M icrobial biotechnology is an important area that promotes advanced research into using microbes for value-added products, human nutrition, and the overall wellbeing of society. This book presents the latest information on the use of microbes for sustainable development, and highlights state-of-the-art biotechnological techniques used to harness microbial biotechnological traits on a commercial scale. Gathering contributions from authoritative researchers in the field, it addresses recent advances in microbial biotechnological approaches that offer sustainable options for future generations. Exploring a broad range of microbial products and their uses, the book specifically places emphasis on the application of microorganisms in healthcare, the environment and industry. It also discusses various compound classes derived from microbial metabolites. Pursuing a holistic approach to recent advances in the utilization of various microbes as biotechnological tools, the book also covers traditional uses, and explores emerging strategies to harness their full potential. Accordingly, it offers a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students alike.

Ebola's Curse: 2013-2016 Outbreak in West Africa is about hemorrhagic fever viruses, especially Ebola, its initial origin in central Africa 1976, its unprecedented appearance in West Africa in 2013. The book records in sequence and detective style how the initial outbreak of Ebola from the index case in rural Guinea traveled to Sierra Leone, the work and fate of those working in the Kenema Government Hospital (KGH) isolation ward in Sierra Leone. The book provides vignettes of the three main players involved with Ebola at KGH, Sheik Khan, Pardis Sabeti, and Robert Garry. Khan was the head of the unit, declared a national hero by his Sierra Leone government. He died fighting Ebola and was/is recognized in the USA by American societies by awards created for his historic work and death. Pardis Sabeti, a geneticist from Harvard and Broad MIT Institute, who was honored as a "Scientist of the Year" by Time Magazine and the Smithsonian Institute. Robert Garry, head of the operation to fight hemorrhagic fevers and Ebola, shuttled between Tulane University, KGH, and The White House to make aware through the press and others the dilemma and tragedy that was unfolding, and the need to obtain additional medical and health care support and supplies. Sabeti and Garry currently work with Oldstone on Ebola at KGH and thus personal communication and knowledge was/is available to the author for the book.

An Indispensable Roadmap for Nucleic Acid Preparation Although Friedrich Miescher described the first isolation of nucleic acid in 1869, it was not until 1953 that James Watson and Francis Crick successfully deciphered the structural basis of DNA duplex. Needless to say, in the years since, enormous advances have been made in the study of nucleic acids, and these have become a cornerstone for all branches of modern biological sciences. The Handbook of Nucleic Acid Purification provides researchers and students with an all-encompassing volume on nucleic acid extraction strategies. Due to the complexities within prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, purification of the nucleic acids often forms a vital first step in the study of molecular biology of living organisms as well as in the evolutionary/phylogenetic analysis of ancient specimens. Bringing together contributions from leading researchers, the handbook presents a comprehensive catalog of nucleic acid isolation methods. It includes dedicated sections on strategies for viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, insects, mammals, and plants, as well as for ancient samples, with an additional emphasis on sample preparation methods for direct molecular applications. Each chapter in this handbook: Explores the biological background important to understanding specific organisms and specimens Reviews principles and current techniques for efficient isolation Discusses challenges and future trends relating to improved recovery of nucleic acids Besides providing an updated, reliable reference for anyone with an interest in molecular biology, this book offers a practical guide for clinical, forensic, and research scientists involved in molecular analysis of biological specimens. It also constitutes a convenient resource for students in other areas of biological sciences, and an indispensable roadmap for both new and experienced researchers wishing to acquire or sharpen their skills in nucleic acid preparation.

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.

