Transport of Molecules across Microbial Membranes

An up-to-date review of an important area in microbiology.

This book describes, at the molecular level, some of the most important ways in which microbes move substances that they make, or that they encounter in their environment, from one place to another.This volume considers the transport of molecules, large and small, across the membranes of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial cells. A diverse range of related phenomena are covered, but the unifying themes are the signal peptides that target proteins to particular destinations, and the role of chaperonins. Topics covered include: secretion of proteins out of the bacterial cell by Type I, II and III mechanisms, including the newly recognised bacterial signal recognition pathway in Type II; passage across internal membranes of eukaryotic proteins, whether destined for secretion or en route to internal organelles such as chloroplasts and peroxisomes; how bacteria obtain the energy required for solute uptake, the role of phosphorylation, and evolutionary relationships of some of the proteins involved; and efflux pumps for toxic substances in bacterial, animal and plant cells.