Diet, Microbiome and Health, Volume 11, in the Handbook of Food Bioengineering series, presents the most up-to-date research to help scientists, researchers and students in the field of food engineering understand the different microbial species we have in our guts, why they are important to human development, immunity and health, and how to use that understanding to further promote research to create healthy food products. In addition, the book provides studies that clearly demonstrate how dietary preferences and social behavior significantly impact the diversity of microbial species in the gut and their numeric values, which may balance health and disease.

An annotated English translation of the autobiography of Polish microbiologist Ludwik Hirszfeld (1884-1954), with a focus on his contributions to international public health. Ludwik Hirszfeld (1884-1954), one of the most prominent serologists of the twentieth century, discovered the inheritance and established the nomenclature of blood groups and opened the field of human population genetics. He also carried out groundbreaking research in the genetics of disease and immunology. Following World War II, he founded Poland's first Institute of Immunology in Wroclaw, which now bears his name. His autobiographical memoir, The Story of One Life, first published in Poland in 1946, immediately became a bestseller and has been reedited several times since. It is an outstanding account of a Holocaust survivor and a writer capable of depicting the uniqueness and the tragedy of countless individuals caught up in the nightmare of 1939-45. He recollects his time as a physician in the Serbian army in 1915 and his satisfaction as a scientist who helped rebuild Poland after the Treaty ofVersailles; in so doing the contrast between the world before and the world after World War II could not be starker. Hirszfeld wrote this book while in hiding after he escaped from the Warsaw ghetto in 1943; he buried the manuscript and retrieved it only after the war. Drawing on interviews with Hirszfeld's former students and family, as well as unpublished documents, this translation is annotated and has an introduction written by two scholars with unique qualifications to understand both the immediate setting in which Hirszfeld lived his life, and the broader implications of his work to the history of medicine. Marta A. Balinska is a writer and an international consultant in public health. William H. Schneider is professor of history at Indiana University.

This book reviews recent knowledge of the role of gut microbiome in health and disease. It covers extensive topics for several diseases, including metabolic-related diseases, allergies, gastrointestinal diseases, psychiatric diseases, and cancer, while also discussing therapeutic approaches by microbiota modification. Comprehensive and cutting-edge, Gut Microbiome-Related Diseases and Therapies deepens a reader's theoretical expertise in gut microbiome. Graduate and postdoctoral students, medical doctors, and biomedical researchers will benefit from this book.

Vents and seeps are the epitome of life in extreme environments, but there is much more to these systems than just black smokers or hydrocarbon seeps. Many other ecosystems are characterized by moving fluids and this book provides an overview of the different habitats, their specific conditions as well as the technical challenges that have to be met when studying them. The book provides the current state of the art and will be a valuable resource for everybody that has an interest in such environments.

This book summarizes the basics of actinobacteria, from microbiology to synthetic biology. It focuses on diversity, NRPS, sesquiterpenes, lantipeptide, bioinformatics apparatuses, cloning, CRISPR, reverse engineering, FDA supported medications, and marine actinobacteria. It also covers the latest trends in drug discovery from actinobacteria, and introduces several recently developed bioinformatics and synthetic biology tools to explore new antibiotics from actinobacteria. Many natural products such as polyketides, isoprenoids, phenazines, peptides, indolocarbarbazoles, sterols, and others have been isolated and characterized from actinobacteria. Some products are synthesized by the non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs), polyketide synthases (PKSs), or other functional genes. Although genome sequencing has uncovered the differing qualities of these chemicals, recognizing new items and their biosynthetic pathways is still under examination. Cryptic metabolic pathways have been explored using molecular techniques or culture-dependent approaches. In recent years, researchers' primary interest is to identify the specific conditions or agents that wake the cryptic antibiotics. Several bioinformatics and synthetic biology tools were developed to explore new antibiotics from actinobacteria. The book comprises 14 chapters with different aspects of application and utilization of actinomycetes from the microbiology; systems biology, pharmacology of natural products, bioinformatics, actinomycete and its diversity, CRISPR, artificial Intelligence, synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, expressional studies, and biosynthetic gene clusters. The book delivers useful information on actinomyces to researchers, novices in genome designing, specialists, clinicians, policymakers, and professionals.

