This new edition captures the advances made in the field of evolutionary systems biology since the publication of the first edition. The first edition focused on laying the foundations of evolutionary systems biology as an interdisciplinary field, where a way of thinking and asking questions is combined with a wide variety of tools, both experimental and theoretical/computational. Since publication of the first edition, evolutionary systems biology is now a well-known term describing this growing field. The new edition provides an overview of the current status and future developments of this interdisciplinary field. Chapters highlight several key achievements from the last decade and outline exciting new developments, including an understanding of the interplay between complexity and predictability in evolutionary systems, new viewpoints and methods to study organisms in evolving populations at the level of the genome, gene regulatory network, and metabolic network, and better analysis and modeling techniques that will open new avenues of scientific inquiry.

This volume is third part of the five-part set on bioenergy research. This book provides insights into commercial advantages of commonly running bioenergy options. It explores various opportunities present at technical scale to produce biofuels. Moreover, the additional practical feasibility of the commercialization of existing biofuels including existing challenges and sustainable solutions to overcome from these technical hurdles. This Volume also focuses on the durability and long run sustainability on the new arrival of biofuels options which can be a suitable and easy replacement of currently available biofuels at pilot scale. Other four volumes of this set explore basic concepts, latest progress, bio-waste to energy conversion and integrated solution for bioenergy concerns.

This book provides up-to-date multidisciplinary information regarding microbial physiological groups in terms of their role in the Antarctic ecology. How do microorganisms shape the Antarctic environment? The book presents a thorough overview of the most important physiological microbial groups or microbial systems that shape the Antarctic environment. Each microbial model is described in terms of their physiology and metabolism, and their role in the Antarctic environmental sustainability. The individual chapters prepare readers for understanding the relevance of the microbial models from both an historical perspective, and considering the latest developments. This book will appeal to researchers and teachers interested in the Antarctic science, but also to students who want to understand the role of microbes in the ecology of extreme environments.

New advances in proteomics, driven largely by developments in mass spectrometry, continue to reveal the complexity and diversity of pathogenic mechanisms among microbes that underpin infectious diseases. Therefore a new era in medical microbiology is demanding a rapid transition from current procedures to high throughput analytical systems for the diagnosis of microbial pathogens.

This book covers the broad microbiological applications of proteomics and mass spectrometry. It is divided into six sections that follow the general progression in which most microbiology laboratories are approaching the subject -Transition, Tools, Preparation, Profiling by Patterns, Target Proteins, and Data Analysis.

Advances in Applied Microbiology offers intensive reviews of the latest techniques and discoveries in this rapidly moving field. The editors are recognized experts and the format is comprehensive and instructive.
Key Features
* Covers topics of historical interest
* Includes a discussion on foodborne pathogens
* Entire sections devoted to various topics such as genomics, and microbial genetics

This second edition of Studies in Viral Ecology is designed to serve as a means of updating the knowledge of virologists regarding the broader aspects of viral ecology. As with the first edition, this book explains the ecology of viruses by examining their interactive dynamics with their hosting species (covering both animals and plants), including the types of transmission cycles that viruses have evolved encompassing principal and alternate hosts, vehicles and vectoring species. Examining virology from an organismal biology approach and focusing on the concept that viral infections represent areas of overlap in the ecologies of the involved species, Viral Ecology is essential for students and professionals who either may be non-virologists or virologists whose previous familiarity has been very specialized.This second edition of Studies in Viral Ecology is designed to serve as a means of updating the knowledge of virologists regarding the broader aspects of viral ecology. As with the first edition, this book explains the ecology of viruses by examining their interactive dynamics with their hosting species (covering both animals and plants), including the types of transmission cycles that viruses have evolved encompassing principal and alternate hosts, vehicles and vectoring species. Examining virology from an organismal biology approach and focusing on the concept that viral infections represent areas of overlap in the ecologies of the involved species, Viral Ecology is essential for students and professionals who either may be non-virologists or virologists whose previous familiarity has been very specialized. Now in its second edition, Studies in Viral Ecology explores the intricate interactions between viruses and other organisms from a "virocentric" perspective. Divided into five sections, the book opens with a thorough introduction to the ecology of all viruses, followed by detailed examinations that individually consider the viruses of other microorganisms, viruses of vascular plants, and viruses of vertebrate and invertebrate animals. The chapters have been written by leading scientists in their respective research fields and cover topics such as the evolution of fungal viruses, viruses affecting insects, viruses of terrestrial and marine mammals, and the relationship between humans, their viruses, and prions. Studies in Viral Ecology, Second Edition remains required reading for virologists and virology instructors and students who study the interactions between virus and host at the individual species and higher taxonomic levels.

