Microbial Ecology and Infectious Disease

About this book

Experts review important new topics in microbiology, including quorum sensing, horizontal gene transfer in Vibrio cholerae, anthrax toxin, invasion mechanisms, bacterial bleaching of corals, response to starvation, cell-to-cell interactions, natural genetic engineering, and prions. Each chapter offers a general introduction to the topic, a specific introduction to the research, a critical evaluation of the most recent research on the subject, and a special section on unresolved questions and future research.

Contents

Bacterial Ecophysiology; Common Themes in Pathogenesis and Development in Myxococcus xanthus; The Plasticity of Marine Bacteria: Adaptations to High- and Low-Nutrient Habitats; Survival Strategies in the Stationary Phase; Adhesion and Invasion Mechanisms; From Dental Plaque to Oral Biofilm: A Molecular Odyssey; Microbial Interference in the Colonization of Silicone Rubber Implant Surfaces in the Oropharynx: Streptococcus thermophilus against a Mixed Fungal/Bacterial Biofilm; Confocal Microscopy in the Study of the Interactions between Microorganisms and Cells; Cross-Talk between Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli and Host Epithelial Cells; Pore Formation by Anthrax Protective Antigen Environmental Signals Controlling Gene Expression; Quorum Sensing in Gram-Negative Bacteria: an Important Signaling Mechanisms in Symbiosis and Disease; Involvement of Host Factors in Regulating the lux System of Vibrio fischeri; Death by Disinfection: Molecular Approaches to Understanding Bacterial Sensitivity and Resistance to Free Chlorine; Control Elements in the Regulation of Bacterial Heat Shock Response; Ecology of Specific Human Pathogens; Horizontal Gene Transfer in the Emergence of Virulent Vibrio cholerae; Intracellular Multiplication of Legionella pneumophila in Human and Environmental Hosts; Molecular, Cell Biological, and Ecological Aspects of Infection by Listeria monocytogenes; Pathogenesis of the Intestinal Parasite Entamoeba histolytica; Is Tuberculosis Really an Emerging or a Reemerging Disease?; Microbe-Host Associations; Ecology of a Benign "Infection": Colonization of the Squid Luminous Organ by Vibrio fischeri; Initial Interactions of Agrobacterium tumefaciens with Plants; Effect of Temperature on Bacterial Bleaching of Corals; Driving Forces in Microbial Ecology; Natural Genetic Engineering, Adaptive Mutation, and Bacterial Evolution; Multidrug Resistance Transporters in Escherichia coli; Complex Pattern Formation and Cooperative Organization of Bacterial Colonies; Cell Biology of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy Prions: Do Prions Replicate on Cholesterol-Rich Membrane Rafts?

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