This text provides a clear exposition of genetic principles and problems with comprehensive, up-to-date references. Specialists who have collaborated closely with industry give an inside authentic view of the genetics and breeding of industrial microorganisms such as yeasts, filamentous fungi, actinomycetes, pseudomonads, and other bacteria of major industrial significance. This book will be especially valuable to many professionals in the field of microbial genetics.

Bridging the gap between laboratory observations and industrial practices, this work presents detailed information on recombinant micro-organisms and their applications in industry and agriculture. All recombinant microbes, bacteria, yeasts and fungi are covered.

Writing a textbook on microbial genetics in about 200 pages was un doubtedly a difficult task, but I have been encouraged by the response from both students and lecturers to the first edition. The requirement for a second edition is also a measure of the need for such a book. My experience as a lecturer has shown that what is needed first is an intelligible framework which can be read in a reasonable period of time. Armed with these principles, a student can then go to reviews and the original literature with a reasonable chance of understanding the jargon and the details. Molecular genetics is now so well advanced that it is easy to lose track of the purpose of a set of experiments in the wealth of sequence data and complex interactions. I have therefore kept the same format for this edition with a well-illustrated text giving original papers, popular reviews, monographs and detailed reviews to enable the student to take the subject further as required.

Biotechnology is a word that was originally coined to describe the new processes which could be derived from our ability to manipulate, in vitro, the genetic material common to all organisms. I t has now become a generic term encompassing all "applications" of living systems, including the more traditional fermentation and agricultural industries. Recombinant DNA technology has opened up new opportunities for the exploitation of microorganisms and animal and plant cells as producers or modifiers of chemical and biological products. This series of handbooks deals exclusively with microorganisms which are at the forefront of the new technologies and brings together in each of its volumes the background information necessary to appreciate the historical development of the organisms making up a particular genus, the degree to which molecular biology has opened up new opportunities, and the place they occupy in today's biotechnology industry. Our aim was to make this primarily a practical approach, with emphasis on methodology, combining for the first time information which has largely been spread across a wide literature base or only touched upon briefly in review articles. Each handbook should provide the reader with a source text, from which the importance of the genus to his or her work can be identified, and a practical guide to the handling and exploitation of the organisms included.