Microbiology and Molecular Diagnosis in Pathology: A Comprehensive Review for Board Preparation, Certification and Clinical Practice reviews all aspects of microbiology and molecular diagnostics essential to successfully passing the American Board of Pathology exam. This review book will also serve as a first resource for residents who want to become familiar with the diagnostic aspects of microbiology and molecular methods, as well as a refresher course for practicing pathologists. Opening chapters discuss issues of laboratory management, including quality control, biosafety, regulations, and proper handling and reporting of laboratory specimens. Review chapters give a quick overview of specific clinical infections as well as different types of bacteria, viruses, fungal infections, and infections caused by parasites. Following these, coverage focuses on diagnostic tools and specific tests: media for clinical microbiology, specific stains and tests for microbial identifications, susceptibility testing and use of antimicrobial agents, tests for detecting antibodies, antigens, and microbial infections. Two final chapters offer overviews on molecular diagnostics principles and methods as well as the application of molecular diagnostics in clinical practice.

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.

A ubiquitous tool in mathematical biology and chemical engineering, the chemostat often produces instabilities that pose safety hazards and adversely affect the optimization of bioreactive systems. Singularity theory and bifurcation diagrams together offer a useful framework for addressing these issues. Based on the authors' extensive work in this field, Dynamics of the Chemostat: A Bifurcation Theory Approach explores the use of bifurcation theory to analyze the static and dynamic behavior of the chemostat. IntroductionThe authors first survey the major work that has been carried out on the stability of continuous bioreactors. They next present the modeling approaches used for bioreactive systems, the different kinetic expressions for growth rates, and tools, such as multiplicity, bifurcation, and singularity theory, for analyzing nonlinear systems. ApplicationThe text moves on to the static and dynamic behavior of the basic unstructured model of the chemostat for constant and variable yield coefficients as well as in the presence of wall attachment. It then covers the dynamics of interacting species, including pure and simple microbial competition, biodegradation of mixed substrates, dynamics of plasmid-bearing and plasmid-free recombinant cultures, and dynamics of predator-prey interactions. The authors also examine dynamics of the chemostat with product formation for various growth models, provide examples of bifurcation theory for studying the operability and dynamics of continuous bioreactor models, and apply elementary concepts of bifurcation theory to analyze the dynamics of a periodically forced bioreactor. Using singularity theory and bifurcation techniques, this book presents a cohesive mathematical framework for analyzing and modeling the macro- and microscopic interactions occurring in chemostats. The text includes models that describe the intracellular and operating elements of the bioreactive system. It also explains the mathematical theory behind the models.

Protozoa may be found in almost every aquatic habitat, each containing dozens of species. The diversity can provide invaluable insights into the nature of the habitat. Protozoa can thus be used to illustrate biological principles. This colour guide makes the identification of individual protozoa easily accessible to students and professionals and provides information on protozoan communities found in different environments by means of a wealth of colour photomicrographs supported by original and detailed line drawings and concise text. The guide has been welcomed by professional practitioners, researchers and instructors, by graduate, undergraduate and secondary level students, in a wide range of disciplines, for its clarity in providing a logical system for learning and recognition, the first step towards understanding and using the protozoan community as a biological indicator of environmental change, pollution and contamination.

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.

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.

Arthropod Vector: Controller of Disease Transmission, Volume 2: Vector Saliva-Host Pathogen Interactions is built on topics initially raised at a related Keystone Symposium on Arthropod Vectors. Together with the separate, related Volume 1: Controller of Disease Transmission, 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.

Early Warning for Infectious Disease Outbreak: Theory and Practice is divided into three parts, with the first section introducing basic theory and key technologies of early warning and the basic principles of infectious disease surveillance. The second section introduces the technical details in the process of establishment, operation and usage of CIDARS and Pudong Syndromic Surveillance and the Early Warning System of the Shanghai World Expo. The third part explores the study of early warning technology, collecting some useful exploration in the fields of infectious diseases involving sentinel setting, data analysis, influence factors study, calculation and evaluation of early warning models.

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."

Providing specific knowledge in the theory of image analysis, optics, fluorescence, and imaging devices in biomedical laboratories, this timely and indispensable volume focuses on the theory and applications of detection, morphometry, and motility measurement techniques applied to bacteria, fungi, yeasts and protozoa.

