Chang-Chun Ling of University of Calgary, Canada writes in ChemBioChem (2009) 10: 2539-2540:
"a collection of reviews written by experts ... one of the most up-to-date and authoritative books available on topics about bacterial polysaccharides ... overall the book provides a substantial wealth of coverage ... with extensive references provided at the end of each chapter and the use of many experimental data to support scientific conclusions, I think that this book will prove to be a highly valuable resource for researchers and advanced students"
Bacterial Polysaccharides: Current Innovations and Future TrendsPublisher: Caister Academic Press
Editor: Matthias Ullrich
Publication date: 2009
ISBN: 978-1-904455-45-5
Further reading:
Bacterial Polysaccharides: Current Innovations and Future TrendsLabels: bacterial polysaccharides, book review, polysaccharides
Diverse
polysaccharide macromolecules are synthesized by bacteria using a rich arsenal of distinct pathways and function as cell wall components or storage units, to counteract harsh environmental conditions, as masking agents, or as part of the matrix by which bacterial cells reside in sessile life style. Over the past few years, it has become clear that there are unifying themes in bacterial polysaccharide synthesis, regulation, and function.
Unlike other microbiological traits,
bacterial polysaccharides link primary metabolism with extracellular function, thus acting at the interface between bacterium and host, and therefore biosynthesis needs to be tightly controlled at the level of transcription due to their high demand for cellular energy. Bacterial cells 'invest' in polysaccharide synthesis without immediately 'knowing' the beneficial outcome of this synthesis since many of those macromolecules are simply secreted or produced outside of the cell. Consequently, understanding the regulatory links between intracellular energy conservation, polymer synthesis and modification, and the external ecological functions becomes increasingly important for us to better benefit from or to more efficiently combat biological effects mediated by bacterial polysaccharides.
It has been fully appreciated for quite some time that a sessile life is presumably the dominant way of bacteria thriving - be it on a surface, such as our teeth, or the pipelines in biotechnology - within various organs and tissues of eukaryotic hosts, inside dirt, or on any marine aggregate floating in the oceans. At the same time it has become clear that not only
exopolysaccharides but also the non-watery composite of biofilm matrices is of tremendously diverse origin. Consequently, researchers are beginning to understand that polysaccharides might be - at least in part - waste disposal storage sites for later recycling, which evolutionarily have become powerful tools, connectors, or barriers for microbe–microbe and microbe–host interactions.
from Matthias Ullrich
in Bacterial PolysaccharidesFurther reading:
Bacterial Polysaccharides: Current Innovations and Future TrendsLabels: bacterial polysaccharides, EPS, exopolysaccharides
A new book on
Bacterial Polysaccharides has been published by
Caister Academic Press. The book covers current research and biotechnological applications. Taking an interdisciplinary view the authors examine bacterial polysaccharides from molecular biology, genome-, transcriptome- and proteome-wide perspectives, and include ecological aspects and systems biology approaches.
Bacterial Polysaccharides: Current Innovations and Future TrendsPublisher: Caister Academic Press
Editor: Matthias Ullrich
Publication date: June 2009 (available now)
ISBN: 978-1-904455-45-5
Topics include:
* The Polysaccharide Peptidoglycan and How it is Influenced by (Antibiotic) Stress
* Genetics and Regulation of Bacterial Lipopolysaccharide Synthesis
* Mycobacterial Cell Wall Arabinogalactang
* Genetics and Regulation of Bacterial Polysaccharide Expression in Human Pathogenic Bacteria
* Therapies Directed at Pseudomonas aeruginosa Polysaccharides
* Immune Responses to Microbial Polysaccharides
* Polysaccharides of Gram-negative Periodontopathic Bacteria
* Bacterial Polysaccharides in Dental Plaque
* Composition and Functional Role of Polysaccharides in Biofilm Infections
* Poly-N-acetyl-glucosamine as a Mediator of Bacterial Biofilm Formation
* Surface Polysaccharides as Fitness factors of Rhizospheric Nitrogen-fixing Bacteria
* Levansucrase and Levan Formation in Pseudomonas syringae and Related Organisms
* Structure, Biosynthesis, and Regulation of Capsular Exopolysaccharide of Erwinia
* Osmoregulated Periplasmic Glucans (OPGs), Alginate, and Biofilm Formation in Pseudomonas syringae
* Ecology of Exopolysaccharide Formation by Lactic Acid Bacteria
* Biosynthesis and Chemical Composition of Exopolysaccharides Produced by Lactic Acid Bacteria
* Commercial Exploitation of Homo-exopolysaccharides in Non-dairy Food Systems
* Exploitation of Exopolysaccharides from Lactic Acid Bacteria
* Synthesis of Bacterial Polysaccharides as a Limiting Factor for Biofuel Production
Bacterial Polysaccharides: Current Innovations and Future TrendsCURRENT BOOKS OF INTEREST
Metagenomics: Theory, Methods and ApplicationsAspergillus: Molecular Biology and GenomicsEnvironmental Molecular MicrobiologyNeisseria: Molecular Mechanisms of PathogenesisFrontiers in Dengue Virus ResearchABC Transporters in MicroorganismsPili and FlagellaLab-on-a-Chip Technology: Biomolecular Separation and AnalysisLab-on-a-Chip Technology: Fabrication and MicrofluidicsBacterial PolysaccharidesMicrobial ToxinsAcanthamoebaBacterial Secreted ProteinsLactobacillusMycobacteriumReal-Time PCRClostridiaPlant Pathogenic BacteriaBiopolymersPlasmidsPasteurellaceaeVibrio choleraePathogenic FungiHelicobacter pyloriCorynebacteriaStaphylococcusLeishmaniaArchaeaLegionellaRNA and the Regulation of Gene ExpressionMolecular Oral MicrobiologyLabels: bacterial polysaccharides, biopolymers, polysaccharides