Molecular Biology of Bacterial Infection Current Status and Future Perspectives

Understanding virulence determinants of bacterial pathogens and their regulation, and the pathogenesis of bacterial infections, is essential to the development of safe and effective vaccines and therapeutic strategies. This book presents an authoritative account of the contributions being made by molecular genetics and improved analytical technology in uncovering the molecular basis of bacteria-host interactions in infections. The broad scope of the volume encompasses normal flora and colonization resistance, evolution of pathogenic mechanisms, genetic approaches to understanding bacterial pathogenesis and in vivo studies of mutants, antigenic variation, bacterial invasion, toxins, environmental control of gene expression, regulatory networks in gene control, and attenuation of virulence through auxotrophy. The book will provide a state of the art reference for researchers in all areas concerned with bacterial infection and will also be useful as an advanced text.