Signals, Switches, Regulons, and Cascades

Discussion of current knowledge of the regulatory systems that govern bacterial gene expression.

DNA sequencing, the use of microarrays, and proteomics, will transform our ability to describe bacterial genes and patterns of gene expression. This book discusses current knowledge of the regulatory systems that govern gene expression, providing potential means of controlling bacteria clinically, and exploiting them industrially, or environmentally, in the future.DNA sequencing has provided a wealth of information on the genetic material stored in bacterial genomes. The use of DNA arrays and proteomics will transform the scale of our ability to describe the patterns of gene expression as bacteria respond to their environments. However, the ability to control bacteria in a clinical context or exploit them in industrial or environmental contexts also depends on understanding the regulatory mechanisms which connect input experience to output response at the genetic level. This book deals with our current knowledge of the circuits and networks that govern bacterial gene expression - from the single gene to the whole genome - and which provide the framework for explaining the data from the post genomics revolution.