Bacterial Cell Surface Techniques

Bacterial Cell Surface Techniques is the first complete practical text on the chemistry and immunochemistry of bacterial cell walls. It provides details of methods available for the preparation of cell walls and their components. All the sections are written by researchers with first-hand practical experience of the techniques. The book concentrates on techniques that are available to most laboratories and provides complete information for workers new to the field, while at the same time serving as a valuable reference work for those already engaged in cell-surface research.

It is a common statement that because of its simplicity the bacterial cell makes an ideal model for the study of a wide variety of biological systems and phenomena. While no-one would dispute that much of our under standing of biological function derives from the study of the humble bacterium, the concept of a simple life-form would be hotly disputed by any scientist engaged in the determination of the relationship between structure and function within the bacterial cell. Bacteria are particularly amenable to intensive study; their physiology can be probed with powerful biochemical, genetical and immunological techniques. Each piece of information obtained inevitably raises as many questions as answers, and can lead to a highly confused picture being presented to the lay reader. Nowhere is this more evident than in the study of the surface layers of the bacterial cell. Examination of the early electron micrographs suggested that the bacterial cytoplasm was surrounded by some sort of semi-rigid layer, possessing sufficient intrinsic strength to protect the organism from osmotic lysis. The belief that the surface layers were rather passive led to their neglect, while researchers concentrated on the superficially more exciting cytoplasmic components. Over the last twenty years our view of the bacterial envelope has undergone extensive revision, revealing a structure of enormous complexity.

This Methods in Molecular Biology book gathers tools for studying protein structure and function and enzymatic activities, purifying and analyzing of macromolecules and their complexes and investigating regulatory mechanisms and cell biological processes."

This volume brings together the most widely used and important protocols currently being employed in researching and understanding bacterial cell wall homeostasis. Chapters in Bacterial Cell Wall Homeostasis cover a variety of subjects, such as: modern microscopy techniques and other biophysical methods used to characterize the subcellular structure of the bacterial cell wall; high-throughput approaches that can be used to identify all the genes and proteins that participate in the correct functioning of an organism’s cell wall; protocols for assaying individual gene products for specific cell wall functions or identify chemicals with inhibitory activity against the cell wall; and methods for analyzing the non-protein components of the cell wall and the increasing use of computational approaches for predicting and modeling cell wall related functions and processes. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introduction to their respective topics, lists of the necessary material and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Thorough and cutting-edge, Bacterial Cell Wall Homeostasis: Methods and Protocols emphasizes the diversity of the research taking place in bacterial cell wall homeostasis, and explains how the integration of information from across multiple disciplines is going to be essential if a holistic understanding of this important process is to be obtained.

Handbook of Chromatography: Analysis of Lipids provides a valuable review of state-of-the-art applications of chromatographic techniques (TLC, GC, HPLC) and other analytical techniques. Much of this volume is devoted to applications of HPLC (including supercritical fluid chromatography) in the analysis of lipids such as fatty acids, oxygenated fatty acids, enantiomeric acyl- and alkylglycerols, and lipoproteins. The handbook also provides extensive coverage of applications of combinations of various chromatographic techniques used in the analysis of ozonides, anacardic acids, glycerophospholipids, products of lipolysis, artifacts and contaminants in edible fats, acylated proteins, non-caloric lipids, lipophilic vitamins, acyl-Coenzyme A thioesters, dolichols, mycolic acids, technical fats and fat products, and liposomes. Handbook of Chromatography: Analysis of Lipids will be a useful reference for oil chemists, biochemists, fat science technologists, and other scientists involved in lipid research.

This book presents an accessible and comprehensive survey of recent advances in the understanding of the structure and properties of microbial cell surfaces. Gathering leading experts in the field, it is the first book to cover the fundamental knowledge of microbial cell surfaces at the nanometre-scale resolution that is now provided by various scanning probe microscopy techniques (SPM). The advent of SPM has recently opened up a wide range of novel and fascinating applications for biological research. The book presents the most recent advances in the application of SPM techniques to study cell surfaces. It is a useful guide for researchers that are seeking to tap the power and scope of this technology to further their own work on cell surface structure and properties. The book also provides the reader with a realistic appreciation of the advantages and limitations of the SPM techniques, as well as the potential of these techniques to advance our understanding of biological systems to a new level.