A authoritative summary of the current knowledge of the genetic organisation of bacterial populations.

Here, an extremely experienced team of authors from five different continents provides a timely review of progress in the use and exploitation of soil bacteria to improve crop and plant growth. They present novel ideas on how to grow better, more successful crops, in an environmentally sound way, making this invaluable reading for those working in the pharmaceutical, biotechnological and agricultural industries.

Inspired by the pace of change in the taxonomy of the aerobic endospore-forming bacteria, the "Bacillus 2000" symposium on which this book is based was held in Bruges, Belgium, in August 2000, and was supported by the Federation of European Microbiological Societies, the Belgian Society for Microbiology, and several commercial sponsors. Bringing taxonomists interested in Bacillus and its relatives together with people who work with these organisms in medicine, agriculture, and industry, allowed those attending to appreciate the overlaps and interactions of their areas of expertise, in the absence of any comprehensive treatment of the current systematics of the group. The meeting was a great success, and has resulted in the production of these proceedings, Applications and Systematics of Bacillus and Relatives, providing an up-to-date and comprehensive treatise on the classification, identification and applications of the aerobic endospore-forming bacteria; it is an essential reference for all microbiologists interested in these organisms. Valuable reference work for all those interested in the systematics of Bacillus and its relatives. Produced in response to the successful Bacillus 2000 meeting in Bruges and was supported by the Federation of European Microbiological Societies, the Belgian Society for Microbiology, and several commercial sponsors. Of use to those working in fields as diverse as medicine, agriculture, food and industry. Comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the systematics of these organisms. Includes the application of sophisticated chemotaxonomic and genetic characterization methods.

Written by leading experts in the field, Cyanobacteria: An Economic Perspective is a comprehensive edited volume covering all areas of an important field and its application to energy, medicine and agriculture. Issues related to environment, food and energy have presented serious challenge to the stability of nation-states. Increasing global population, dwindling agriculture and industrial production, and inequitable distribution of resources and technologies have further aggravated the problem. The burden placed by increasing population on environment and especially on agricultural productivity is phenomenal. To provide food and fuel to such a massive population, it becomes imperative to find new ways and means to increase the production giving due consideration to biosphere’s ability to regenerate resources and provide ecological services. Cyanobacteria are environment friendly resource for commercial production of active biochemicals, drugs and future energy (biodiesel, bioethanol and hydrogen). Topics on isolation, identification and classification of cyanobacteria are discussed, as well as further sections on: summarizing a range of useful products synthesized by cyanobacteria, ecological services provided by cyanobacteria including their harmful effect in water bodies and associated flora and fauna. Chapter on tools, techniques, and patents also focus on the economic importance of the group. This book also provides an insight for future perspectives in each particular field and an extensive bibliography. This book will be a highly useful resource for students, researchers and professionals in academics in the life sciences including microbiology and biotechnology.

The purpose ofthis brief Foreword is to make you, the reader, hungry for the scientific feast that follows. These two volumes on the prokary otes offer a truly unique scientific menu-a comprehensive assembly of articles, exhibiting the biochemical depth and remarkable physiological and morphological diversity of prokaryote life. The size of the volumes might initially discourage the unprepared mind from being attracted to the study of prokaryote life, for this landmark assemblage thoroughly documents the wealth of present knowledge. But in confronting the reader with the state of the art, the Handbook also defines where new work needs to be done on well-studied bacteria as well as on unusual or poorly studied organisms. There are basically two ways of doing research with microbes. A classical approach is first to define the phenomenon to be studied and then to select the organism accordingly. Another way is to choose a specific organism and go where it leads. The pursuit of an unusual microbe brings out the latent hunter in all of us. The intellectual chal lenges of the chase frequently test our ingenuity to the limit. Sometimes the quarry repeatedly escapes, but the final capture is indeed a wonder ful experience. For many of us, these simple rewards are sufficiently gratifying so that we have chosen to spend our scientific lives studying these unusual creatures.

Bacteria in various habitats are subject to continuously changing environmental conditions, such as nutrient deprivation, heat and cold stress, UV radiation, oxidative stress, dessication, acid stress, nitrosative stress, cell envelope stress, heavy metal exposure, osmotic stress, and others. In order to survive, they have to respond to these conditions by adapting their physiology through sometimes drastic changes in gene expression. In addition they may adapt by changing their morphology, forming biofilms, fruiting bodies or spores, filaments, Viable But Not Culturable (VBNC) cells or moving away from stress compounds via chemotaxis. Changes in gene expression constitute the main component of the bacterial response to stress and environmental changes, and involve a myriad of different mechanisms, including (alternative) sigma factors, bi- or tri-component regulatory systems, small non-coding RNA’s, chaperones, CHRIS-Cas systems, DNA repair, toxin-antitoxin systems, the stringent response, efflux pumps, alarmones, and modulation of the cell envelope or membranes, to name a few. Many regulatory elements are conserved in different bacteria; however there are endless variations on the theme and novel elements of gene regulation in bacteria inhabiting particular environments are constantly being discovered. Especially in (pathogenic) bacteria colonizing the human body a plethora of bacterial responses to innate stresses such as pH, reactive nitrogen and oxygen species and antibiotic stress are being described. An attempt is made to not only cover model systems but give a broad overview of the stress-responsive regulatory systems in a variety of bacteria, including medically important bacteria, where elucidation of certain aspects of these systems could lead to treatment strategies of the pathogens. Many of the regulatory systems being uncovered are specific, but there is also considerable “cross-talk” between different circuits. Stress and Environmental Regulation of Gene Expression and Adaptation in Bacteria is a comprehensive two-volume work bringing together both review and original research articles on key topics in stress and environmental control of gene expression in bacteria. Volume One contains key overview chapters, as well as content on one/two/three component regulatory systems and stress responses, sigma factors and stress responses, small non-coding RNAs and stress responses, toxin-antitoxin systems and stress responses, stringent response to stress, responses to UV irradiation, SOS and double stranded systems repair systems and stress, adaptation to both oxidative and osmotic stress, and desiccation tolerance and drought stress. Volume Two covers heat shock responses, chaperonins and stress, cold shock responses, adaptation to acid stress, nitrosative stress, and envelope stress, as well as iron homeostasis, metal resistance, quorum sensing, chemotaxis and biofilm formation, and viable but not culturable (VBNC) cells. Covering the full breadth of current stress and environmental control of gene expression studies and expanding it towards future advances in the field, these two volumes are a one-stop reference for (non) medical molecular geneticists interested in gene regulation under stress.

Biochemistry and ecology of biofilms from industrial, medical and other viewpoints.