The book compiles an update information about the state of bioremediation in emerging Latin American countries. Some of the studied regions are sites that suffered decades of pollution by agrochemicals, heavy metals and industrial waste due to the lack of control by government regulations. Such is the case of Northern Argentina, where were illegally deposited over 30 tn of obsolete organochlorine pesticides in 1994. The content has focused in the use of native organisms (from bacteria to plants) as a viable solution to the problem of pollution, using low-cost and powerful techniques, socially well accepted and appropriate from the environmental point of view. In this context, levels of pesticide found in the Latin American population are informed. It was also displayed as a multidisciplinary approach based on concerns of a diverse group of researchers (biochemists, biologists, chemical engineers and geneticists) about a global problem, dealing with specific cases of study, with a view to project their findings to worldwide. In this regard, researchers provide their findings to regulatory sectors, whom could make appropriate decisions.

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events encompass processes as varied as the exchange of genetic material between microbes coexisting in the same environment, between symbiotic bacteria and their eukaryotic hosts, and the evolution of organelles by symbiosis, in which whole genomes are acquired. In Horizontal Gene Transfer: Genomes in Flux, expert researchers contribute an overview of HGT concepts as well as specific case histories that highlight the most current progress to inspire future work. Divided into three sections, the volume begins with an overview of terminology, concepts and the implications of HGT on current evolutionary thought and philosophy, and continues with methods involving computer and bioinformatics analyses of genomic data as well as molecular biology techniques for identifying, quantifying, and differentiating instances of HGT. A section of case studies follows, which provides detailed accounts of how HGT has shaped evolution across the diversity of organisms and organismal lineages. As a volume of the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology (TM) series, this work provides the kind of detailed description and implementation advice that is crucial for getting optimal results. Cutting-edge and thoroughly detailed, Horizontal Gene Transfer: Genomes in Flux examines how HGT has contributed to genome evolution and how understanding HGT impacts our ability to accurately reconstruct and comprehend the web-like evolutionary history in order to aid scientists in furthering their own research.

Essential Microbiology and Hygiene for Food Professionals is an accessible and practical introduction, providing the basic science relating to microorganisms in food. Assuming no prior knowledge of microbiology, chapters take a fresh and modern approach in helping students appreciate the importance of microbiology and hygiene in assuring food safety and quality, and demonstrate the application of key principles relating to the presence, detection, and control of microorganisms in foods. Written in a user-friendly style, this book is an invaluable text for all those studying microbiology and hygiene on courses in the food professions, including food science, food technology, culinary arts, catering and hospitality, nutrition, dietetics, environmental health, and public health.

This book contains an extensive collection of critical reviews, from leading researchers in the field of regulated protein degradation. It covers the role of regulated proteolysis in a range of microorganisms (from Gram positive, Gram negative and pathogenic bacteria to Archaea and the Baker s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae)."

This volume presents a collection of versatile methodologies to investigate prokaryotic gene regulation, with focus on the different levels of information processing and usefulness for various model organisms, whether archaeal, bacterial, or both. The chapters in this book are divided into four sections. Section One covers methods that enable the study of the structure of the bacterial/archaeal chromosome, the main template for all gene regulatory processes, and its epigenetic modification. Section Two looks at a selection of approaches that enable higher levels of understanding of transcription initiation, a key step in information processing. Section Three discusses the investigation of regulating transcription factors, which are often considered the main players in gene regulation in prokaryotic cells. The Fourth Section focuses on the next stage of information processing at which gene regulation occurs, namely the RNA-based level. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Cutting-edge and comprehensive, Prokaryotic Gene Regulation: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource for researchers interested in learning more about this diverse field.

This book explores one of the most discussed and investigated novel foods in recent years: edible insects. The increasing demand for alternative protein sources worldwide had led the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to promote the potential of using insects both for feed and food, establishing a program called "Edible Insects." Although several social, environmental, and nutritional benefits of the use of insects in the human diet have been identified, the majority of the population in Western countries rejects the idea of adopting insects as food, predominantly for cultural reasons. Nevertheless, international interest in promoting the consumption of insects has grown significantly, mainly in North America and Europe. This trend is mostly due to increasing attention and involvement from the scientific network and the food and feed industries, as well as governments and their constituents. The book explores the current state of entomophagy and identifies knowledge gaps to inform primary research institutions, students, members of the private sector, and policymakers to better plan, develop, and implement future research studies on edible insects as a sustainable source of food. The case studies and issues presented in this book cover highly up-to-date topics such as aspects of safety and allergies for human consumption, final meat quality of animals fed with insects, the legislative framework for the commercialization of this novel food, and other relevant issues.

