Nelson Lima - Böcker

A part of the Food Microbiology Series, Molecular Biology of Food and Water Borne Mycotoxigenic and Mycotic Fungi reveals similarities between fungi present in/on food and water and those that cause human fungal diseases. The book covers food borne mycotoxigenic fungi in depth and examines food borne fungi from the standpoint of mycoses (i.e. fungal growth on humans) as well as mycotoxin diseases and includes contributions from a wide range of international experts in food borne fungal pathogens research.Designed to be a single source on food borne human fungal pathogens including mycotoxigenic fungi, the book presents: Basic concepts of developments in nomenclature and bar coding Authoritative description of key molecular techniques applicable to food borne fungal pathogens research State-of-art review of molecular biology, genome structure, epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, control, and prevention of major food borne fungal pathogens Thorough discussion of alternative methods to those involving nucleic acids The book provides higher-level knowledge of which foods and water can contain potentially dangerous fungi. It includes background information on basic mycology, covers identification methods, and discusses molecular biological and other biochemical methods, and supplies information on vaccines against fungi. It is a reliable roadmap to future developments in improved, innovative molecular methods.

This book considers all aspects of bioprospecting in 14 succinct chapters and a forward by David Hawksworth. The organisms addressed include plants, insects, fungi, bacteria and phages. Bioprospecting has never been more relevant and is of renewed interest, because of the extremely worrying rise in novel, resistant pathogenic microorganisms. The practices in pharmaceutical companies have failed to deliver novel antibiotics to control these infections. We need to look for new sources of drugs from the environment on a massive scale as drug discovery is “too important to fail”. Furthermore, the field can add great value to ecosystems in terms of economics, while providing additional reasons for maintaining associated services, such as food provision, benign climate, effective nutrient cycling and cultural practices. Bioprospecting provides another reason why climate change must be reduced in order to preserve relevant environments. Previous bioprospecting projects should be re-visited and established biodiversity centres have a major role. Many different ecosystems exist which contain unique organisms with the potential to supply novel antibiotics, enzymes, food, and cosmetics, or they may simply have aesthetic value. The book stresses the difficulties in obtaining successful products and yet describes why natural products should be investigated over combinatorial chemistry. Personal experience of bioprospecting projects are given significance. Issues such as how to share the benefits equitably with local communities are described and why pharmaceutical companies can be reluctant to be involved. Legal issues are discussed. Finally, there has never been a better time for a new book on bioprospecting, because of the need to preserve ecosystems, and from the emergence of resistant pathogenic microorganisms.