Applications of Molecular Microbiological Methods

Innovative, constructive, and continually evolving technologies are propelling microbiology into an exciting new era. This new era will witness the harnessing and control of complex microbial communities in a huge variety of applications in the industrial, medical, and environmental spheres. State-of-the-art tools are being developed and utilized to analyze the molecules that microorganisms possess and generate, including DNA, RNA, proteins, lipids, and cellular metabolites. This book, written by international experts in the field, presents emerging molecular methods that allow the diversity of a microbial community to be surveyed and its functions to be investigated. The first section provides examples of the application of molecular microbiological methods in various industrial applications. The second section deals with the identification of microorganisms in medical settings, while the third section presents case studies that use molecular methods to assess the structure and function of microbial communities in natural environments. The fourth part of the book describes in greater detail the methods and technologies featured in the preceding case studies, including metagenomics, stable isotope probing, fluorescence in situ hybridization, quantitative PCR, reverse transcription PCR, and single cell methods. These detailed descriptions will enable readers to evaluate the applicability of various tools for approaching questions and case studies of their own. This practical, authoritative, and up-to-date volume is a valuable resource for anyone applying or developing molecular methods in any area of microbiology and is a recommended acquisition for all microbiology laboratories.