Genetics of Bacterial Polysaccharides

1. Auflage 1999
ISBN: 978-0-8493-0021-9
Verlag: CRC Press

Buch, Englisch, 250 Seiten, Format (B × H): 163 mm x 244 mm, Gewicht: 476 g

Bacterial surface or secreted polysaccharides are molecules that can function as barriers to protect bacterial cells against environmental stresses, as well as act as adhesins or recognition molecules. In some cases, these molecules are immunodominant antigens eliciting a vigorous immune response, while in other cases the expression of polysaccharides camouflages the bacteria from the immune system. Until recently, most studies on the enzymatic steps and regulation of these molecules were performed on the enteric gram negative bacteria Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. With the advent of modern bacterial genetics, techniques such as construction and characterization of polysaccharide mutants, cloning of genes and complementation of these mutations, and expression of polysaccharides in heterologous bacterial hosts has prompted investigations into the roles and functions of these molecules for many different bacteria.
Here, we present the genetic analysis of polysaccharides from a number of bacteria pathogenic to humans and one symbiotic with plants in hopes that similarities in the experimental approaches as well as finding s from such investigations may lead to a general understanding of polysaccharide synthesis and regulation in various bacteria.

Features

Autoren/Hrsg.

Goldberg, Joanna B.

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Botanik Pflanzenreproduktion, Verbreitung, Genetik
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Tierkunde / Zoologie Tiergenetik, Reproduktion
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Bakteriologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Genetik und Genomik (nichtmedizinisch)

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction Chapter 1 Genetics of Pseudomonas aeruginosa polysaccharides Chapter 2 Molecular genetics of Yersinia lipopolysaccharide Chapter 3 Rhizobial cell surface carbohydrates: Their structures, biosynthesis, and functions Chapter 4 The genetics of capsule and lipooligosaccharide biosynthesis in Haemophilus influenzae Chapter 5 The genetics of LPS synthesis by the gonococcus Chapter 6 Genetics of Vibrio cholerae O1 and O139 surface polysaccharides Chapter 7 Common themes in the genetics of streptococcal capsular polysaccharides Chapter 8 Capsular polysaccharides of Staphylococcus aureus Chapter 9 Arabinogalactan in mycobacteria: Structure, biosynthesis, and genetics

Über Autor(innen)

Joanna B. Goldberg, Ph.D., has been an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center since 1996. She received her B.A. in Biology with Distinction from Boston University in 1979 and her Ph.D. from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1986. In 1989, Dr. Goldberg joined the faculty at the Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, as an instructor and then assistant professor. Her research has focused on bacterial pathogenesis with an emphasis on polysaccharides as virulence factors and vaccine candidates.