Molecular microbiology is a rapidly expanding area of contemporary science: the application of molecular biology has opened up the microbial world in many remarkable ways. The attraction of microbes is that they are self-contained and that they offer complete solutions to understanding the phenomenon of life.
This book provides a concise introduction to current research in the field. Four major areas are introduced and explained:
- Bacterial Biochemistry
- Bacterial Genomes
- Gene Expression
- Microbial Cell Biology

1 Bacterial Biochemistry

Life and Death in Stationary Phase
The Citric Acid Cycle and Oxygen-Regulated Gene Expression in Escherichia coli
2 Genomes and their Survival
Gene Transfer by Bacterial Conjugation: Establishment of the Immigrant Plasmid in the Recipient Cell
Bacteriophage Mu
Regulation of Bacteriophage ? Replication
Replication and Maintenance of Bacterial Plasmids
3 Expression
Bacterial Gene Regulatory Proteins: Organisation and Mechanism of Action
Bacterial Two-Component Regulatory Systems
Metal Regulation of Gene Expression in Bacterial Systems
Regulation of Prespore-Specific Transcription During Sporulation in Bacillus subtilis
Quorum Sensing: Bacterial Cell-Cell Signalling from Bioluminescence to Pathogenicity
Studying Protein Synthesis Factors in Yeast: Structure, Function and Regulation
4 Microbial Cell Biology
The Roles of Molecular Chaperones in the Bacterial Cell
Protein Traffic in Bacteria
Oxygen Toxicity, Oxygen Starvation and the Assembly of Cytochrome c-Dependent Electron Transfer Chains in Escherichia coli
Aspects of the Molecular Genetics of Antibiotics
Interactions of the Bacterial Pathogen Listeria monocytogenes with Mammalian Cells
The Behaviour of Bacterial Pathogens in vivo.