This edited book aims to focus on microbial diversity in arid lands and deserts versus specific microbial assemblages associated with plants. The book explains ecological drivers that shape this diversity, how plant-associated microbiomes are selected, and their biotechnological potential are discussed. Diversity and functional redundancy of these associated PGPM make them very active in supporting plant improvement, health and resistance to drought, salt and other stresses, and these dimensions will be explored in this book. Implementing proper biotechnological applications of the arid and desert-adapted PGPM constitutes a sizeable challenge, and the book attempts to take up that challenge and help researchers in this field to gain a detailed understanding of PGPM from arid ecosystems. This book serves as a handbook for research workers, teachers, postgraduate students and extension personnel, other development workers, and policy planners engaged in arid zone development.

This book series focuses on current progress in the broad field of medical microbiology, and covers both basic and applied topics related to the study of microbes, their interactions with human and animals, and emerging issues relevant for public health. Original research and review articles present and discuss multidisciplinary findings and developments on various aspects of microbiology, infectious diseases, and their diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Advances in Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Public Health is a subseries of Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, which has been publishing significant contributions in the field for over 30 years and is indexed in Medline, Scopus, EMBASE, BIOSIS, Biological Abstracts, CSA, Biological Sciences and Living Resources (ASFA-1), and Biological Sciences. 2018 Impact Factor: 2.126.

Molecular Characterization of Autophagic Responses, Part A, presents a collection of methods for the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of virtually all the morphological, biochemical, and functional manifestations of autophagy, in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo, in organisms as distant as yeast and man. Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism for the lysosomal degradation of superfluous or dangerous cytoplasmic entities, and plays a critical role in the preservation of cellular and organismal homeostasis. Monitoring the biochemical processes that accompany autophagy is fundamental for understanding whether autophagic responses are efficient or dysfunctional.

Autophagy: Cancer, Other Pathologies, Inflammation, Immunity, Infection, and Aging is an eleven volume series that discusses in detail all aspects of autophagy machinery in the context of health, cancer, and other pathologies. Autophagy maintains homeostasis during starvation or stress conditions by balancing the synthesis of cellular components and their deregulation by autophagy. This series discusses the characterization of autophagosome-enriched vaccines and its efficacy in cancer immunotherapy. Autophagy serves to maintain healthy cells, tissues, and organs, but also promotes cancer survival and growth of established tumors. Impaired or deregulated autophagy can also contribute to disease pathogenesis. Understanding the importance and necessity of the role of autophagy in health and disease is vital for the studies of cancer, aging, neurodegeneration, immunology, and infectious diseases. Comprehensive and forward-thinking, these books offer a valuable guide to cellular processes while also inciting researchers to explore their potentially important connections.

Real time quantitative PCR (qPCR) technology has revolutionized almost all areas of microbiology, including clinical microbiology, food microbiology, industrial microbiology, environmental microbiology, and microbial biotechnology. Various modifications and improvements have enhanced the overall performance of this highly versatile technology and the qPCR instrumentation and strategies currently available are more sensitive, faster, and more affordable than ever before. Written by experts in the field and aimed specifically at microbiologists, this book describes and explains the most important aspects of current qPCR strategies, instrumentation, and software. Renowned scholars cover the application of qPCR technology in various areas of applied microbiology and comment on future trends. Topics include: instrumentation * fluorescent chemistries * quantification strategies * data analysis software * environmental microbiology * water microbiology * food microbiology * gene expression studies * validation of microbial microarray data * future trends in qPCR technology. This outstanding book will be invaluable for all microbiologists and is recommended for all microbiology laboratories.

This volume explores a collection of methods that studies genome editing across a variety of bacteria, phages, and plants. Chapters in this book cover topics such as scarless DNA recombineering of phage in the lysogenic state; HEMSE; Dup-In and DIRex; recombineering in Staphylococcus aureus; and genome editing with Cas9 in lactobacilli. 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 thorough, Recombineering: Methods and Protocols is a valuable resource for any researchers interested in learning more about this developing field.