Plant growth promoting microorganisms (PGPM) have gained acceptance and importance due to their dual benefits of promoting plant growth in addition to managing plant pests and diseases and are extensively used as microbial inoculants in improving agricultural productivity. Use of PGPM mixtures and their integration with other means, like host resistance and chemicals, has proven to be more useful in management of several disease problems. Successful greenhouse and field demonstrations have been done using PGPM for growth promotion and resistance induction in various crops, against a broad spectrum of pathogens. Practical use of PGPM-based products has advanced and many formulations are made available in commercial scale, and more are currently under development. Further, novel formulation technologies have been formulated. Microorganisms constitute the major players in the rhizosphere and their composition and biomass significantly alters the plants response to the environment. Composition and interaction of rhizomicroflora with its surroundings highly influences plant health and productivity. Such beneficial rhizo-ecosystems engineering and manipulation of the rhizosphere to exploit or enhance this innate genetic potential, which will most probably play a key role in the future development of sustainable agricultural processes, is also reviewed. In recent years, a substantial amount of work has been done in the area of PGPM and voluminous literature is available. This book presents a methodical, comprehensive and latest research survey in this area. An overview of the scale and impact of PGPM in plant growth promotion and management of crop diseases, focusing attention on details most relevant to the development and application of biological control strategies involving various microbial strains is discussed. Problems and prospects of commercialisation, advantages and disadvantages of their use and their potential for integrated pest management are also outlined. Most of the available books either refer to the subject of plant growth promoting fungi or plant growth promoting bacteria, however, this comprehensive book includes research pertaining to all beneficial microorganisms that are plant growth promoting in nature. Moreover, this is a rapidly developing field of research and has global impact. Therefore, keeping in pace with the latest developments in this area is totally necessary, and this book will be a latest and up-to-date compilation of the research from different parts of the world.

This book comprehensively introduces non-destructive methods for food quality (i.e. external, internal, sensory, components, and microbiological indicators) detection, through optics, acoustics, chemistry, imaging, and bionic sensing. It highlights in-situ detection of food quality and safety, including principles, signal processing, and analysis of data, non-destructive detection system, and application in the food industry for each method. First, this book introduces the principles and characteristics of various food non-destructive methods. As non-destructive measurements always involve obtaining big data for each testing, this book also describes in detail the signal and big data processing for each non-destructive method. The chapters also introduce the rapid portable detection equipment for food and agricultural products developed in recent years, as well as the intelligent monitoring equipment in the process of food processing. Relevant application cases are provided to help readers better understanding how to apply non-destructive technology for food quality detection. In the noninvasive measurement of food quality, this book has a systematic introduction of the detection principle, data processing, and rapid detection system, in-field detection case studies. This book is novel and practical and can be used as a professional textbook for undergraduates majoring in food science and engineering. It can also be used as a reference book for scientific research and technical personnel engaged in the field of food quality and safety detection.