This exciting book presents diverse applications of microalgal renewable resources to meet modern demands for energy and value-added products. It also comprehensively describes the role of algae in sustainable and cost-effective wastewater treatment strategies, and highlights the latest research on, advances in and biotechnological relevance of algae in the areas of bioenergy, bioremediation, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and green economy. The book addresses gaps in the fields of bioenergy, waste management, health and economy by providing broad information on bioenergy production, management strategies, drug development, nutraceuticals products and biobased economy using algae at the commercial level. The book introduces researchers to key and emerging innovations in the field of algal biology research and will assist policymakers, environmentalists, scientists, students and global thinkers in defining sustainable developmental goals for the future. Accordingly, it is an extremely important read for researchers and students in the environmental sciences, life sciences and chemistry, experts in the energy sector and policymakers alike.

Probiotics are products aimed at delivering living bacterial cells to the gut ecosystem of humans and other animals, whereas prebiotics are non-digestible carbohydrates delivered in food to the large bowel to provide fermentable substrates for selected ba

The Complement FactsBook, Second Edition, provides in-depth insights and an overview of the components of the complement system. This new edition highlights the use of newly recommended complement nomenclature, covering new pathways and proteins and adding information on mouse homologs. It is a completely revised and updated edition containing entries on all components of the complement system, and is an excellent source of one-stop shopping for complement information and references. It is the most convenient compilation of biochemical, biological and molecular biology for complementologists and those new in the field. This new edition is expanded to include relevant updates and topics that have evolved since the last edition was published, including C1q and Lectins, C3 Family, Serine Proteases, Serum Regulators of Complement Activation, Cell Surface Proteins, and Terminal Pathway Proteins. Domain Structure diagrams are incorporated to clearly illustrate the relationships between all the complement proteins, both within families and between families.

This book is focused on the current status of industrial pollution, its source, characteristics, and management through various advanced treatment technologies. The book covers the recycle, reuse and recovery of waste for the production of value-added products. The book explores industrial wastewater pollution and its treatment through various advanced technologies and also the source and characteristics of solid waste and its management for environmental safety. It discusses new methods and technologies to combat the waste-related pollution and focuses on the use of recycled products. This book is of value to upcoming students, researchers, scientists, industry persons and professionals in the field of environmental science and engineering, microbiology, biotechnology, toxicology, further it is useful for global and local authorities and policy makers responsible for the management of liquid and solid wastes.

Functional foods and nutraceuticals are food products that naturally offer or have been modified to offer additional health benefits beyond basic nutrition. As such products have surged in popularity in recent years, it is crucial that researchers and manufacturers understand the concepts underpinning functional foods and the opportunity they represent to improve human health, reduce healthcare costs, and support economic development worldwide. Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals: Bioactive Components, Formulations and Innovations presents a guide to functional foods from experienced professionals in key institutions around the world. The text provides background information on the health benefits, bioavailability, and safety measurements of functional foods and nutraceuticals. Subsequent chapters detail the bioactive components in functional foods responsible for these health benefits, as well as the different formulations of these products and recent innovations spurred by consumer demands. Authors emphasize product development for increased marketability, taking into account safety issues associated with functional food adulteration and solutions to be found in GMP adherence. Various food preservation methods aimed at enhancing the quality and shelf life of functional food are also highlighted. Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals: Bioactive Components, Formulations and Innovations is the first of its kind, designed to be useful to students, teachers, nutritionists, food scientists, food technologists and public health regulators alike.

Staphylococcus aureus provides information on food borne outbreaks of disease and their impact on human health. It is for anyone interested in the features of the pathogen, and its food safety aspects, as well as its prevalence and possible control and eradication options. This is a practical reference for those in the food industry, but also includes some theoretical information useful for advising. The book introduces detailed features and molecular biology of the pathogen, as well as selective methods of detection, prevention and eradication essential for research. It covers methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus for food related industries, information on genetic lineages, cell wall components, cell division machinery, molecular characterization, and capillary electrophoresis for detecting and characterizing staphylococcus aureus.

This open access book in the field of plant pest detection shows a constant demand in development and improvement of fast and reliable detection tools, especially for high-priority pests. This open access book describes and summarizes the whole process of the organization of test performance study (TPS) for these tools. The outcome of TPS, obtained through the evaluation of the performance of one or more diagnostic tests by several laboratories on defined samples, is the finding of the best performing test/s for particular pest and for specific uses. Nowadays the intensification of worldwide trade and associated controls increases the need for quality assurance accreditation and harmonization of laboratories practices. Therefore, such studies are very important, but, non-existent. Considering those facts, our goal was to develop guidelines, by using the data and experiences of involved partners, for further TPS in the field of plant health. Developed guidelines could be easily transferable to other microbiology fields.

