Battle of the Genomes
| Series: | |
| Publisher: | Science Publishers |
| Subject: | Bacterial genomes, Communicable diseases--Pathogenesis |
| Authors: | Herbert M. Lachman |
| Pages: | 334 pages |
| Binding: | Hardcover |
| ISBN: | 9781578084326 |
| Call No: | RB 155.5 L138 2006 |
We live in a microbial world populated by millions of species of bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa. Peaceful coexistence usually prevails. Occasionally, though, a microbe with the ability to cause a serious infectious disease will evolve, and a life and death struggle ensues. Every organism on earth has to contend with this eventuality, from the single-celled to the most complex animals; humans are certainly no exception. Infectious organisms have caused catastrophic loss of life from the very beginning of human evolution. Some, such as the protozoa responsible for malaria, have plagued us for millennia. Others have emerged in the modern era, seemingly out of nowhere; HIV, Ebola virus, Bird flu and antibiotic-resistant bacteria, to name but a few. The survival of all life forms has been contingent on the development of suitable defenses against infectious microbes, through pathways encoded in the DNA of every organism.