Microsporidia: Pathogens of Opportunity provides a systematic overview of the biology of this important pathogen. Written by leading experts in the field, the book combines background and basic information on microsporidia with descriptive methods and resources for working with the pathogen.Newly revised and updated for its second edition, Microsporidia will continue to be the standard text reference for these pathogenic protists, and is an indispensable research resource for biologists, physicians and parasitologists. The first edition of this book was published in 1999 and was the first systematic review of information that had accumulated on these pathogens since the publication of a 2 monograph series in Comparative Pathobiology in 1977. In the last decade there have been tremendous strides in our understanding of the biology of the Microsporidia. This has included the development of new information on genomics and proteomics of this organism as well as a new understanding of the population biology and genetic diversity of this organism. The new edition of this publication will provide systematic reviews of the biology of this pathogen by leading experts in the field. This will be combined with descriptions of the methods and resources for working with this pathogen.