Virginia L. Miller Livres

This volume offers a comprehensive overview of the progress in our understanding the microbial pathogenesis of important bacterial pathogens and also offers insights into how these advances have been made via use of recombinant DNA and other molecular techniques. Dr. Stanley Falkow stimulated much of this research through his own work and that of his students. Dr. Falkow's achievements include seminal discoveries on the nature of plasmids and transposons encoding antibiotic resistance, developing the first DNA probes for the diagnosis of bacterial infections, and being one of the first scientists to study the interactions of a wide variety of bacterial pathogens and host cells. The introductory chapters and selections in Part 1 depict the state of the art at the time when Dr. Falkow and his staff first began their investigations in the 1960s, describe how key experiments arose, and give a flavor of the laboratory environment at that time. The 29 chapters in Parts 2 through 6 are topical reviews of key areas of molecular pathogenesis currently under investigation by alumni of the Falkow laboratory. All of the scientists contributing to this book worked in Dr. Falkow's laboratory.

Intracellular pathogens are responsible for a number of important diseases worldwide, including tuberculosis, plague and bacillary dysentery. This volume focusses on those intracellular pathogens that have been studied most extensively at the molecular, genetic, and cellular level. The reviews attempt to integrate the information derived from these diverse approaches into a cohesive picture. In recent years the entry steps have been described at the molecular and genetic level, and the important signal transduction events are being elucidated. It is now becoming clear that there are both similarities and differences both in terms of the steps involved and of the genetic basis of bacterial invasiveness. These reviews of the „state of the art“ provide a foundation from which to proceed.