Microbial BiochemistryMicrobial 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. |
Contents
Variation of the growth rate at limiting carbon | 3 |
Subunit composition of the ATP synthase | 9 |
Penicillin sensitivity | 81 |
Copyright | |
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acetyl CoA activity affinity allosteric amino acid Archaea arginine aspartate aspartokinase atoms B-galactosidase bacteria binding biosynthesis carbon catalyzes cells CH2 CH2 chain chorismate cloned coding codon coenzyme cofactor coli complex compound concentration contains COOH cysteine cytoplasmic DAHP dehydratase dimer diphosphate domain effector electron encoded enzyme eukaryotic fatty acid function galactoside genetic glucose glutamate glutamine synthetase glycine growth histidine homoserine dehydrogenase inactivation inducer inhibition inhibitor interactions intermediate involved isocitrate isoleucine kinase leucine ligand lysine mechanism membrane metabolic methionine methyl molecular weight molecule mRNA mutants N-terminal NADP+ NADPH nucleotide operon oxidation permease phosphate phosphorylated polymerase polypeptide precursor presence protein purified pyridoxal pyridoxal phosphate pyrimidine pyruvate radioactive reaction reduced reductase region regulation regulatory repression repressor ribosome selenocysteine sequence serine specific structural genes studies substrate subtilis subunit synthesis threonine tion transcription tRNA wild type yeast zyme