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Modern Biotechnology: Connecting Innovations in Microbiology and

Biochemistry to Engineering Fundamentals . By Nathan S. Mosier and Michael
R. Ladisch . Hoboken (New Jersey): Wiley...

Article in The Quarterly Review of Biology · December 2011

DOI: 10.1086/662461

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Modern Biotechnology: Connecting Innovations in Microbiology and Biochemistry to
Engineering Fundamentals by Nathan S. Mosier and Michael R. Ladisch
Modern Biotechnology: Connecting Innovations in Microbiology and Biochemistry to
Engineering Fundamentals by Nathan S. Mosier; Michael R. Ladisch
Review by: Michael Hadjiargyrou
The Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 86, No. 4 (December 2011), p. 355
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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December 2011 NEW BIOLOGICAL BOOKS 355

newer sequencing and source tracking approaches. this is only part of modern biotechnology, which in
Methods for determining viability and function recent years has expanded in scale and diversity to
as well as finding novel pathogens are also cov- encompass distinct fields such as transgenic organ-
ered. The chapters are very well referenced, so isms, aquatic biotechnology, bioremediation, nano-
readers can find additional information on top- technology, forensics, biowarfare, proteomics, and
ics of interest and most chapters contain tables gene therapy, among others. Regardless, if one is
that summarize important elements. Although specifically interested in quantitative microbial bio-
this book contains too much jargon to act as an technology, then this is a great, concise, and infor-
introduction for readers with no previous knowl- mative textbook.
edge or experience with molecular biology tech- Michael Hadjiargyrou, Biomedical Engineer-
niques, it provides quite a comprehensive and ing, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
useful look at the applications of a range of
methodologies to aquatic microbiology in re- Barron’s E-Z Microbiology.
cent years. By René Fester Kratz. Hauppauge (New York): Barron’s
Jean MacRae, Civil & Environmental Engineer- Educational Series. $18.99 (paper). ix ⫹ 542 p.; ill.;
ing, University of Maine, Orono, Maine index. ISBN: 978-0-7641-4456-1. [Previous edition
entitled Microbiology the Easy Way, 2005.] 2011.
Modern Biotechnology: Connecting Innova- This book promises to raise your grade in 30 days,
tions in Microbiology and Biochemistry to En- with a full refund if it does not. As expected, the
gineering Fundamentals. volume is organized into small sections, with new
By Nathan S. Mosier and Michael R. Ladisch. terms in red, defined within the text. There are
Hoboken (New Jersey): Wiley. $99.95. xxv ⫹ “remember” boxes and exercises at the end of each
433 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 978-0-470-11485-8. chapter with a self-test. The answers to the self-test
2009. are given as explanations, one of the more appealing
This book could have easily had a different title, parts of the book. This publication, if studied, will
one that truly reflects its content, dealing predom- give a student of microbiology the vocabulary and
inantly with the realm of microbial biotechnology some understanding of the subject.
rather than what its broader title implies, Modern
Biotechnology. The authors appropriately begin with
an introductory chapter on biotechnology that fo-
cuses on the pharmaceutical and fermentation in-
dustry, which continues into the second chapter
that describes the history and growth of the bio-
pharmaceutical industry and its impacts in such BOTANY
diverse areas as genomics, plants biotechnology, The Restless Plant.
and bioproducts. The rest of the volume encom- By Dov Koller; edited by Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh.
passes in-depth chapters in bioproducts and bio- Cambridge (Massachusetts): Harvard University Press.
fuels, microbial fermentation, modeling and sim- $39.95. xvii ⫹ 206 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 978-0-674-
ulation, aerobic bioreactors, enzymes and kinetics, 04863-8. 2011.
metabolism and biological energetic and meta- As an Associate Editor of the journal Plant Signal-
bolic pathways. Surprisingly, it then introduces a ing and Behavior (PSB), I was dismayed to notice
chapter on genetic engineering that describes the that, in the “Year of Darwin 2009,” the 20th anni-
basic principles of DNA as well as some of the versary of the paperback edition of the book The
enzymes and methods commonly used in recom- Secret Life of Plants (P. Tompkins and C. Bird. 1989.
binant DNA technology, before returning back to New York: Harper & Row) was celebrated in the
metabolic engineering. It ends with a rather brief popular press. In this collection of historical and
chapter on genomes and genomics, describing the experimental myths, announced by the publisher
Human Genome Project, the E. coli genome, gel as a “fascinating account of the physical, emo-
electrophoresis, sequence-tagged sites, single- tional, and spiritual relations between plants and
nucleotide polymorphisms, and a discussion on man,” the authors claim that plants can move,
the applications of the polymerase chain reaction. count, predict storms, hear music, communicate
The chapters on genetic engineering and genomes with each other, and are able to receive signals from
and genomics appear to be out of place in an oth- extraterrestrial forms of life. Although research pa-
erwise highly organized and informative textbook on pers published in PSB and other scientific journals
microbial engineering. What the volume does really indeed document that plants can sense and respond
well is dive deep into the essence of a large sector in to a variety of external environmental signals, most
biotechnology, microbial fermentation, but again, of the sensational results reported in this book are

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