The earth s biodiversity is a degree of ecosystem health which is vital to ecology and environmental sustainability. The microbial world is the largest unexplored reservoir. The agro-ecosystem enriched with rhizosphere implicit abundant and species-rich component of microbial diversity. Its global exploration designs a worldwide framework for agricultural sustainability adjoining benefits in its conservation.

Agricultural sustainability requires a major share from ecosystem management which is better paid by microbial diversity and conservation. Diversity of bacteria influences plant productivity providing nutrient convenience from soil instead altering per se community and diversity in the rhizosphere where they may influence mechanistic competent and antagonistic micro-flora. The potential species among the diversity are therefore, essential subjective to their maintenance for use around the globe. Microbial population in agro-ecosystem is influenced by stresses, reduce functionality as a component. It is therefore, important to explore secrets of planned strategy so as to unravel the microbial diversity and conservation in agricultural development. Microorganisms are minute, pervasive in nature and alleged as disease host instead tiny recognize as employee of agro-ecosystem, indulge in agricultural development and potential contributor in world of ecological and economical wealth creation. This step pertinently would help to launch scientific motivation needed to support the refrain of microbial diversity and conservation."

Structural and Mechanistic Enzymology, Volume 109, the latest release in the Advances in Protein Chemistry and Structural Biology series, is an essential resource for protein chemists. Chapters in this new volume include Collagenolytic Matrix Metalloproteinase Structure-Function Relationships: Insights from Molecular Dynamics Studies, Computational Glycobiology: Mechanistic Studies of Carbohydrate-Active Enzymes and Implication for Inhibitor Design, Computational Biochemistry-Enzyme Mechanisms Explored, and A Paradigm for C-H Bond Cleavage: Structural and Functional Aspects of Transition State Stabilization by Mandelate Racemase. This series presents new information on protocols and analysis of proteins, with each volume guest edited by leading experts in a broad range of protein-related topics. This volume presents state-of-the-art contributions, providing insights into the relationship between enzyme structure, catalysis, and function.

Autophagy: Cancer, Other Pathologies, Inflammation, Immunity, Infection, and Aging, Volume 12 discusses and details almost all aspects of the autophagy machinery in the context of health, cancer and other pathologies. Autophagy is more widely accepted as beneficial given its role in eliminating 'toxic assets' and promoting cell viability, hence, it has emerged as a new and potent modulator of disease progression that is both scientifically intriguing and clinically relevant. As the latest release in the Autophagy book series, users will find a detailed explanation of the role of molecular mechanisms.

Desalination Sustainability: A Technical, Socioeconomic, and Environmental Approach presents a technical, socioeconomical, and environmental approach that guides researchers and technology developers on how to quantify the energy efficiency of a proposed desalination process using thermodynamics-based tools. The book offers the technical reader an understanding of the issues related to desalination sustainability. For example, technology users, such as public utility managers will gain the ability and tools to assess whether or not desalination is a good choice for a city or country. Readers will learn new insights on a clear and practical methodology on how to probe the economic feasibility of desalination using simple and effective tools, such as levelized cost of water (LCOW) calculation. Decision-makers will find this book to be a valuable resource for the preliminary assessment of whether renewable-powered desalination is a good choice for their particular setting.

New and Future Developments in Microbial Biotechnology and Bioengineering: Penicillium System Properties and Applications covers important research work on the applications of penicillium from specialists from an international perspective. The book compiles advancements and ongoing processes in the penicillium system, along with updated information on the possibilities for future developments. All chapters are derived from current peer reviewed literature as accepted by the international scientific community. These important fungi were found to secrete a range of novel enzymes and other useful proteins, and are still being extensively studied and improved for specific use in the food, textile, pulp and paper, biocellulosic ethanol production and other industries. The book caters to the needs of researchers/academicians dealing with penicillium spp. related research and applications, outlining emerging issues on recent advancements made in the area of research and its applications in bioprocess technology, chemical engineering, molecular taxonomy, biofuels/bioenergy research and alternative fuel development. In addition, the book also describes the identification of useful compound combinations/enzyme cocktails and the fermentation conditions required to obtain them at an industrial scale. Finally, the book provides updated information on the best utilization of these fungi as a natural tool to meet the next challenges of biotechnology.