The ability to predict the behavior of fermentation systems enhances the possibility of optimizing their performance. Mathematical equations of model systems represent a tool for this and the most recent advances in computer hardware and software have made the approach more effective than previous simplistic attempts. The current knowledge of biochemical microbial pathways and the experience in optimization of chemical reactors combined with extremely powerful and accessible computers, loaded with easy to use software and mathematical routines, are changing the way processes are being developed and operated.

This book has been written for all those who work with microbial cultures, providing a useful, quick and contemporary re-education for practitioners and students alike, breaking through interdisciplinary barriers. Biologists, engineers and biochemists will benefit from the methods of microbial process description and optimization based on mathematical equations. The basic techniques of modeling the bio-system are summarized in Part I. The useful concept of mass balancing is introduced in Part II for those who are not used to this simple and very useful engineering tool. An extensive and descriptive case study of a selected fermentation bio-process in Part III elucidates further the concepts of very pragmatic mathematical modeling of bioreactor systems.

The volume outlines how to simply develop mathematical models of microbial systems and demonstrates their power to: guide and minimize the experimental work; check the consistency of experimental results; predict the behavior of the bio-system and analyze biocatalytic processes; diagnose the anomalies in the microbial culture behavior and optimize the performance of bioreactors.

The nitrogen (N) cycle is one of the most important nutrient cycles on the planet, and many of its steps are performed by microbial organisms. During the cycling process, greenhouse gases are formed, including nitrous oxide and methane. In addition, the use of nitrogen fertilizers increases freshwater nitrate levels, causing pollution and human health problems. A greater knowledge of the microbial communities involved in nitrogen transformations is necessary to understand and counteract nitrogen pollution. This book - written by renowned researchers who are specialized in the most relevant and emerging topics in the field - provides comprehensive information on the new theoretical, methodological, and applied aspects of metagenomics and other 'omics' approaches used to study the microbial N cycle. The book provides a thorough account of the contributions of metagenomics to microbial N cycle background theory. It also reviews state-of-the-art investigative methods and explores new applications in water treatment, agricultural practices, climate change, among others. The book is recommended for microbiologists, environmental scientists, and anyone interested in microbial communities, metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and metaproteomics of the microbial N cycle.

This collection of essays discusses fascinating aspects of the concept that microbes are at the root of all ecosystems. The content is divided into seven parts, the first of those emphasizes that microbes not only were the starting point, but sustain the rest of the biosphere and shows how life evolves through a perpetual struggle for habitats and niches. Part II explains the ways in which microbial life persists in some of the most extreme environments, while Part III presents our understanding of the core aspects of microbial metabolism. Part IV examines the duality of the microbial world, acknowledging that life exists as a balance between certain processes that we perceive as being environmentally supportive and others that seem environmentally destructive. In turn, Part V discusses basic aspects of microbial symbioses, including interactions with other microorganisms, plants and animals. The concept of microbial symbiosis as a driving force in evolution is covered in Part VI. In closing, Part VII explores the adventure of microbiological research, including some reminiscences from and perspectives on the lives and careers of microbe hunters. Given its mixture of science and philosophy, the book will appeal to scientists and advanced students of microbiology, evolution and ecology alike.

