Molecular Microbiology: Diagnostic Principles and Practice

David H. Persing, Fred C. Tenover, James Versalovic, Yi-Wei Tang, Elizabeth R. Unger, David A. Relman, Thomas J. White, Molecular Microbiology: Diagnostic Principles and Practice, ASM Press, Washington, DC, ISBN 1-55581-221-X, 2003 (724pp., 130 figures, 114 tables, Hardcover US$ 124.95).

Ten years after the publication of the forerunner of this book the area of molecular diagnostics had changed and expanded to an extent that prompted a new team of editors to take novel approaches to meet the current requirements of the field. The present book covers the new technologies, summarizes the basic theory underlying the various techniques and integrates ancillary information into the context, but contains no longer laboratory protocols. Now, those were felt to be too platform-dependent, ruling out their inclusion. The new volume is divided into two almost equally sized sections, diagnostic principles and diagnostic applications. The first section presents predominantly DNA-based methods for the identification of pathogens, including probe technologies for culture confirmation, molecular strain typing methods, diagnostic DNA sequencing, and nucleic acid amplification methods, along with novel approaches to the detection of amplification products. Section one also contains one chapter that is protein based and covers mass spectrometry and proteomics. Section two covers in a comprehensive manner the current technologies employed for the detection and characterization of viral, bacterial, fungal, and parasitic pathogens. This section also reviews the array technologies with their apparently unlimited potential for practical application. It also covers host genetics and pharmacogenomics, properties that make an impact on the outcome of infectious diseases. Ancillary information is also provided in the last chapters of the book that address aspects of laboratory standardization, proficiency testing, and quality control standards. Like its predecessor succeeded in presenting state-of-the-art technology in the past, this volume promises to achieve the same goal for the decade to come.

Horst Malke

Theobald-Renner-Str. 20, 07747 Jena, Germany

E-mail address: horst.malke@uni-jena.de

Copyright Urban & Fischer Verlag Oct 2004