Yeasts in Natural and Artificial Habitats

This book gives a general overview of the biology and molecular biology of yeasts. Topics emphasized include yeast taxonomy (including evolution of yeasts), yeast ecology, with as much emphasis as possible on the relationship between the organisms and the environment, the structure and function of the yeast cell, its life cycle and metabolism, and the relationship between yeasts and mankind, including pathogenicity, traditional and current industrial and therapeutic uses and related topics. The contribution of yeasts to fundamental research in biology is discussed as an integral part of the subject.

Texte du rabat

A Guide to the World of the Yeasts J. F. T. Spencer and D. M. Spencert As the well-known authority on yeasts, the late Professor Rose, frequently pointed out, it is impossible for one person to present, in a single volume, the details of the life, composiotion, habitats, relationships, and actual and potential uses to man­ kind of the 500 (at last count) known species of yeasts. This book confirms the truth of this statement. However, our aim is actually more modest than that, and this book is an attempt to introduce the general reader, and possibly some inter­ ested specialists, to the lives of the yeasts in their natural and more artificial habitats, their use by human beings, and to give some idea of the wonderfully complex activities within the yeast cell, the characteristics of the metabolism and molecular biology of yeasts, and the applications of these characteristics to life in the present-dayworld ofhuman existence. The book proceeds from a brief chapter on what is and is not known of the origins and early history of the yeasts, through a description of their classification, relationships, habitats and general life style, their external morphology and internal structures and mechanisms within their cells, the regulatory mechanisms controlling processes such as signal transmis­ sion, mating, cell fusion, and many others.

Contenu

A Guide to the World of the Yeasts.- 1 Historical Introduction: Yeasts and Man in the Past.- 2 Taxonomy: The Names of the Yeasts.- 3 Ecology: Where Yeasts Live.- 4 Ecology: The Bad Guys: Pathogens of Humans and Other Animals.- 5 Yeasts as Living Objects: Yeast Nutrition.- 6 Outside and Inside: The Morphology and Cytology of the Yeast Cell.- 7 Membranes.- 8 The Yeasts: Sex and Nonsex. Life Cycles, Sporulation and Genetics.- 9 Chemical Warfare Among the Yeasts: the "Killer" Phenomenon, Genetics and Applications.- 10 Inside the Inside: Part I: Yeasts and Molecular Biology, A Recipe for Alphabet Soup. Chromosome Structure, Replication, Transcription, and Translation.- 11 Inside the Inside: Part II: The Regulators. Cell Specialization: a Regulatory Hierarchy.- 12 Yeasts and the Life of Man: Part I: Helpers and Hinderers. "Traditional" Yeast-Based Industries; Spoilage Yeasts.- 13 Yeasts and the Life of Man: Part II: Genetics and Molecular Biology of Industrial Yeasts and Processes.- 14 Genetics and Molecular Biology of Methylotrophic Yeasts.- 15 Yeasts in Food Fermentations and Therapeutics.- 16 Yeasts and Energy. The Production of Fuel-Grade Ethanol.- Notes Added in Proof.- Species Index.