Introduction to Genetic Analysis

Citation

Griffiths, A. J. F., Doebley, J., Peichel, C., & Wassarman, D. A. (2025). Introduction to Genetic Analysis (12th ed., Digital Update). Macmillan Learning.

Chapter Summary

The Digital Update of the twelfth edition has 20 chapters and 832 pages. The publisher describes its hallmark as a focus on genetic analysis, quantitative problem solving and experimentation. The chapters run from Mendelian inheritance and mapping through the molecular biology of DNA, RNA and proteins, gene regulation, genomics, mutation and the dynamic genome, to population, quantitative and evolutionary genetics. Where the publisher's list of updates names specific sections, they are mentioned below.

Chapter 1: The Genetics Revolution in the Life Sciences

The opening chapter sets genetics in the context of the life sciences. The update list adds a new figure on the steps involved in creating and applying polygenic risk scores.

Chapters 2–3: Single-Gene Inheritance; Independent Assortment of Genes

The two chapters cover the foundations of transmission genetics: inheritance of a single gene, and the behavior of genes that assort independently.

Chapters 4–5: Mapping Eukaryote Chromosomes by Recombination; Gene Interaction

Chapter 4 treats the mapping of eukaryote chromosomes by recombination. The update list shows revisions to Box 4-1 on mapping functions (a new figure on Haldane's mapping function), to Section 4.4, now called "Assembling Genome-Wide Linkage Maps", which adds a subsection on big-data analysis, and to Section 4.6, "Using Linkage Maps in Conjunction with Physical Maps", which adds fine-mapping with the cystic fibrosis gene as an example. Chapter 5 turns to gene interaction.

Chapter 6: The Genetics of Bacteria and Their Viruses

Genetic analysis in bacteria and bacteriophages.

Chapters 7–9: DNA: Structure and Replication; RNA: Transcription and Processing; Proteins and Their Synthesis

The molecular core of the book follows the flow of information from DNA structure and replication to RNA transcription and processing and then to proteins and their synthesis.

Chapter 10: Gene Isolation and Manipulation

The methods chapter on isolating and manipulating genes. Its Section 10.4 was retitled "CRISPR genome editing" in the update and gained subsections on CRISPR base editing and transcription regulation, RNAi knockout and the use of CRISPR and RNAi as tools for reverse genetics, with new figures and three new questions.

Chapters 11–13: Regulation of Gene Expression in Bacteria and Their Viruses; Regulation of Transcription in Eukaryotes; The Genetic Control of Development

Gene regulation is treated in bacteria and their viruses, then in eukaryotes, and then as it controls development.

Chapter 14: Genomes and Genomics

The update adds a figure on falling DNA sequencing costs and growing data storage needs (Section 14.1), a section on third-generation sequencing with PacBio HiFi sequencing (14.2), a revised box on direct-to-consumer genetic testing and a subsection on cancer genomics (14.5), and updated coverage of RNA-seq and ChIP-seq in functional genomics (14.7).

Chapters 15–17: Mutation, Repair, and Recombination; The Dynamic Genome: Transposable Elements; Large-Scale Chromosomal Changes

These chapters cover how the genome changes: mutation, repair and recombination, transposable elements, and chromosome-scale changes.

Chapters 18–20: Population Genetics; The Inheritance of Complex Traits; Evolution of Genes, Traits, and Species

The last three chapters extend from individuals to populations. Section 19.5, "Association Mapping in Random-Mating Populations", has new text on the genetics of human height.

Special Topics in Genetics

The update list adds two new, separate Special Topics sections. "The Genetic Architecture of Cancer" pulls together the book's coverage of cancer genetics as "a genetic disease", "a developmental disease" and "a genomic disease". The second section covers the genetics of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19: its structure, life cycle, genome replication, transcription, translation, evolution, detection and vaccines.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–6: Transmission Genetics

• Single-gene inheritance and independent assortment: the basic patterns of Chapters 2 and 3.
• Recombination mapping: building linkage maps from recombination, with mapping functions (Chapter 4).
• Gene interaction: how genes act together to produce phenotypes (Chapter 5).

Chapters 7–14: Molecular Genetics and Genomics

• Gene isolation and manipulation: including CRISPR genome editing (Chapter 10).
• Regulation of gene expression: in bacteria, in eukaryotes and in development (Chapters 11 to 13).
• Genomics: sequencing, assembly and the comparison of genomes (Chapter 14).

Chapters 15–20: Genome Change and Populations

• Transposable elements: mobile DNA as part of the dynamic genome (Chapter 16).
• Complex traits: the inheritance of quantitative traits and association mapping (Chapter 19).
• Evolution of genes: the closing chapter (20).

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A problem-solving design. The publisher lists the problem types as "Working with the Figures", "Unpacking the Problem" (step-by-step tutorials built around what is known and what is to be found out), "Basic Problems", "Challenging Problems" and "Genetics and Society" questions, and says learning objectives are tied to section titles. For readers who learn genetics by working through data, this is the most distinctive part of the book.
• A full course in one volume. The 20 chapters carry a reader from single-gene inheritance to quantitative and evolutionary genetics, with the molecular chapters (7 to 12) placed in the middle so that classical and molecular genetics are taught in one sequence.
• Targeted, documented updates. The publisher documents the Digital Update chapter by chapter (CRISPR editing, third-generation sequencing, polygenic risk scores, cancer genomics and the genetics of the COVID-19 coronavirus), so a reader can see where the 2025 text differs from the 2020 twelfth edition.

Limitations

• Large. At 832 pages the book is more than a one-semester course will cover in full, and the contents do not mark optional chapters.
• Quality claims are the publisher's. The descriptions of quality rest on the publisher's account, and the Digital Update's changes are those the publisher lists; they are targeted revisions rather than a rewrite of the earlier twelfth edition.
• Quantitative demands. The publisher stresses quantitative problem solving but states no prerequisites on its page. A problem-driven approach implies comfort with probability and basic algebra, and students without it should expect the chapters on mapping and complex traits to be demanding.

Where It Fits in the Course

Griffiths and colleagues is a main text for a first full genetics course, particularly one taught through problem solving. Within this course list, Principles of Genetics by Snustad and Simmons is the closest alternative: a comprehensive introduction covering classical and molecular genetics, genomics and biotechnology. Introducing Genetics: From Mendel to Molecules is a short, clearly written first introduction for students meeting genetics at university for the first time and is a gentler start before this book, while Genes: A Very Short Introduction is a non-technical overview for general readers.

For later study, Genomes 5 by Terry Brown treats genetics at the level of whole genomes (sequencing, assembly, annotation and expression), and Hartl and Clark's Principles of Population Genetics treats the theory and data of population genetics in depth, which Chapter 18 of this book can only introduce.

How to Use This Book

The book is for undergraduates in a first full genetics course who have introductory biology and are comfortable with basic probability and algebra, as the problems on inheritance ratios and recombination frequencies require.

A practical plan is to work through Chapters 2 to 5 carefully, since mapping and gene interaction problems build the analytical habits that later chapters assume. Chapters 7 to 9 give the molecular core and can be read lightly by students who have had molecular biology. Chapters 10 to 14 are the modern toolkit and genomics block; Chapters 15 to 17 and 18 to 20 can be taken in either order depending on whether the course favors molecular change or population-level genetics.

Attempt the end-of-chapter problems, not just the reading: use "Unpacking the Problem" as a template for setting out what is known and what must be found, and "Working with the Figures" to check that the data in each figure are understood. Read the Special Topics sections on cancer and the COVID-19 coronavirus after the relevant molecular chapters, when the vocabulary is familiar.