A fascinating ethnography of microbes that opens up new spaces for anthropological inquiry The trillions of microbes in and on our bodies are determined by not only biology but also our social connections. Gut Anthro tells the fascinating story of how a sociocultural anthropologist developed a collaborative "anthropology of microbes" with a human microbial ecologist to address global health crises across disciplines. It asks: what would it mean for anthropology to act with science? Based partly at a preeminent U.S. lab studying the human microbiome, the Center for Genome Sciences at Washington University, and partly at a field site in Bangladesh studying infant malnutrition, it examines how microbes travel between human guts in the "field" and in microbiome laboratories, influencing definitions of health and disease, and how the microbiome can change our views on evolution, agency, and life. As lab scientists studied the interrelationships between gut microbes and malnutrition in resource-poor countries, Amber Benezra explored ways to reconcile the scale and speed differences between the lab, the intimate biosocial practices of Bangladeshi mothers and their children, and the looming structural violence of poverty. In vital ways, Gut Anthro is about what it means to collaborate-with mothers, local field researchers in Bangladesh, massive philanthropic global health organizations, with the microbiome scientists, and, of course, with microbes. It follows microbes through various enactments in scientific research-microbes as kin, as data, and as race. Revealing how racial categories are used in microbiome research, Benezra argues that microbial differences need transdisciplinary collaboration to address racial health disparities without reifying race as a straightforward biological or social designation. Gut Anthro is a tour de force of science studies and medical anthropology as well as an intensely personal and deeply theoretical accounting of what it means to do anthropology today. Cover alt text: Black background overlaid with a pink organic path suggestive of a human digestive system. Title appears within the guts as if being processed.

Advances in geomicrobiology have progressed at an accelerated pace in recent years. Ehrlich's Geomicrobiology, Sixth Edition surveys various aspects of the field, including the microbial role in elemental cycling and in the formation and degradation of minerals and fossil fuels. Unlike the fifth edition, the sixth includes many expert contributors besides the editors, providing added depth to each topic and broadening this edition's overall insight into geomicrobiology. The Sixth Edition Includes: Extensive revisions and updates to most chapters from the fifth edition A new chapter on terrestrial subsurface ecosystems A new chapter summarizing important principles of geomicrobiology New discussions and references on the latest findings and theories in geomicrobiology Through revisions, updates, and the introduction of new authors who are specialists on the topics covered, this new edition is the most in-depth and current overview of geomicrobiology. The research presented has applications in agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, marine science, the metals industry, and more. The new breadth and scope as well as the current and developing applications which this book addresses make it a must-have source in geomicrobiology.

This book is about the role played by microbes in their community mode in sustaining ecosystems. The descriptions given in its chapters indicate clearly that microbial communities are more effective in delivering multifaceted benefits to the soil-plant system than those offered by microbial monocultures in planktonic modes. The role these communities play in a multitude of microbe-microbe and plant-microbe interactions have not yet been fully exploited to gain benefits in this field as well as to achieve sustainability in agriculture practices. Amply discussed are the beneficial characteristics and metabolic capacities of specific microbial groups and the use of microbial traits for the benefit of plant growth. The book suggests the need to develop new microbial technologies to utilize plant-associated microbes for increased crop productivity and agroecosystem balance in order to ensure sustainability. This also provides an effective guidance to scientists, academics, researchers, students and policy makers of the sphere to achieve the above outcomes.

Extremely diverse and complicated bacterial and protozoan populations inhabit the rumen and intestinal tract of animals, and there is a delicate balance among the individual populations within this complex microbial community. This authoritative edited volume, the first in a two-volume set, reviews the gut environment and the fermentations taking place in animal digestive tracts. It is an essential source of reference for microbial ecologists and physiologists, medical microbiologists and gastroenterologists, biochemists, nutritionists, veterinarians and animal scientists, and wildlife ecologists.

Virus as Populations: Composition, Complexity, Dynamics, and Biological Implications explains fundamental concepts that arise from regarding viruses as complex populations when replicating in infected hosts. Fundamental phenomena in virus behavior, such as adaptation to changing environments, capacity to produce disease, probability to be transmitted or response to treatment, depend on virus population numbers and in the variations of such population numbers. Concepts such as quasispecies dynamics, mutations rates, viral fitness, the effect of bottleneck events, population numbers in virus transmission and disease emergence, new antiviral strategies such as lethal mutagenesis, and extensions of population heterogeneity to nonviral systems are included. These main concepts of the book are framed in recent observations on general virus diversity derived from metagenomic studies, and current views on the origin of viruses and the role of viruses in the evolution of the biosphere.