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A collection of readily reproducible classic and emerging molecular methods for the laboratory isolation and identification of the pathogens, viruses, and parasites that cause food-borne disease. Among the pathogens covered are specific bacteria, including Salmonella spp, Campylobacter spp., Listeria spp., and Bacillus spp.; viruses, including noroviruses and enteroviruses; and parasites, including Cryptosporidium and seafood nematode worms. The protocols follow the successful Methods in Biotechnology series format, each offering step-by-step laboratory instructions, an introduction outlining...

A comprehensive collection of robust methods for the detection of pesticide compounds or their metabolites useful in food, environmental, and biological monitoring, and in studies of exposure via food, water, air, and the skin or lungs. The readily reproducible methods range from gas and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry detection and other classic detectors, to capillary electrophoresis and immunochemical or radioimmunoassay methods. The authors have focused on extraction and cleanup procedures, in order to develop and optimize more fullyautomated and miniaturized methods,...

Enzymes and whole cells are able to catalyze the most complex chemical processes under the most benign experimental and environmental conditions. In this way, enzymes and cells could be excellent catalysts for a much more sustainable chemical industry. However, enzymes and cells also have some limitations for nonbiological applications: fine chemistry, food chemistry, analysis, therapeutics, and so on. Enzymes and cells may be unstable, difficult to handle under nonconventional conditions, poorly selective toward synthetic substrates, and so forth. From this point of view, the transformation...

Leading experts in enzyme manipulation describe in detail their cutting-edge techniques for the screening, evolution, production, immobilization, and application of enzymes. These readily reproducible methods can be used to improve enzyme function by directed evolution, to covalently immobilize enzymes, to microencapsulate enzymes and cells, and to manufacture enzymes for human health, nutrition, and environmental protection. Overview chapters on microorganisms as a source of metabolic and enzymatic diversity, and on the fast-moving field of enzyme biosensors are presented. Microbial Enzymes...

The methods included in Environmental Microbiology: Methods and Pro- cols can be placed in the categories Communities and Biofilms, Fermented Milks, Recovery and Determination of Nucleic Acids, and the review s- tion, containing chapters on the endophytic bacterium, Bacillus mojavensis, the engineering of bacteria to enhance their ability to carry out bioremediation of aromatic compounds, using the hemoglobin gene from a strain of Vitreoscilla 23 spp., and the use of chemical shift reagents and Na NMR to study sodium gradients in microorganisms, all of which should be of interest to...

Enzymatic catalysis has gained considerable attention in recent years as an efficient tool in the preparation of natural products, pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, and food ingredients. The high selectivity and mild reaction con- tions associated with enzymatic transformations have made this approach an attractive alternative in the synthesis of complex bioactive compounds, which are often difficult to obtain by standard chemical routes. However, the maj- ity of organic compounds are not very soluble in water, which was traditi- ally perceived as the only suitable reaction medium for the...

Over the last 15 years, there has been renewed interest in supercritical fluids owing to their unique properties and relatively low environmental impact. Greatest attention has been given to the extraction and separation of organic compounds. Supercritical fluids have also been successfully used for particle production, as reaction media, and for the destruction of toxic waste. Supercritical carbon dioxide has been the most widely used supercritical fluid, mainly because it is cheap, relatively nontoxic, and has convenient critical values. Supercritical fluids have also been used on...

Env1r0nmenta1 ha5 m1cr0610109y emer9ed an extreme1y act1ve, - and 1mp0rtant area 0f re5earch dur1n9 the few year5 and ha5 cha1- 1en9ed 50me 10n9-he1d 0f F0r examp1e, the num6er5 0f c010ny-f0rm1n9 un1t5 06ta1ned 0n a9ar med1a have way5 6een a55umed t0 ref1ect the num6er5 0f 6acter1a pre5ent any 91ven 5amp1e. H0wever, n0w kn0wn that many 6acter1a the 1a60rat0ry ad0pt unu5ua1 d0rmant 5tate5 when 5u6jected t0 the nutr1ent-1- c0nd1t10n5 1ted c0mm0n many ec05y5tem5, wh1ch, turn, make5 the5e 6- ter1a t0 cu1ture. 7h15 0ur current t0 cu1ture the va5t maj0r1ty 0f6acter1a kn0wn t0 re51de natura1...