetic principles and techniques to enable the reader to more fully appreciate and understand the sophisticated, complex approaches and implications provided in the ensuing chapters. Clearly our effort has been neither encyclopedic nor profound. Our assump tion is that the reader has a general knowledge o f biochemistry and cell biology as taught in medical schools. We focus on events in mammalian cells and, when possible, use examples culled from cardiovascular-specific instances. We focus on the beauty o f the biology rather than on the ugliness of the details but, as all researchers in these fields know too well, the critical messages lie
in the minutiae. We have placed in boldface italics key words or concepts as they are first mentioned and defined.
