This Springer Protocols manual is a practical guide to the application of key molecular biology techniques in microbiological research. The focus is on experimental protocols, which are presented in an easy-to-follow way, as step-by-step procedures for direct use in the laboratory. Notes on how to successfully apply the procedures are included, as well as recommendations regarding materials and suppliers. In addition to the practical protocols, important background information and representative results of experiments using the described methods are presented. Researchers in all areas applying microbial systems, such as in molecular biology, genetics, pathology, and agricultural research will find this work of great value.

This book provides essential molecular techniques and protocols for analyzing microbes that are useful for developing novel bio-chemicals, such as medicines, biofuels, and plant protection substances. The topics and techniques covered include: microbial diversity and composition; microorganisms in the food industry; mass cultivation of sebacinales; host-microbe interaction; targeted gene disruption; function-based metagenomics to reveal the rhizosphere microbiome; mycotoxin biosynthetic pathways; legume-rhizobium symbioses; multidrug transporters of yeast; drug-resistant bacteria; the fungal endophyte piriformospora indica; medicinal plants; arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; biosurfactants in microbial enhanced oil recovery; and biocontrol of the soybean cyst nematode with root endophytic fungi; as well as microbe-mediated drought tolerance in plants.

Although we can't usually see them, microbes are essential for every part of human life-indeed all life on Earth. The emerging field of metagenomics offers a new way of exploring the microbial world that will transform modern microbiology and lead to practical applications in medicine, agriculture, alternative energy, environmental remediation, and many others areas. Metagenomics allows researchers to look at the genomes of all of the microbes in an environment at once, providing a "meta" view of the whole microbial community and the complex interactions within it. It's a quantum leap beyond traditional research techniques that rely on studying-one at a time-the few microbes that can be grown in the laboratory. At the request of the National Science Foundation, five Institutes of the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Energy, the National Research Council organized a committee to address the current state of metagenomics and identify obstacles current researchers are facing in order to determine how to best support the field and encourage its success. The New Science of Metagenomics recommends the establishment of a "Global Metagenomics Initiative" comprising a small number of large-scale metagenomics projects as well as many medium- and small-scale projects to advance the technology and develop the standard practices needed to advance the field. The report also addresses database needs, methodological challenges, and the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in supporting this new field.

Microbial Forensics is a rapidly evolving scientific discipline. In the last decade, and particularly due to the anthrax letter attacks in the United States, microbial forensics has become more formalized and has played an increasingly greater role in crime investigations. This has brought renewed interest, development and application of new technologies, and new rules of forensic and policy engagement. It has many applications ranging from biodefense, criminal investigations, providing intelligence information, making society more secure, and helping protect precious resources, particularly human life. A combination of diverse areas is investigated, including the major disciplines of biology, microbiology, medicine, chemistry, physics, statistics, population genetics, and computer science. Microbial Forensics, Second Edition is fully revised and updated and serves as a complete reference of the discipline. It describes the advances, as well as the challenges and opportunities ahead, and will be integral in applying science to help solve future biocrimes. - A collection of microbiology, virology, toxicology and mycology as it relates to forensics, in one reference - New and expanded content to include statistical analysis of forensic data and legal admissibility and the standards of evidence, to name a few - Includes research information and application of that research to crime scene analysis, which will allow practitioners to understand and apply the knowledge to their practice with ease

With the help of leading Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) microbiology specialists in Europe, a complete set of guidelines on how to start and implement a quality system in a microbiological laboratory has been prepared, supported by the European Commission through the Measurement and Testing Programme. The working group included food and water microbiologists from various testing laboratories, universities and industry, as well as statisticians and QA and QC specialists in chemistry.This book contains the outcome of their work. It has been written with the express objective of using simple but accurate wording so as to be accessible to all microbiology laboratory staff. To facilitate reading, the more specialized items, in particular some statistical treatments, have been added as an annex to the book. All QA and QC tools mentioned within these guidelines have been developed and applied by the authors in their own laboratories. All aspects dealing with reference materials and interlaboratory studies have been taken in a large part from the projects conducted within the BCR and Measurement and Testing Programmes of the European Commission.With so many different quality control procedures, their introduction in a laboratory would appear to be a formidable task. The authors recognize that each laboratory manager will choose the most appropriate procedures, depending on the type and size of the laboratory in question. Accreditation bodies will not expect the introduction of all measures, only those that are appropriate for a particular laboratory.Features of this book:• Gives all quality assurance and control measures to be taken, from sampling to expression of results• Provides practical aspects of quality control to be applied both for the analyst and top management• Describes the use of reference materials for statistical control of methods and use of certified reference materials (including statistical tools).

Research on decomposer communities of terrestrial ecosystems for a long time has focussed on microbial biomass and gross turnover parameters. Recently, more and more attempts are made to look beyond the biomass, and more specifically determine functions and populations on a smaller scale-in time and space. A multitude of techniques is being improved and developed. Garland and Mills (1991) triggered a series of publications on substrate utilization tests in the field of microbial ecology. Despite several promising results for different applications in different laboratories, many problems concerning the assay and the interpretation of results became evident. After individual discussions on the approach with colleagues from various laboratories we started to plan a workshop on the matter. The response on our first circular was extraordinary, and instead of a small workshop it became a meeting with almost 150 participants. The meeting was named 'Substrate use for characterization of microbial communities in terrestrial ecosystems' (SUBMECO) and was held in Innsbruck, Austria, from Oct. 16-18, 1996. The very focussed scope attracted enthusiastic advocates of the approach, and also serious critics. Some of the topics concerned improvements of current inoculation and incubation techniques, ranging from sample pre-treatment, inoculum density and incubation temperature to statistical data handling. New methods for calculating microbial diversity were proposed, as well as bootstrap methods that allow statistics with many variables on a relatively low number of replicates.