Functional Diversity of Mycorrhiza and Sustainable Agriculture is the first book to present the core concepts of working with Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to improve agricultural crop productivity. Highlighting the use of indigenous AM fungi for agriculture, the book includes details on how to maintain and promote AM fungal diversity to improve sustainability and cost-effectiveness. As the need to improve production while restricting scarce inputs and preventing environmental impacts increases, the use of AMF offers an important option for exploiting the soil microbial population. It can enhance nutrient cycling and minimize the impacts of biotic and abiotic stresses, such as soil-borne disease, drought, and metal toxicity. The book offers land managers, policymakers, soil scientists, and agronomists a novel approach to utilizing soil microbiology in improving agricultural practices.

Pasteurization, penicillin, Koch's postulates, and gene coding. These discoveries and inventions are vital yet commonplace in modern life, but were radical when first introduced to the public and academia. In this book, the life and times of leading pioneers in microbiology are discussed in vivid detail, focusing on the background of each discovery and the process in which they were developed - sometimes by accident or sheer providence.

Pasteurization, penicillin, Koch's postulates, and gene coding. These discoveries and inventions are vital yet commonplace in modern life, but were radical when first introduced to the public and academia. In this book, the life and times of leading pioneers in microbiology are discussed in vivid detail, focusing on the background of each discovery and the process in which they were developed - sometimes by accident or sheer providence.

This book is designed to be a long term career reference. The chapters present modern procedures. This is a how-to-book with a difference. These chapters:
- reveal the background information about working with salt loving organisms,
- are loaded with information about how experiments are conducted under high salt,
- provide information about analyses that work under these conditions and those that may not,
- present a wide range of details from laboratory designs to equipment used and even to simple anecdotal hints that can only come from experience.
Microbiological training focuses largely on the growth, the handling and the study of the microbes associated with humans and animals. Yet the largest proportion of the Earth s microbiota lives in saline environments such as the Oceans, saline deserts and terminal hypersaline environments. This need for salt can be intimidating for those interested in entering the field or for those interested in understanding how such research is accomplished."

Arthropod Vector: Controller of Disease Transmission, Volume 1: Vector Microbiome and Innate Immunity of Arthropods is built on topics initially raised at a related Keystone Symposium on Arthropod Vectors. Together with the separate, related Volume 2: Vector Saliva-Host Pathogen Interactions, this work presents a logical sequence of topic development that leads to regulatory considerations for advancing these and related concepts for developing novel control measures. The three themes of symbionts, vector immune defenses and arthropod saliva modulation of the host environment are central to the concept of determinants of vector competence that involves all aspects of vector-borne pathogen development within the arthropod that culminates in the successful transmission to the vertebrate host. These three areas are characterized at the present time by rapid achievement of significant, incremental insights, which advances our understanding for a wide variety of arthropod vector species, and this work is the first to extensively integrate these themes.

This book offers a comprehensive study of biological molecules acquired from marine organisms, which have been exploited for drug discovery with the aim to treat human diseases. Biomolecules have potential impacts on a diverse range of fields, including medical and pharmaceutical science, industrial science, biotechnology, basic research, molecular science, environmental science and climate change, etc. To understand and effectively apply medicinally important biomolecules, multidisciplinary approaches are called for. The ocean remains a rich biological resource, and the vast untapped potential of novel molecules from marine bio-resources has caught the interest of more and more researchers. These novel biological compounds have never been found in terrestrial or other ecosystems, but only in this rich niche. Advances in sampling techniques and technologies, along with increased funding for research and nature conservation, have now encouraged scientists to look deeper in the waters. Aquaculture supports both tremendous seafood production and the bulk production of marine-derived drugs. Furthermore, molecular methods are now being extensively employed to explore the untapped marine microbial diversity. With the help of molecular and biotech tools, the ability of marine organisms to produce new biosynthetic drugs can be greatly enhanced. This book provides an extensive compilation of the latest information on marine resources and their undisputedly vital role in the treatment of diverse ailments.

This volume is based on a FEMS Symposium entitled "Bacterial Growth and Lysis: Metabolism and Structure of the Bacterial Sacculus" held at the Monastery of Lluc (Mallorca, Spain) on 5-10 April, 1992. The goals of the symposium were to assess the present state of knowledge on the structure and physiology of the bacterial murein sacculus, and to develop new hypotheses and strategies to promote further development of the field. Consequently, the contributions compiled in this volume include broadly different approaches, from the introduction of new analytical methods to the presentation of provocative models for cell wall growth and division. Structural, biochemical, and genetic aspects are widely covered with special emphasis on the enzymology and regulation of murein hydrolases (autolysins). Comprehensive reviews on bacterial S layers and yeast cell walls are included to stimulate conceptual cross-feeding with these closely related topics. We believe that this book will provide the reader with a useful and up-to-date review of the topic. We would feel deeply rewarded by any positive influence this book may have on the future progress of the field, whereby all the scientific credit for it should be given to the authors of the excellent contributions presented."