Extremophiles are organisms that live in extreme conditions. Their ability of surviving in extreme environments is due to their unique physiological and genetic adaptations. Extremophiles are harnessed for their extremozymes that have wide applications in biotechnology, pharmaceutics and industry. Recent developments in genomics and proteomics have helped unravel the mechanism of survival, physiological adaptation and genomics structure of extremophiles. This book covers the latest developments in understanding the physiology and biochemistry of extremophiles. It gives a complete idea about the microorganisms in these groups along with their biotechnological applications and also discusses the molecular genomics and molecular aspects of the extremophiles. It also presents detailed aspects related to newer applications of extremophiles in the industry will also be covered. The study of extremophiles is gaining wide interest and this book bridges the critical gap in knowledge related to extremophiles. This book is essential to anyone who is interested in studying the microbiology, biochemistry and application of these microorganisms.

This book explores recent advances in the microbial production of xylitol and its applications in food and medical sector. Xylitol is an important biomolecule from lignocellulose biorefinery which is produced from the xylose by chemical reactions or microbial fermentation methods. Currently, the demand of xylitol at commercial scale is being met through chemical methods. However, recent breakthroughs made in plant cell wall destruction, genetic engineering to develop the designer microorganisms, fermentation methods and media formulations and downstream processing have led the ways for sustainable production of xylitol at commercial scale in lignocellulose biorefineries. Microbial production of xylitol is preferred over the chemical processes as it is environmentally friendly, higher process efficiency with the desired product yield, and product recovery with minimum impurities. This book is a unique compilation of 11 book chapters written by experts in their respective fields. These chapters present critical insights and discuss the current progress and future progress in this area into fermentative xylitol production. Chapter 9 is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For further details see license information in the chapter.

In recent years, consumers are concentrating more on the health benefits of food in order to preserve a healthy lifestyle and therefore becoming more aware of the relationship between diet and disease. This has resulted in a gradual shift from animal-derived to plant-based meals. Functional foods have turned into one of the rapidly expanding areas of the food industry due to the increasing awareness of consumers working to prevent lethal diseases like cancer, diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. Functional foods are seen as the food or food components that manifest efficiency in protecting from diseases and attaining a healthier lifestyle by administering additional benefits on human physiology and metabolic functions apart from basic nutritional requirements of the body. Cereals hold a prominent place in this new market. Cereals and cereal foods are important energy sources and many phytochemicals such as dietary fiber, resistant starch, vitamins, minerals, lignans, phytic acid and phenolic compounds that provide a variety of health benefits. Eating functional cereal foods is an easy method to increase nutrients associated with whole grains without changing eating habits. Functional Cereals and Cereal Foods: Properties, Functionality and Applications comprehensively covers the Chemistry and nutritional composition of functional cereals components, their functionality and therapeutic significance, current innovations and functional approaches in improving attributes and biofortification and quality improvement of cereal products. The different types of functional cereals and their unlimited opportunities for the production of functional foods are covered in full, including gluten-free products and all the newest cereal processing technologies. For researchers in search of a fully up-to-date look at functional cereal foods and technologies and their important place on the current market, this text provides a timely and comprehensive overview.

This volume is fourth part of the five-part set on bioenergy research. This volume covers biomass to bioenergy production concept. The book is focused on the possible and versatile biomass options available for the generation of bioenergy. Additionally, the book also explores different types of biomass for bioenergy generation at a commercial level. Further, the book elaborates on different kind of cellulose and sugar rich waste which can also be utilized for bioenergy production. It covers other relevant issues such as recent technological advancement in biomass to bioenergy conversion, waste management in the context of biomass to biofuels production technologies, green methods of energy production, alternates of fossil fuels in the near future. It also explores biomass waste valorization, utilizing microbial processes in bioenergy production. This is a useful reading material for students, researchers, industry and policy experts. Other four volumes of this set explore basic concepts, latest progress, commercial opportunities and integrated solution for bioenergy concerns.

