Bacterial Populations: Basic and Applied Aspects of Their Structure and Evolution

ANIBAL LODEIRO

Transworld Research Network

Lugar: Kerala; Año: 2010 p. 192

978-81-7895-486-8

Preface. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to edit Bacterial Populations: Basic and Applied Aspects of Their Structure and Evolution, because this allowed me to interact with excellent authors from Latin America working in diverse fields related with the study of bacterial populations. By assembling their efforts, I went to the exciting challenge of achieving an integrated view of the many relevant aspects of the subject. Contributions not only address core issues of concern in health and agriculture, but also original applied aspects such as bioremediation, mining, waste treatments, and use of rhizobacteria for plant growth promotion. Despite their diversity, all chapters are united by an emerging message: bacterial populations are not only the result of the aggregation of individual cells, but their behavior is similar to that of organized entities, which often foreshadow the organism. If we become able to rationally manipulate bacterial populations at all their organization levels, creating a sort of “bacterial populations engineering” we will be a step forward in the direction of sustainable exploitation of natural resources and in the control of infectious diseases. In some areas such as mining, bioremediation and waste treatment, this engineering is already a reality. I hope this book makes a contribution towards this goal in all aspects where the understanding and management of bacterial populations is a necessity. I am very grateful to all authors who contributed to this book, which made my job a great pleasure and opened new windows to look out these wonders.