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Bacterial Adhesion to Host Tissues Mechanisms and Consequences This book is about the adhesion of bacteria to their human hosts. Although adhesion is essential for maintaining members of the normal microflora in/on their host, it is also the crucial first stage in any infectious disease. It is important, therefore, to fully understand the mechanisms underlying bacterial adhesion so that we may be able to develop methods of maintaining our normal (protective) microflora and of preventing pathogenic bacteria from initiating an infectious process. These topics are increasingly important because of the growing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and, consequently, the need to develop alternative approaches for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. This book describes the bacterial structures responsible for adhesion and the molecular mechanisms underlying the adhesion process. A unique feature is that it also deals with the consequences of adhesion for both the adherent bacterium and the host cell/ tissue to which is has adhered. Researchers and graduate students in microbiology and molecular medicine will find this book to be a valuable overview of current research on this exciting and rapidly developing topic. MICHAEL WILSON is Professor of Microbiology in the Faculty of Clinical Sciences, University College London, and Head of the Department of Microbiology at the Eastman Dental Institute, University College London. He is the co-editor of Community Structure and Co-operation in Biofilms (2000) and co-author of Bacterial Disease Mechanisms: An Introduction to Cellular Microbiology (2002). CELLULAR MICROBIOLOGY Over the past decade, the rapid development of an array of techniques in the fields of cellular and molecular biology have transformed whole areas of research across the biological sciences. Microbiology has perhaps been influenced most of all. Our understanding of microbial diversity and evolutionary biology, and of how pathogenic bacteria and viruses interact with their animal and plant hosts at the molecular level, for example, have been revolutionized. Perhaps the most exciting recent advance in microbiology has been the development of the interface discipline of Cellular Microbiology, a fusion of classical microbiology, microbial molecular biology and eukaryotic cellular and molecular biology. Cellular Microbiology is revealing how pathogenic bacteria interact with host cells in what is turning out to be a complex evolutionary battle of competing gene products. Molecular and cellular biology are no longer discrete subject areas but vital tools and an integrated part of current microbiological research. As part of this revolution in molecular biology, the genomes of a growing number of pathogenic and model bacteria have been fully sequenced, with immense implications for our future understanding of microorganisms at the molecular level. Advances in Molecular and Cellular Microbiology is a series edited by researchers active in these exciting and rapidly expanding fields. Each volume will focus on a particular aspect of cellular or molecular microbiology, and will provide an overview of the area, as well as examining current research. This series will enable graduate students and researchers to keep up with the rapidly diversifying literature in current microbiological research. ADVANCES IN MOLECULAR AND AMCM Series Editors Professor Brian Henderson University College London Professor Michael Wilson University College London Professor Sir Anthony Coates St George’s Hospital Medical School, London Professor Michael Curtis St Bartholemew’s and Royal London Hospital, London Advances in Molecular and Cellular Microbiology 1 Bacterial Adhesion to Host Tissues Mechanisms and Consequences EDITED BY Michael Wilson University College London