This publication contains full papers of both oral and poster presentations of the symposium "Immobilized Cells: Basics and Applications" that was held in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, 26-29 November 1995. This volume covers recent developments in the field of immobilization e.g.: new support materials, characterization of support materials, kinetic characterizations, dynamic modelling, bioreactor types, scale up and applications are also given. Applications in the field of medicine, fermentation technology, food technology and environmental technology are described. Guidelines for research with immobilized cells. Based on the scientific sessions a strategy of research and methods for characterization of immobilized cells, especially in view of applications are given.

The goal was to relate basic research to applications and to extract guidelines for characterization of immobilized cells in view of process design and application from the contributions. The manuscripts presented in these proceedings give an extensive and recent overview of the research and applications of immobilized-cell technology.

The edited book brings out a comprehensive synthesis of latest scientific literature covering various important aspects of anaerobic biodigesters for human waste management that ranges from latest understanding on fundamental concepts/mechanisms of anaerobic biodigestion, modern tools and techniques used in process evaluation, current strategies being recruited for the performance enhancement, and case studies/ success stories across the world on applications of biodigesters used in human waste treatment. The anaerobic biodigestion is a process of break-down of organic waste by anaerobic microorganisms in absence of the oxygen. This process has been conventionally used for treating various types of organic waste including sewage sludge. After optimizing various process parameters, researchers have developed anaerobic biodigesters that have been successfully used for human waste (nigh soil) treatment. The topic of human waste treatment assumes global significance in the wake of UN sustainable Development Goals (SDG) wherein SDG-6 specifically highlights the Sanitation for all by 2030. The anaerobic Biodigester technology has the potential to manage the human waste as well and can contribute immensely in achieving targets of UN-SDG-6. This book is of interest to researchers, academicians, scientists, policy officials and capacity builders. Also the book serves as additional reading material for undergraduate and graduate students of environmental Biotechnology. National and international biotechnologists, environmental engineers and sanitation experts also find this to be a useful read.

In recent years, rapid technological advances and changes in agricultural management have taken place. These have yielded benefits to society but have also generated new and significant environmental problems. Novel questions and challenges relating to agricultural practice and soil microbial ecology, ecotoxicology, biotechnology, and bioremediation must be addressed. As a consequence, the fields of soil microbiology and biochemistry have been highlighted.
This book provides a modern, authoritative, and comprehensive collection of methods for the study of soil microbiology and biochemistry. Classical and modern, aerobic and anerobic, laboratory and field-based methods are presented. Detailed techniques are given, but in addition the theoretical basis behind such methodology is described, so that the origins and principles of the techniques are clear to the reader. Particular emphasis has been placed on uniform, simple, and clear presentation of the different methods.
With respect to bioremediation of soils, this work provides a unique bridge between general and applied soil microbiology and biochemistry, presenting an integrated discussion of concepts, theories, and methods. This book will be essential for all scientists and students actively involved in natural and environmental sciences and engineering, and for those working in industry, authorities, and consulting companies.
*
* Uniform and clear presentation of the different methods.
* Bridges the gap between general and applied soil microbiology.
* Maintains a balanced discussion of concepts, theories, and methods.
* Essential reading for all scientists and students involved in natural and environmental sciences and anyone working in the industry.

This book covers the basics of animal manure, or animal dung, and highlights its applications in agriculture and biotechnology. The reader is given a comprehensive overview of the different types of animal manure. Although animal manure can cause environmental problems, e.g., when slurry pollutes rivers or burnt dung pollutes air, the book emphasizes the fact that animal dung is by no means a waste product. Animal manure is a valuable organic fertilizer that has a positive impact on soil conditions and helps save on chemical fertilizers. It is also a source of energy and can be either be used as fuel or converted into biogas through methanization. Old-age practices such as the use of dried dung as insulating material, or burnt dung as mosquito repellent are also taken up. With the increasing focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this book offers ideas and solutions related to SDG 2 Zero Hunger and SDG 15 Life on Land. The book will not only be an interesting read for students and researchers in the field of agriculture, but will also appeal to scientists working on waste management, organic manure production or in the paper industry.