This book provides an overview of bidirectional communication between gut-microbiome-brain, pathways, nutrients, and metabolites that are involved in microbiota gut-brain axis (MGBA) interactions. Further it reviews the relevance of this axis in the neurological disorders and potential therapeutic interventions, involving gut microbiome or probiotics and prebiotics which can ameliorate the neurological disorders. The book examines the role of gut microbiota in the establishment and hemostasis of innate immune response and explores the possibility of development of microbiome-targeted therapeutic interventions. Notably, the book discusses the role of the gut microbiota and immune system on the maintenance of brain functions and the development of neurological disorders. It also highlights the recent advances in improving neurological diseases by phytochemicals, prebiotics and probiotics. This book is useful for researchers working in neuropharmacology, Clinical Research, toxicology, neurodegeneration, and stroke biology.

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 book provides an overview of the latest advances concerning symbiotic relationships between plants and microbes, and their applications in plant productivity and agricultural sustainability. Symbiosis is a living phenomenon including dynamic variations in the genome, metabolism and signaling network, and adopting a multidirectional perspective on their interactions is required when studying symbiotic organisms. Although various plant-microbe symbiotic systems are covered in this book, it especially focuses on arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) symbiosis and root nodule symbiosis, the two most prevalent systems. AM symbiosis involves the most extensive interaction between plants and microbes, in the context of phylogeny and ecology. As more than 90% of all known species of plants have the potential to form mycorrhizal associations, the productivity and species composition, as well as the diversity of natural ecosystems, are frequently dependent upon the presence and activity of mycorrhizas. In turn, root nodule symbiosis includes morphogenesis and is formed by communication between plants and nitrogen-fixing bacteria. The biotechnological application of plant-microbe symbiosis is expected to foster the production of agricultural and horticultural products while maintaining ecologically and economically sustainable production systems. Designed as a hands-on guide, this book offers an essential resource for researchers and students in the areas of agri-biotechnology, soil biology and fungal biology.

This book is a compilation of the latest achievements of leading researchers in marine natural products with extremely diverse structures and biological activities. It presents discussions of isolation, structure elucidation, biosynthesis, total synthesis, and biochemical properties of the compounds with characteristic structures such as macrolides, cyclic depsipeptides, alkaloids, and water-soluble heterocyclic low-molecular-weight compounds, from sponges, bacteria, cyanobacteria, flagellates, and other such organisms. The book especially focuses on heterocyclic natural products as a title in the book series, Topics in Heterocyclic Chemistry.

Microalgae are a diverse set of eukaryotic photosynthetic organisms with great potential for being used to produce various high-value molecules. Using synthetic biology to manipulate and control the metabolic processes of microalgae, scientists hope to find economical and sustainable alternatives for commercial production of high value biochemicals and other metabolites for diverse applications. Highlighting the immense potential of microalgae as a renewable and sustainable source of commercially important, high-value biomolecules, this book covers the recent advances in the resources, tools, and techniques used for genetic engineering of microalgae. Also discussed are the legislative challenges associated with genetically engineered microalgae, their derived products and their uses, as well as socio-economic and environmental acceptance. Written to be accessible to a wide audience, this book will be a useful reference to students and researchers from both academia and industry, as well as policy makers, for understanding the current status, trends and future possibilities of using microalgae for biotechnological applications.

Several fundamental advances were announced at the Seventh International Symposium on Molecular Plant--Microbe Interactions held in Edinburgh in 1994. These included the cloning and identification of plant resistance genes involved in recognition of pathogens; the description of genetically engineered plants with novel resistance to pathogens; characterization of the molecular basis of pathogenicity of fungal and bacterial plant pathogens; and the mechanisms of communication used during recognition between symbiotic rhizobia and their host legumes. Participants in the Symposium contributed a series of papers that represent the leading edge of research in this important area of plant and microbial science. These articles are brought together to form this book, which will be essential reading for research workers, advanced students and others interested in keeping abreast of this rapidly developing area.

