Fundamental Bacterial Genetics

Fundamental Bacterial Genetics presents a conciseintroduction to microbial genetics. The text focuses on onebacterial species, Escherichia coli, but draws examples fromother microbial systems at appropriate points to support thefundamental concepts of molecular genetics. A solid balance ofconcepts, techniques and applications makes this book anaccessible, essential introduction to the theory and practice offundamental microbial genetics. FYI boxes - feature key experiments that lead to what we nowknow, biographies of key scientists, comparisons with other speciesand more. Study questions - at the end of each chapter, review and teststudents' knowledge of key chapter concepts. Key references - included both at chapter end and in a fullreference list at the end of the book. Full Chapter on Genomics, Bioinformatics and Proteomics -includes coverage of functional genomics and microarrays. Dedicated website – animations, study resources, webresearch questions and illustrations downloadable for powerpointfiles provide students and instructors with an enhanced,interactive experience.

Fundamental Bacterial Genetics presents a concise introduction to microbial genetics. The text focuses on one bacterial species, Escherichia coli , but draws examples from other microbial systems at appropriate points to support the fundamental concepts of molecular genetics. A solid balance of concepts, techniques and applications makes this book an accessible, essential introduction to the theory and practice of fundamental microbial genetics. FYI boxes – feature key experiments that lead to what we now know, biographies of key scientists, comparisons with other species and more. Study questions – at the end of each chapter, review and test students′ knowledge of key chapter concepts. Key references – included both at chapter end and in a full reference list at the end of the book. Full Chapter on Genomics, Bioinformatics and Proteomics – includes coverage of functional genomics and microarrays. Dedicated website – animations, study resources, web research questions and illustrations downloadable for powerpoint files provide students and instructors with an enhanced, interactive experience.

Fundamental Bacterial Genetics presents a concise introduction to microbial genetics. The text focuses on one bacterial species, Escherichia coli, but draws examples from other microbial systems at appropriate points to support the fundamental concepts of molecular genetics. A solid balance of concepts, techniques and applications makes this book an accessible, essential introduction to the theory and practice of fundamental microbial genetics. FYI boxes - feature key experiments that lead to what we now know, biographies of key scientists, comparisons with other species and more. Study questions - at the end of each chapter, review and test students' knowledge of key chapter concepts. Key references - included both at chapter end and in a full reference list at the end of the book. Full Chapter on Genomics, Bioinformatics and Proteomics - includes coverage of functional genomics and microarrays. Dedicated website – animations, study resources, web research questions and illustrations downloadable for powerpoint files provide students and instructors with an enhanced, interactive experience.

Described as the earliest, simplest life forms, with unlimited metabolic versatility, bacteria are ideally suited to answer some very fundamental questions on life and its processes. They have been employed in almost all fields of biological studies, including Genetics. The whole edifice of science of Genetics centers around three processes: the generation, expression, and transmission of biological variation, and bacteria offer immediate advantages in studying all the three aspects of heredity. Being haploid and structurally simple, it becomes easy to isolate mutations of various kinds and relate them to a function. The availability of such mutants and their detailed genetic and biochemical analyses lead to a gamut of information on gene expression and its regulation. While studying the transmission of biological variation, it is clear that unlike their eukaryotic counterpart, a more genetic approach needs to be employed. Transmission of genetic information in most eukaryotic organisms rests on sexual reproduction that allows the generation of genetically variable offspring through the process of gene recombination. Even though bacteria show an apparent preference for asexual reproduction, they too have evolved mechanisms to trade their genetic material. In fact, bacteria not only could acquire many genes from close relatives, but also from entirely distant members through the process of horizontal gene transfer. Their success story of long evolutionary existence will stand testimony to these mechanisms. While teaching a course on Microbial Genetics to the post-graduate students at Delhi University, it was realized that a book devoted to bacterial genetics may be very handy to the students, researchers, and teachers alike. A strong foundation in genetics also helps in comprehending more modern concepts of molecular biology and recombinant DNA technology, always a favorite with the students and researchers. Planning the format of the book, emphasis has been laid on the generation and transmission of biological variability. The omission of expression part is indeed intentional because lots of information is available on this aspect in any modern biology book. The contents are spread over seven chapters and the text is supported with figures/tables wherever possible. The endeavor has been to induce the readers to appreciate the strength of bacterial genetics and realize the contribution of these tiny organisms to the growth of biological sciences as a whole and genetics in particular.

Over the past several decades, new scientific tools and approaches for detecting microbial species have dramatically enhanced our appreciation of the diversity and abundance of the microbiota and its dynamic interactions with the environments within which these microorganisms reside. The first bacterial genome was sequenced in 1995 and took more than 13 months of work to complete. Today, a microorganism's entire genome can be sequenced in a few days. Much as our view of the cosmos was forever altered in the 17th century with the invention of the telescope, these genomic technologies, and the observations derived from them, have fundamentally transformed our appreciation of the microbial world around us. On June 12 and 13, 2012, the Institute of Medicine's (IOM's) Forum on Microbial Threats convened a public workshop in Washington, DC, to discuss the scientific tools and approaches being used for detecting and characterizing microbial species, and the roles of microbial genomics and metagenomics to better understand the culturable and unculturable microbial world around us. Through invited presentations and discussions, participants examined the use of microbial genomics to explore the diversity, evolution, and adaptation of microorganisms in a wide variety of environments; the molecular mechanisms of disease emergence and epidemiology; and the ways that genomic technologies are being applied to disease outbreak trace back and microbial surveillance. Points that were emphasized by many participants included the need to develop robust standardized sampling protocols, the importance of having the appropriate metadata, data analysis and data management challenges, and information sharing in real time. The Science and Applications of Microbial Genomics summarizes this workshop.

This book is a unique synthesis of the major concepts and methods in bacterial population genetics in infectious disease, a field that is now about 35 yrs old. Emphasis is given to explaining population-level processes that shape genetic variation in bacterial populations and statistical methods of analysis of bacterial genetic data. A "how to" of bacterial population genetics, which covers an extremely large range of organisms Expanding area of science due to high-throughput genome sequencing of bacterial pathogens Covers both fundamental approaches to analyzing bacterial population structures with conceptual background in bacterial population biology Detailed treatment of statistical methods

Bacterial genetics has become one of the cornerstones of basic and applied microbiology and has contributed key knowledge for many of the fundamental advances of modern biology. The second edition of this comprehensive yet concise text, first published in 1981, has been thoroughly updated and redesigned to account for new developments in this rapidly expanding field. All of the major topics in modern bacterial and bacteriophage genetics are presented, among them mutations and mutagenesis, genetics of T4 bacteriophage and other intemperate and temperate phages, transduction, transformation, conjugation and plasmids, recombination and repair, probability laws for prokaryote cultures, as well as applied bacterial genetics.

University of California, Los Angeles. Introduction to bacterial genetics, including laboratory methods, for advanced students and beginning researchers. Handbook with plastic spiral-bound laboratory manual.