Molecular Microbiology

Molecular microbiology is a rapidly expanding area of contemporary science: the application of molecular biology has opened up the microbial world in many remarkable ways. The attraction of microbes is that they are self-contained and that they offer complete solutions to understanding the phenomenon of life.
This book provides a concise introduction to current research in the field. Four major areas are introduced and explained:
- Bacterial Biochemistry
- Bacterial Genomes
- Gene Expression
- Microbial Cell Biology

1 Bacterial Biochemistry.- Life and Death in Stationary Phase.- The Citric Acid Cycle and Oxygen-Regulated Gene Expression in Escherichia coli.- 2 Genomes and their Survival.- Gene Transfer by Bacterial Conjugation: Establishment of the Immigrant Plasmid in the Recipient Cell.- Bacteriophage Mu.- Regulation of Bacteriophage ? Replication.- Replication and Maintenance of Bacterial Plasmids.- 3 Expression.- Bacterial Gene Regulatory Proteins: Organisation and Mechanism of Action.- Bacterial Two-Component Regulatory Systems.- Metal Regulation of Gene Expression in Bacterial Systems.- Regulation of Prespore-Specific Transcription During Sporulation in Bacillus subtilis.- Quorum Sensing: Bacterial Cell-Cell Signalling from Bioluminescence to Pathogenicity.- Studying Protein Synthesis Factors in Yeast: Structure, Function and Regulation.- 4 Microbial Cell Biology.- The Roles of Molecular Chaperones in the Bacterial Cell.- Protein Traffic in Bacteria.- Oxygen Toxicity, Oxygen Starvation and the Assembly of Cytochrome c-Dependent Electron Transfer Chains in Escherichia coli.- Aspects of the Molecular Genetics of Antibiotics.- Interactions of the Bacterial Pathogen Listeria monocytogenes with Mammalian Cells.- The Behaviour of Bacterial Pathogens in vivo.