Plants and animals have evolved ever since their appearance in a largely microbial world. Their own cells are less numerous than the microorganisms that they host and with whom they interact closely. The study of these interactions, termed microbial symbioses, has benefited from the development of new conceptual and technical tools. We are gaining an increasing understanding of the functioning, evolution and central importance of symbiosis in the biosphere. Since the origin of eukaryotic cells, microscopic organisms of our planet have integrated our very existence into their ways of life. The interaction between host and symbiont brings into question the notion of the individual and the traditional representation of the evolution of species, and the manipulation of symbioses facilitates fascinating new perspectives in biotechnology and health. Recent discoveries show that association is one of the main properties of organisms, making a more integrated view of biology necessary. Microbial Symbioses provides a deliberately "symbiocentric" outlook, to exhibit how the exploration of microbial symbioses enriches our understanding of life, and the potential future for this discipline.

The depletion of fossil fuel reserves and concerns for environmental degradation due to the fossil fuel burning have led the scientific community to look for alternative renewable energy sources. Among the available renewable energy sources, bioenergy derived from biomass and waste resources have great potential to not only prevent environmental pollution but also be a carbon neutral energy source. In addition, adaptation of this technology could streamline new green products, alternative energy sources into real-world applications and promote a circular economy towards zero-waste approach. This book tries to bridge the existing knowledge gap in the area of bioenergy resources. The first two chapters provide introduction to the anaerobic digestion (AD) technologies and direct interspecies electron transfer in AD. The next three chapters are on biomass pretreatment technologies for process improvement. The sixth to eighth chapter discuses biogas and other by-product production from specific wastes such from dairy, food and agricultural solid waste. The following two chapters focuses on the downstream processing of anaerobic digestate and on biochar production. Integration of AD in biorefineries using bioelectrochemical systems, syngas fermentation and electricity production are discussed in the next three chapters. The final two chapters elaborates on life cycle assessment of AD based technologies.

Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field encompassing microbiology, bichemistry, genetics, molecular biology, chemistry, immunology, cell and tissue culture physiology. This book describes the recent developments in these areas. Current research topics such as Quorum sensing, Integrons, Phytomining are discussed, which would serve as an excellent reference work for both academicians and researchers in the field.

Microbial Biotechnology: An Interdisciplinary Approach covers all aspects of microbial biotechnology, whilst bringing the field of functional foods and microbial bioremediation to the fore. Recounting the interdisciplinary scope of biotechnology and its discoveries, this text presents innovative ideas in the field of emerging biotechnology providing the scientific community with a much needed new resource. Acting as an important means of information for researchers working in interdisciplinary areas of research, this text: Envisages the recent ideas of novel findings in microbiology Provides insight into the various interdisciplinary research avenues Uniquely covers a diverse range of topics Presents groundbreaking new findings in key areas of modern biotechnology Enhanced and straight forward descriptions cater to the needs of researchers working in areas of bacterial exopolysaccharides, microalgal proteomics, applications of Microbial L-asparaginases, novel aspects of bioremediation, Probiotics and their impact on society, and microbial community analysis in waste water treatment techniques. It will also prove crucial reading for senior undergraduate and graduate students and professionals working in areas of modern biotechnology.

Using a multidisciplinary approach, Human Respiratory Viral Infections is set at the level between the definitive reference work and an essential clinical manual. Exploring recent advances in human respiratory viral research, the text builds on the basic sciences of epidemiology, virology, molecular biology, and immunology to cover clinical diagnosis, mechanism of pathogenesis, manifestations of disease, impact, treatment, and management strategies. Provides a comprehensive review of all the major human respiratory viral infections Supplies a detailed description of the anatomy of the respiratory system Discusses the salient features of specific viruses Examines the latest diagnostic tools Covers risk factors associated with incidence of respiratory viral infections in children and adults in different occupational and environmental settings Presenting the latest knowledge in human respiratory viral infections, this text will be immensely valuable for pulmonologists, biomedical scientists, research scholars, virologists, vaccinologists, immunologists, clinicians, pharmacologists, and public health specialists.

