As the first comprehensive overview of the nucleolus since 1985, The Nucleolus covers our current understanding of the cell nucleolus, including its role in ribosome assembly and its additional newly-discovered activities. The eighteen chapters have been written by experts who are actively engaged in research on the nucleolus and have an in depth review of the following topics:

- nucleolar ultrastructure and dynamics,
- behavior during mitosis,
- ribosomal DNA gene and chromatin structure,
- pre-ribosomal RNA transcription,
- processing and modification,
- ribosome assembly,
- small nucleolar RNAs,
- proteomics and non-traditional functions of the nucleolus.

Separate chapters are also provided for yeast and higher eukaryotes on many topics.
The Nucleolus will appeal not only to scientists directly engaged in nucleolar research, but also those working in related areas such as gene expression, protein biosynthesis, ribosome structure, transcription, chromatin structure, molecular genetics and the structure and functions of the cell nucleus in general.