Molecular approaches to environmental microbiology /

Molecular Approaches surveys the tools that are used to answer the basic questions in microbial ecology: What microbes are present? How many of them are there? Are they active? In addition, it examines some specific areas of microbial ecology, such as enumerating pathogenic protozoa, the survival and evolution of plasmids, and the survival and colonization of the rhizosphere by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Except for these topics, the chapters are not rich with information about the fate of particular bacteria or populations, but each one cites numerous articles that direct the reader to specific results. Many of the chapters deal with DNA or RNA in bacteria: identifying bacteria by ribosomal RNA and by specific markers are the subjects of four of the most useful chapters. Other chapters deal with the use of antibodies, flow cytometry, and pyrolysis mass spectroscopy in identification and/or quantification of microbial populations. Finally, one chapter overviews the survival of bacteria in aquatic and soil environments. Useful to upper-division undergraduate, graduates, faculty, and researchers. R. Seelke University of Wisconsin--Superior