Bacterial Chromatin
The relative simplicity of the bacterial cell, short generation times and well defined and inexpensive culturing conditions have significantly contributed to our understanding of many complex biological systems. Yet the workings of the bacterial genome, s
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Bacterial Chromatin
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Bacterial Chromatin
Remus T. Dame Charles J. Dorman ●
Editors
Bacterial Chromatin
Editors Remus T. Dame Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Leiden Institute of Chemistry Laboratory of Molecular Genetics Einsteinweg 55 2333 CC, Leiden, Netherlands and Faculty of Science Division of Physics and Astronomy Section Physics of Complex Systems VU University Amsterdam De Boelelaan 1081 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands [email protected]
Charles J. Dorman Department of Microbiology School of Genetics and Microbiology University of Dublin Trinity College Dublin 2 Ireland [email protected]
ISBN 978-90-481-3472-4 e-ISBN 978-90-481-3473-1 DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3473-1 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2009941800 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Cover illustration: H-NS-DNA complex visualized using scanning force microscopy (Courtesy of R.T. Dame) Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
The birth and the development of molecular biology and, subsequently, of genetic engineering and biotechnology cannot be separated from the advancements in our knowledge of the genetics, biochemistry and physiology of bacteria and bacteriophages. Also most of the tools employed nowadays by biotechnologists are of bacterial (or bacteriophage) origin and the playground for most of the DNA manipulations still remains within bacteria. The relative simplicity of the bacterial cell, the short generation times, the well defined and inexpensive culturing conditions which characterize bacteria and the auto-catalytic process whereby a wealth of in-depth information has been accumulated throughout the years have significantly contributed to generate a large number of knowledge-based, reliable and exploitable biological systems. The subtle relationships between phages and their hosts have produced a large amount of information and allowed the identification and characterization of a number of components which play essential roles in fundamental biological processes such as DNA duplication, recombination, transcription and translation. For instance, to remain within the topic of this book, two important players in the organization of the nucleoid, FIS and IHF, have been discovered in this way. Indeed, it is difficult to find a single fundamental biological process whose structural and functional aspects are better known than in bacteria. However, a notable exception is represented by the physical and functional organization of the bacterial genome. Although some bacteria contai
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