Full Description
This book emerges from the idea that specific physics-inspired approaches are necessary to understand different stage of bacterial physiology and the infections they cause. Many aspects of bacterial life depend on processes typically described by physical laws: The rheology of biofilms is determined by complex cohesive forces. Physical laws of diffusion are essential to all processes of bacterial metabolism. The formation of the numerous bacterial biomacromolecules require complex self-organization processes and their function are powered by potent molecular motors. Host-pathogen interactions during infection frequently occur in environments determined by fluid mechanics.
In this book, different chapters represent research at the interface between microbiology and physics. Topics range from intracellular organization to cell-cell interactions. A good part of the book is devoted to mechanical forces, which are involved in the function of elaborate bacterial nanomachines, chromosome segregation, and cell division. The effect of bacterial toxins provides an example of the alteration of cellular membrane properties by bacteria. Symmetrically, histones from mammalian cells alter bacterial membranes as a defense mechanism during infection.The editors of this book, Guillaume Duménil and Sven van Teeffelen, have selected researchers at the forefront of research in physical microbiology to provide the most recent view in this fast-moving field.
The contents of this book are designed to be accessible for scientists with training in biology and for scientists with training in physics. The objective is to provide a fresh perspective on microbiology and infection by highlighting recent multidisciplinary research and favor rapid advances at this fruitful interface.
Contents
Dewetting: from physics to the biology of intoxicated cells.- Physical views on ParABS-mediated DNA segregation.- Mechanisms and dynamics of the Bacterial Flagellar Motor.- Efficiency and Robustness of Processes Driven by Nucleoid Exclusion in Escherichia coli.- The mechanical properties of bacteria and why they matter.- Physical Mechanisms of Bacterial Killing by Histones.- Complex Diffusion in Bacteria.
