A large number of microbes have been exploited commercially in multifarious areas such as production of industrially viable products, organic chemicals, pharmaceuticals, recovery of metals, improvement and maintenance of environmental quality, and pest control. The book embodies twenty review articles contributed by the subject experts from India, Japan and South Korea. The articles fall under the three categories; agriculture microbiology, industrial microbiology, and bioremediation. The Psychrophiles hold many biological secrets such as biochemical limits to macromolecular stability and the blueprints for constructing stable macromolecules. Lactic acid bacteria known for their role in fermentation, economics, and systematics have been dealt with in great detail. Biotechnological applications of pectinases in general and alkaline pectinases in particular play a significant role in industries. Production, characteristics and applications of microbial alkaline pectinolytic enzymes have been elaborated. Nowadays, semi-synthetic ergot alkaloids are widely used as a potential therapeutic agent. Microbial production of glucans, functional organisation and their industrial significance have been systematically reviewed. Bioactive exopolysaccharides production from mushrooms have gained importance in recent years. Production and characterisation of exopolysaccharides and conversion of unsaturated fatty acids into value-added hydroxyl fatty acids by using microorganisms is being done in a wide range of industrial products. Enhancing the microbial production of 1,3-propanidial and its application highlights the commercial exploitation of potential microorganisms. Aldehyde and organic acid production by using oxydases and their derivatives have been advantageous for industries. Some chapters are devoted to the potential entomopathogenic fungi for management of pests, biotechnological applications of fusaria, microbial metabolite-mediated biocontrol of soil-borne plant pathogens, bioremediation of heavy metals, organochlorine and organophosphate pesticides. Although bio-inoculants are eco-friendly and are being used too but reviewers have emphasized the constraints in commercial bio-inoculant production and their quality assurance.

Understanding Microbes is vital to understand the past and the future of mankind and our planet. These are the oldest form of life on the earth. Microbes provide us with oxygen to breathe and food to eat. Without microbes life is impossible on the earth. Microbes cause as well as prevent diseases, hence are highly relevant to medicine and other related health sciences too. Research and biotechnological applications of Microbes is a fascinating field of science and increasingly being seen as a mainstream tenet of biology. The present book focuses on diverse areas of microbial research and provides a wealth of information on the microbial world: biochemistry of the molecules, their functions, syntheses, and regulation activity; microbial genetics, immunology, biotechnology, control of microbial growth, interactions between humans, insects and microorganisms and public health, microbial ecology, terrestrial microbiology, microbiology of waste treatment and so on.

This comprehensive edited book on microbial prospective discusses the innovative approaches and investigation strategies, as well as provides a broad spectrum of the cutting-edge research on the processing, properties and technological developments of microbial products and their applications. Microbes finds very important applications in our lives including industries and food processing. They are widely used in the fermentation of beverages, processing of dairy products, production of pharmaceuticals, chemicals, enzymes, proteins and biomaterials; conversion of biomass into fuel, fuel cell technology, health and environmental sectors. Some of these products are produced commercially, while others are potentially valuable in biotechnology. Microorganisms are considered invaluable in research as model organisms. This is a useful compilation for students and researchers in microbiology, biotechnology and chemical industries.

This book provides a survey on the most striking and successful appraoches to produce biogenic nanodevices with emphasis onthe use of microorganisms for production. Chapters are dedicated to the biotechnological production of tailor-made biopoler-based self-assembled nanostructures such as biopolyester inclusions, cyanophycin inclusions and alginates, which can be processed into nanoparticles. Other chapters summarize recent developments in protein and DNA-based nanodevice production. The aim of this book is to demonstrate the diversity of biological nanostructures, the implied design space, and the enormous potential for applications in medicine and technology. Potential applications range from drug delivery to biocomputing.

This book provides a broad overview how extremophiles can be used in biotechnology, including for the production and degradation of compounds. It reviews various recent discoveries and applications related to a large variety of extremophiles, considering both prokaryotes as well as eukaryotes.

Microbial biotechnology is an important contributor to global business, especially in agriculture, the environment, healthcare, and the medical, food, and chemical industries. This volume provides an exciting interdisciplinary journey through the rapidly changing backdrop of invention in microbial biotechnology, covering a range of topics, including microbial properties and characterization, cultivation and production strategies, and applications in healthcare, bioremediation, nanotechnology, and more. Key features: Explains the diverse aspects of and strategies for cultivation of microbial species Describes biodiversity and biotechnology of microbes Provides an understanding of microorganisms in bioremediation of pollutants Explores various applications of microbes in agriculture, food, health, industry, and the environment Considers production issues and applications of microbial secondary metabolites Underscores the importance of integrating genomics of microorganisms in ecological restoration of contaminated environments

The field of microbiology and biotechnology are intertwined since time immemorial however the ties between the two areas became prominent in the last century. The areas provided various products which enriched mankind in various ways mainly in the form of food and succeeded in producing medicines. There was no technology which provoked the humans to understand the mechanisms involved whilst using microbes. In previous millennia, microbes were utilized by humans for several needs; however there was no scope of understanding the machinery to the complete detail.The nineteenth century bore an outstanding scientist named Louis Pasteur who pioneered in industrial microbiology. His understanding of microbes laid a path to the other discoveries which made human life more comfortable and also increment in life span is clearly noticed. The fight against infectious diseases has progressed with the advancements in microbiology. The era of mass production of the microbial products initiated mainly with citric acid production. The Second World War provided an essentiality to understand the process of preservation of products in aseptic conditions.The economically viable products such as vaccines, cytokines, pharmaceuticals and foods were produced in a large scale due to advancements in genetic engineering in the seventies. The applied microbiology and biotechnology are playing a crucial role in dictating national economy, medicine, agriculture, environmental protection and pharmaceuticals. The main reason to devise this part of literature is to introduce and summarize the current state of knowledge which concerns microbial application in large scale production lines. This book is built on my experiences with several research fronts during these two decades.The field of industrial microbiology and biotechnology deals with exploitation of microbes is a systematic manner in order to obtain goods and services for human welfare. The two immediate aspect of industrial microbiology are fermentation processes and service delivery especially in pollution control. It is assumed that the reader may have got some learned experience in microbiology to understand this book. The students of any life sciences and chemistry can understand the concept delivered in this book without any hassles.The application of microbiology in industrial biotechnology is broadly emphasized in this book. The chapters were designed to let the reader take a systematic study without getting struck at any concept and never feel confused.I would like to express my gratitude to all the professors and researchers who provided me variety of inputs to make this literature work a success. All the valuable time they invested in me to bring out this book is duly appreciated and some of the reflections which they expect are in due till the book is read by many of the enthusiastic students.