Springer Biology and Biotechnology of Actinobacteria

This book provides in-depth insights into the biology, taxonomy, genetics, physiology and biotechnological applications of Actinobacteria. It especially focuses on the latter, reviewing the wide variety of actinobacterial bioactive molecules and their benefits for diverse industrial applications such as agriculture, aquaculture, biofuel production and food technology. Actinobacteria are one of the most promising sources of small bioactive molecules and it is estimated that only a small percentage of actinobacterial bioactive chemicals have been discovered to date. Identifying new diverse gene clusters of biotechnological relevance in the genome of Actinobacteria will be crucial to developing advanced applications for pharmaceutical, industrial and agricultural purposes. The book offers a unique resource for all graduate students, researchers and practitioners in the fields of microbiology, microbial biotechnology, and the genetic engineering of Actinobacteria.  From the Back Cover This book provides in-depth insights into the biology, taxonomy, genetics, physiology and biotechnological applications of Actinobacteria. It especially focuses on the latter, reviewing the wide variety of actinobacterial bioactive molecules and their benefits for diverse industrial applications such as agriculture, aquaculture, biofuel production and food technology. Actinobacteria are one of the most promising sources of small bioactive molecules and it is estimated that only a small percentage of actinobacterial bioactive chemicals have been discovered to date. Identifying new diverse gene clusters of biotechnological relevance in the genome of Actinobacteria will be crucial to developing advanced applications for pharmaceutical, industrial and agricultural purposes. The book offers a unique resource for all graduate students, researchers and practitioners in the fields of microbiology, microbial biotechnology, and the genetic engineering of Actinobacteria.  About the Author Joachim Wink has received his PhD from Frankfurt University, Germany in 1985. He then went into the pharmaceutical industry and started his career at the Hoechst AG, where he was responsible for the strain collection and specialized in the cultivation and taxonomic characterization of Actinobacteria and Myxobacteria. Over the years he became responsible for the strain library within the pharmaceutical research and a number of screening projects with Hoechst Marion Russel, Aventis and Sanofi. In 2005 he completed his postdoctoral degree at the Carolo Wilhelma University of Braunschweig, and in 2012 he transferred to the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig, where he founded the strain-collection working group and is currently working on the isolation and taxonomic characterization of Myxobacteria and Actinobacteria, as well as the analysis of their secondary metabolites. He has published more than 50 papers on secondary metabolites and the taxonomy of the producing microorganisms in reputed journals, a number of reviews and book chapters, and holds more than 35 patents. He is a member of the editorial board of several international journals. Fatemeh Mohammadipanah completed her PhD project in a joint program between the University of Tehran and University of Göttingen in 2011. She has been working on Actinobacteria since 2008, when she started the taxonomical study of Actinobacteria at the DSMZ.  She has been an Assistant Professor at the University of Tehran since 2012. Her primary research interests are in the isolation, taxonomy and in particular bioactive secondary metabolites of bacteria. Javad Hamedi, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.