Statistical Aspects of the Microbiological Examination of Foods, Third Edition, updates some important statistical procedures following intensive collaborative work by many experts in microbiology and statistics, and corrects typographic and other errors present in the previous edition. Following a brief introduction to the subject, basic statistical concepts and procedures are described including both theoretical and actual frequency distributions that are associated with the occurrence of microorganisms in foods. This leads into a discussion of the methods for examination of foods and the sources of statistical and practical errors associated with the methods. Such errors are important in understanding the principles of measurement uncertainty as applied to microbiological data and the approaches to determination of uncertainty. The ways in which the concept of statistical process control developed many years ago to improve commercial manufacturing processes can be applied to microbiological examination in the laboratory. This is important in ensuring that laboratory results reflect, as precisely as possible, the microbiological status of manufactured products through the concept and practice of laboratory accreditation and proficiency testing. The use of properly validated standard methods of testing and the verification of 'in house' methods against internationally validated methods is of increasing importance in ensuring that laboratory results are meaningful in relation to development of and compliance with established microbiological criteria for foods. The final chapter of the book reviews the uses of such criteria in relation to the development of and compliance with food safety objectives. Throughout the book the theoretical concepts are illustrated in worked examples using real data obtained in the examination of foods and in research studies concerned with food safety.

The purpose of this and future volumes of the Handbook of Genetics is to bring together a collection of relatively short, authoritative essays or annotated compilations of data on topics of significance to geneticists. Many of the essays will deal with various aspects of the biology of certain species selected because they are favorite subjects for genetic investigation in nature or the laboratory. Often there will be an encyclopedic amount of information available on such a species, with new papers appearing daily. Most of these will be written for specialists in a jargon that is be wildering to a novice, and sometimes even to a veteran geneticist working with evolutionarily distant organisms. For such readers what is needed is a written introduction to the morphology, life cycle, reproductive be havior, and culture methods for the species in question. What are its par ticular advantages (and disadvantages) for genetic study, and what have we learned from it? Where are the classic papers, the key bibliographies, and how does one get stocks of wild type or mutant strains? The chapters devoted to different species will contain information of this sort. Only a few hundreds of the millions of species available to biologists have been subjected to detailed genetic study. However, those that have make up a very heterogeneous sample of the living world."

This book addresses the basic understanding of food contaminants and their sources, followed by the techniques to measure food safety and quality. It is divided into four parts: Part A - sources of contaminants in foods, their associated health risks, and integrated management and alternative options to minimize contaminants; Part B - Technological assessment of conventional methods and selected advanced methods for the detection, identification and enumeration of microbial contaminates; Part C - Technological assessment of different chemical measurements techniques; and Part D - Technological assessment of different instrumental techniques to assess sensory properties of foods. Food safety is a growing concern due to the increase in food-borne illnesses caused by food adulteration, excessive use of pesticides, use of chemical preservatives and artificial fruit ripening agents, microbial contaminations, and improper food handling. Chemical contaminants in food could be transferred from environmental or agrochemical sources, personal care products, and other by-products of water disinfects. In addition, microbial food safety can be threatened due to the presence of many pathogens, such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Clostridium botulinum, Staphylococcus aureus, and Listeria monocytogenes in foods. Globally, strict regulations are imposed to limit the potential contaminants in foods. Development of accurate, rapid, and inexpensive approaches to test food contamination and adulteration would be highly valued to ensure global food safety. There are existing processes to ensure safety of food products from chemical and microbial contaminants. Apart from the existing measurement technologies, varieties of new techniques are also being emerged and these could be potential to ensure food safety and quality. In addition to chemical and microbial properties, sensory properties such as texture, mouth feel, flavor, and taste, are among the most important attributes of food products to ensure their acceptability by consumers. Two approaches are available to evaluate sensory properties of food products, namely subjective and objective analyses. The responses are perceived by all five senses: smell, taste, sight, touch, and hearing. The approach used in sensory evaluation varies depending on the types of foods and the ultimate goal of the testing. Sensory attributes are the most important quality parameters after ensuring the safety of foods.