Structural and Functional Relationships in Prokaryotes

This book is designed to be used as textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in courses of microbial physiology and biochemistry, with a specific focus on the physiological processes in bacteria and archaea. This emphasis provides for the basis to explore bacterial and archaeal growth, as well as the response of these cells to the environment and to evaluate the enzymology used to support life at the cellular level. Building on the success of the first edition, the topics have been strengthened by the addition of new information and a reorganization which has resulted in condensed chapters to enable instructors to more readily adapt the various units of this book to their class schedules.  A set of questions is provided for each chapter and these questions can serve as in-class discussions or homework projects. 

Through an extensive use of references, the reader is able to readily identify the source for material presented and this approach enables the book to also serve as a reference for research scientists. Through the use of updated figures and tables, details in the text are provided for the reader.  It is the hope that this book will summarize the current understanding of structure-function relationships in prokaryotes and to serve as a bridge to future developments in this area of microbiology.        

Structure and Organization of The Microbial Cell.- Plasma Membrane.- Cell Walls of Bacteria and Archaea.- Cell Surface and Outer Membrane.- Capsules, Extracellular Matrix, Pili, and Fimbriae.- Cell Motion, Sensing, and Communication.- Cellular Growth and Reproduction.- Physiological Basis for Growth in Extreme Environments.- Electron Transport and Coupled Phosphorylation.- Transmembrane Movement: Mechanisms and Examples.- Pathways of Carbon Flow.- Organization and Cellular Processing.- Metabolism of Inorganic Nitrogen and Inorganic Sulfur Compounds.- Biometals and Transformation of Metals and Metalloids.

Dr. Larry L. Barton is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biology in the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. He received a PhD in Microbiology and Biochemistry at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and following a research appointment in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Georgia at Athens he joined faculty of Microbiology at the School of Health and Hygiene at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. His research has focused on mineral metabolism and energetics of bacteria. He was the first to report phosphorylation coupled to anaerobic respiration of fumarate and nitrite bu anaerobic bacteria. Several papers reporting the interaction between anaerobic bacteria with metallic ions including the formation of metallic nanoparticles came from his investigations. He demonstrated that anaerobic environmental bacteria can reduce soluble toxic metals and metalloids to insoluble materials with reduced toxicity. Most recently he was interested int the effect of hydrogen sulfide generated by intestinal bacteria on cognitive activity on mice. In addition to publishing numerous research papers and review articles, he has edited or authored over a dozen books in microbiology, started the international journal Anaerobe, and served as advisor for the international organization focused on plant-iron metabolism. He co-organized the first International Biometals Symposium and assisted in the organization of 12 additional Biometals Symposia. The Springer Briefs in Biometals was initiated by Professor Barton and he served as editor pf these short books for over a decade.