Microbial physiology, biochemistry, and genetics allowed the formulation of concepts that turned out to be important in the study of higher organisms. In the first section, the principles of bacterial growth are given, as well as the description of the different layers that enclose the bacterial cytoplasm, and their role in obtaining nutrients from the outside media through different permeability mechanism described in detail. A chapter is devoted to allostery and is indispensable for the comprehension of many regulatory mechanisms described throughout the book. Another section analyses the mechanisms by which cells obtain the energy necessary for their growth, glycolysis, the pentose phosphate pathway, the tricarboxylic and the anaplerotic cycles. Two chapters are devoted to classes of microorganisms rarely dealt with in textbooks, namely the Archaea, mainly the methanogenic bacteria, and the methylotrophs. Eight chapters describe the principles of the regulations at the transcriptional level, with the necessary knowledge of the machineries of transcription and translation. The next fifteen chapters deal with the biosynthesis of the cell building blocks, amino acids, purine and pyrimidine nucleotides and deoxynucleotides, water-soluble vitamins and coenzymes, isoprene and tetrapyrrole derivatives and vitamin B12. The two last chapters are devoted to the study of protein-DNA interactions and to the evolution of biosynthetic pathways. The considerable advances made in the last thirty years in the field by the introduction of gene cloning and sequencing and by the exponential development of physical methods such as X-ray crystallography or nuclear magnetic resonance have helped presenting metabolism under a multidisciplinary attractive angle. The level of readership presupposes some knowledge of chemistry and genetics at the undergraduate level. The target group is graduate students, researchers in academia and industry.
Author(s): G.N. Cohen (auth.)
Edition: 2nd ed.
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Year: 2011
Language: English
Pages: XXVIII, 500p. 141 illus., 6 illus. in color.
Tags: Molecular Medicine; Microbiology; Membrane Biology; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Medical Microbiology
Front Matter....Pages i-xxviii
Bacterial Growth....Pages 1-10
The Outer Membrane of Gram-negative Bacteria and the Cytoplasmic Membrane....Pages 11-16
Peptidoglycan Synthesis and Cell Division....Pages 17-22
Cellular Permeability....Pages 23-49
Allosteric Enzymes....Pages 51-62
Glycolysis, Gluconeogenesis and Glycogen Synthesis....Pages 63-72
The Pentose Phosphate and Entner–Doudoroff Pathways....Pages 73-77
The Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle and the Glyoxylate Bypass....Pages 79-99
ATP-Generating Processes: Respiration and Fermentation....Pages 101-113
Biosynthesis of Lipids....Pages 115-125
Iron–Sulfur Proteins....Pages 127-132
The Archaea....Pages 133-137
Methanogens and Methylotrophs....Pages 139-161
Enzyme Induction in Catabolic Systems....Pages 163-177
Transcription: RNA Polymerase....Pages 179-187
Negative Regulation....Pages 189-200
Enzyme Repression in Anabolic Pathways....Pages 201-207
Positive Regulation....Pages 209-215
The Ribosomes....Pages 217-222
The Genetic Code, the Transfer RNAs and the Aminoacyl-tRNA-Synthetases....Pages 223-231
Attenuation....Pages 233-239
Riboswitches....Pages 241-244
The Biological Fixation of Nitrogen....Pages 245-250
How Biosynthetic Pathways have been Established....Pages 251-256
The Aspartic Acid Family of Amino Acids: Biosynthesis....Pages 257-274
Regulation of the Biosynthesis of the Amino Acids of the Aspartic Acid Family in Enterobacteriaceae ....Pages 275-306
Other Patterns of Regulation of the Synthesis of Amino Acids of the Aspartate Family....Pages 307-315
Biosynthesis of the Amino Acids of the Glutamic Acid Family and Its Regulation....Pages 317-346
Biosynthesis of Amino Acids Derived from Phosphoglyceric Acid and Pyruvic Acid....Pages 347-361
Selenocysteine and Selenoproteins....Pages 363-371
Biosynthesis of Aromatic Amino Acids and Its Regulation....Pages 373-398
The Biosynthesis of Histidine and Its Regulation....Pages 399-408
The Biosynthesis of Nucleotides....Pages 409-430
The Biosynthesis of Deoxyribonucleotides....Pages 431-442
Biosynthesis of Some Water-Soluble Vitamins and of Their Coenzyme Forms....Pages 443-470
Biosynthesis of Carotene, Vitamin A, Sterols, Ubiquinones and Menaquinones....Pages 471-485
Biosynthesis of the Tetrapyrrole Ring System....Pages 487-501
Biosynthesis of Cobalamins Including Vitamin B 12 ....Pages 503-511
Interactions Between Proteins and DNA....Pages 513-524
Evolution of Biosynthetic Pathways....Pages 525-544
Back Matter....Pages 545-557
