Transcription factors are essential mediators of the genetic programs that control development and physiology. This exciting book presents current knowledge of transcription factors from two viewpoints. First, the basic science of transcriptional regulation is discussed. Second, inherited human diseases attributable to mutations in DNA sequences encoding transcription factors or their cognate binding sites are described. Readers are also introduced to the involvement oftranscription factors in somatic cell genetic disease (cancer) and epigenetic disease (teratogenesis).