Applied Microbial Physiology

The rapid growth in biotechnology in recent years has led to an upsurge in interest in microbial technology amongst many biochemists, molecular biologists, geneticists, virologists, endocrinologists, and clinicians. Their objectives may be very diverse, ranging from the isolation of a stable enzyme from a hyperthermophile to the expression of a human protein by a recombinant yeasts or bacterium. Advance in microbial physiology have made possible a rational approach to optimization of product yield based on analysis of cultures, growth kinetics, and biochemical pathways. The application of statistical optimization methods, widely used in other fields, also has much to offer microbiology and biotechnology. The choice of material for this book has been influenced by both the need for practical information to enable to the isolation, handling, and culture of organisms and the necessity to generate and analyse data enabling the development of a process. It therefore contains chapters covering the 'husbandry' of microbiology, the generation of data by chemical and physical analysis, and the interpretation of such data. Data interpretation is considered from two points of view. This book is intended for biochemists, molecular biologists, geneticists, and virologists.Table of Content1: Sources of microorganisms and their preservation. 2: Isolation and growth of hyperthermophiles. 3: Design and optimization of growth media. 4: Working with laboratory fermenters. 5: Measurement of biomass. 6: Fermenter vent gas analysis. 7: The analytical chemistry of microbial cultures. 8: Analysis of microbial growth data. 9: Metabolic flux analysis of fermentation processes. Appendix 1. Addresses of culture collections, microbial databases and national and international culture collection organizations. Appendix 2. Suppliers of specialist items