W.N. Konings – författare

In recent years it has become evident that transport processes across membranes play a crucial role in many metabolic systems. The activities of these transport processes often determine the physiology of the organisms.This book presents a state of the art review on the analysis of a wide variety of transport systems from bacteria and eukaryotic cells. A selection has been made of those systems that have been studied at the molecular level with special emphasis paid to the energetic and other biophysical properties. The different classes of transport systems are presented in the following: primary transport, secondary transport, phosphotransferase systems, channels and porines and macromolecular transport. Within each class of transporters several systems are presented by the leading experts in the field, which has resulted in a very broad overview of transport processes in biological cells. In this way the differences in the mechanisms used for translocation become evident while on the other hand features common to the different transport systems are revealed.

In ancient times foods fermented with lactic acid bacteria already constituted an important part of the human diet. From then on, lactic acid bacteria have played an essential role in the preservation of food raw materials and have contributed to the nutritional, organoleptic and health properties of human food products and animal feed. The important function that lactic acid bacteria still have in the production of foods all over the world has resulted in a growing scientific interest in these micro-organisms by academic research groups as well as by industry. In the 15 years up to 1999, this research has been stimulated by major internationally co-ordinated funding efforts that have resulted in a variety of important scientific breakthroughs and have led to new applications. Written by international experts in the field, this issue documents these developments with respect to genetics, metabolism and the application of lactic acid bacteria for industrial and potential medical applications. In this book the first complete genome of a lactic acid bacterium is presented.

In ancient times foods fermented with lactic acid bacteria already constituted an important part of the human diet. From then on, lactic acid bacteria have played an essential role in the preservation of food raw materials and have contributed to the nutritional, organoleptic and health properties of human food products and animal feed. The important function that lactic acid bacteria still have in the production of foods all over the world has resulted in a growing scientific interest in these micro-organisms by academic research groups as well as by industry. During the last 15 years, this research has been stimulated by major internationally coordinated funding efforts that have resulted in a variety of important scientific breakthroughs and have led to new applications. Written by international experts in the field, this issue of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek documents these developments with respect to genetics, metabolism and the application of lactic acid bacteria for industrial and potential medical applications. In this book the first complete genome of a lactic acid bacterium is presented. The book will serve as a reference source and also as an indispensable source of information for further development and exploration of the field.