Bacteriocins comprise a large and functionally diverse family of toxins found in most microbial species. They play a critical role in mediating microbial interactions and in maintaining microbial diversity.

The dramatic rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria has resulted in renewed efforts to find new antimicrobials. Bacteriocins are an attractive focus for drug development because bacteriocins are active against most pathogens, already exist in nature, are remarkably stable, and are not toxic to human cells. Recently, significant advances have enhanced our understanding of...

Microbes produce an extraordinary array of defense systems. These include bacteriocins, a class of antimicrobial molecules with narrow killing spectra, produced by bacteria. The book describes the diversity and ecological role of bacteriocins of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, presenting a new classification scheme for the former and a state-of-the-art look at the role of bacteriocins in bacterial communication. It discusses the molecular evolution of colicins and colicin-like bacteriocins, and provides a contemporary overview of archaeocins, bacteriocin-like antimicrobials...