The New Microbiology: From Microbiomes to CRISPR

Description

Microbiology has undergone radical changes over the past few decades, ushering in an exciting new era in science. In The New Microbiology, Pascale Cossart tells a splendid story about the revolution in microbiology, especially in bacteriology. This story has wide-ranging implications for human health and medicine, agriculture, environmental science, and our understanding of evolution. The revolution results from the powerful tools of molecular and cellular biology, genomics, and bioinformatics, which have yielded amazing discoveries, from entire genome sequences to video of bacteria invading host cells. This book is for both scientists and especially nonscientists who would like to learn more about the extraordinary world of bacteria. Dr. Cossart's overview of the field of microbiology research, from infectious disease history to the ongoing scientific revolution resulting from CRISPR technologies, is presented in four parts. New concepts in microbiology introduces the world of bacteria and some recent discoveries about how they live, such as the role of regulatory RNAs including riboswitches, the CRISPR defense system, and resistance to antibiotics. Sociomicrobiology: the social lives of bacteria helps us see the new paradigm by which scientists view bacteria as highly social creatures that communicate in many ways, for example in the assemblies that reside in our intestine or in the environment. The biology of infections reviews some of history’s worst epidemics and describes current and emerging infectious diseases, the organisms that cause them, and how they produce an infection. Bacteria as tools introduces us to molecules derived from microbes that scientists have harnessed in the service of research and medicine, including the CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing technology. The New Microbiology takes us on a journey through a remarkable revolution in science that is occurring here and now. Contents ......Page 6 Preface ......Page 8 Acknowledgments ......Page 13 About the Author ......Page 14 Part I. New Concepts in Microbiology......Page 16 Chapter 1. Bacteria: Many Friends, Few Enemies......Page 18 Chapter 2. Bacteria: Highly Organized Unicellular Organisms......Page 24 Chapter 3. The RNA Revolution......Page 30 Chapter 4. From the CRISPR Defense System to the CRISPR/Cas9 Method for Modifying Genomes......Page 38 The discovery of antibiotics......Page 44 Sulfonamides enter the game......Page 45 Mode of action of antibiotics......Page 46 Antibiotics in animals......Page 47 From the first cases of resistance to a global panic......Page 48 Potential solutions and hopes......Page 49 Phage therapy......Page 51 Bdellovibrio: why not?......Page 52 Part II. Sociomicrobiology: The Social Lives of Bacteria......Page 54 Chapter 6. Biofilms: When Bacteria Gather Together......Page 56 Chapter 7. How Bacteria Communicate: Chemical Language and Quorum Sensing......Page 60 Chapter 8. When Bacteria Kill Each Other......Page 64 Type VI secretion: attack and counterattack......Page 66 Chapter 9. Human-Animal Symbioses: The Microbiotas......Page 70 The paradigm of Euprymna scolopes and Vibrio fischeri......Page 71 The intestinal microbiota......Page 72 Evolution of the intestinal microbiota over a lifetime......Page 73 Obesity and metabolism......Page 75 Microbiota and the immune system......Page 76 Dysbiosis and fecal transplants......Page 77 Microbiota and circadian rhythms......Page 78 Skin microbiota......Page 79 Intestinal microbiota of termites......Page 80 Longevity and microbiota......Page 81 Chapter 10. Bacterium-Plant Symbioses: Microbiotas of Plants......Page 82 Microbes and roots: the underground......Page 83 Bacterial communities and the phyllosphere......Page 84 Bacteria and plant growth......Page 86 Chapter 11. Endosymbiotic Relationships......Page 88 A close-knit couple: the pea aphid and Buchnera bacterium......Page 89 Other insects and other symbioses......Page 90 Bacteria and worms......Page 91 Bacteria in cell nuclei and mitochondria......Page 93 Part III. The Biology of Infections......Page 94 Chapter 12. Pathogenic Bacteria, Major Scourges, and New Diseases......Page 96 Plague and other yersinioses......Page 97 Leprosy and Mycobacterium leprae......Page 98 Tuberculosis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis......Page 99 Pertussis and Bordetella pertussis......Page 100 Tetanus and Clostridium tetani......Page 101 Streptococci......Page 102 Meningococci and meningitis......Page 103 Listeriosis and Listeria......Page 104 Salmonellae: gastroenteritis and typhoid fever......Page 106 Escherichia coli and other coliform bacilli......Page 107 Staphylococci......Page 109 Klebsiella species......Page 110 Diseases of armies......Page 111 Bacillus anthracis......Page 112 Helicobacter pylori......Page 113 Clostridium difficile......Page 114 Clostridium botulinum......Page 115 Shigellosis and diarrhea in the tropics......Page 116 Contributions of molecular and cellular biology......Page 118 Bacteria that adhere to cells but do not enter them......Page 119 Invasive bacteria......Page 122 The benefits of genomics......Page 124 Chapter 14. Pathogenic Bacteria in Insects......Page 126 Chapter 15. Plants and Their Pathogenic Bacteria......Page 130 Agrobacterium tumefaciens and genetically modified organisms......Page 131 Phytoplasmas: pathogenic bacteria in plants and insects......Page 132 Genetic theory of infectious diseases......Page 134 Health security in the age of globalizing risks......Page 135 Part IV. Bacteria as Tools......Page 138 Restriction enzymes......Page 140 PCR......Page 142 Bacteria and optogenetics......Page 143 The CRISPR/Cas9 revolution......Page 144 Using pathogenic bacteria to understand eukaryotic cells......Page 145 The ActA protein and cellular motility......Page 146 Nucleomodulins......Page 147 Bacteria in food......Page 150 Probiotics......Page 151 The intestinal microbiota of insect vectors......Page 153 Synthetic biology......Page 154 Bacillus thuringiensis as a biopesticide......Page 158 Bacillus subtilis to protect plant roots......Page 159 Eliminating carrier mosquitoes......Page 160 Chapter 20. Conclusion......Page 162 Appendix: Major Figures in Microbiology ......Page 166 Glossary ......Page 170 Bibliography ......Page 174 Photo Credits......Page 188 Index ......Page 190