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Lentiviral Vectors: Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology vol. 261
Didier Trono (ed.). Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2002, 258 p., $109.00.Lentiviral vectors allow the transfer and long-term expression of foreign genes in dividing and nondividing cells in vitro and in vivo. Over the past six years they have emerged as important tools for gene delivery. Lentiviral vectors harboring heterologous envelope glycoproteins were first described in 1990 by Page, Landau, and Littman. Such vector pseudotypes were shown to have an expanded host range and ability to infect cells beyond those bearing the CD4 receptor. These observations were independently confirmed and extended in 1996 by three different groups that showed that the vesicular stomatitis virus G glycoprotein was also efficiently incorporated into HIV-1 virions, leading to the formation of robust pseudotypes that could subsequently be concentrated to high titers. Since then, there have been significant improvements in terms of vector design, resulting in vectors with improved safety, efficiency, and flexibility. These days, lentiviral vectors have become commonplace in the gene therapy community. Applications in the fields of neuroscience, hematology, developmental biology, and stem cell biology are rapidly emerging, and lentivirus expression kits have recently become commercially available.
This book is divided into 13 chapters authored by researchers who are experts in their respective fields of lentiviral biology and vectorology. Individual chapters describe the scientific bases underlying the development of primate and nonprimate lentiviral vectors, discuss biosafety issues, and outline targeting strategies, both at the cell entry and DNA integration levels. In addition, special emphasis is given to potential clinical applications for CNS disorders, lympho-hematological disorders, and HIV-induced disease.
The book is intended to encourage nonspecialists to take advantage of lentiviral vectors. What is unavoidable in such a rapidly emerging field is that the book in some respects is already outdated as it appears in printed form. Nonetheless, in its current form the book offers a wealth of information and provides a valuable foundation for graduate students, postdocs, and senior investigators who wish to become familiar with the lentiviral system. I highly recommend it as a reference for such investigators. The Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology series are subscribed to by many biomedical reference libraries, thus making the book widely available to potential readers. This is an important aspect given the fact that the book is rather costly.
Jakob Reiser
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New OrleansTetracyclines in Biology, Chemistry, and Medicine
M. Nelson, W. Hillen, and R. A. Greenwald (ed.). Birkhauser Verlag, Basel, 2001, 336 p., $179.00.Before opening Tetracyclines in Biology, Chemistry, and Medicine, I decided to declare the book a microbiological hit if it satisfied two criteria. It should provide a level of coverage of microbial tetracycline resistance comparable to that of a recent review by Chopra and Roberts (Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 65:232). It should also include a description of the detective-like discovery of tetracycline use (in beer) by ancient Egyptians (Natural History 209:50). By these criteria, the authors went "one for two."
The book is not so much concerned with tetracycline antibiotic properties or bacterial resistance mechanisms (briefly included in Nelson's opening chapter on the history and chemistry of tetracycline). Instead, novel activities and wider applications for tetracyclines provide both the motivation and the subject matter for the book. The properties of this versatile drug class are elaborated in three sections: tetracycline chemistry and biology; tetracycline-dependent gene regulation; and tetracycline nonantimicrobial medical applications.
The bacterial TetR/tetO (repressor protein/operator region) for controlling expression of tetracycline resistance efflux proteins is one of the most efficient transcription regulatory systems known. Hinrichs and Fenske detail three-dimensional molecular interactions between the tetracycline-Mg+2 complex and TetR. The development of TetR/TetO as a molecular switch to control eukaryotic gene expression is thoroughly described in chapters by Pook, Gossen and Bujard, and Kudlow. Berens describes genetic and photocrosslinking analysis of tetracyclines binding to 16S rRNA and interactions with ribozymes.
The last decade has seen an expansion of research on nonantimicrobial therapeutic uses of tetracyclines, stemming from the drugs' effects on immune and tissue-regenerating mechanisms. Both antibiotic and nonantibiotic benefits of tetracyclines in the treatment of periodontal disease are described by Ryan and Baker. Tetracycline effects on tissue matrix metalloproteinases are delineated by Hanemaaijer et al. and by Smith and Hasty. Attur and colleagues review tetracycline pleiotropic effects on inflammatory mediators, such as NO, prostaglandins, and cytokines. Undesirable effects of tetracycline therapy, photosensitization and (rare) autoimmune disorders, are covered by Zerler and by Marzo-Ortega et al.
Coverage in the book is timely, with references dated 2000 and even 2001. The chapters are generally well organized with some essential overlap, although the contribution by Greenwald and Golub, a listing of tetracycline publications, seems a bit too avant-garde.
Favorite chapters?—Schneider's carefully written, well-illustrated account of tetracycline molecules' conformational behavior. A chemistry course from this author would be a pleasant experience. Armelagos's treatise on the serendipitous discovery of tetracycline use by ancient Egyptians supplies great audience-arousing material for antibiotic lectures.
The book would be most palatable for microbiologists who are tetracycline connoisseurs and for lateral-thinking general microbiologists at the graduate and postgraduate level. Microbiologists interested in controlling gene expression in single-cell eukaryotes will find a useful source for descriptions of tetracycline-based techniques. Medical microbiologists will discover up-to-date coverage of diverse nonantimicrobial properties of tetracyclines.
Thad Stanton
National Animal Disease Center
USDA-ARS
Ames, IowaSubsurface Microbiology and Biogeochemistry
James F. Fredrickson and Madilyn Fletcher (ed.). Wiley-Liss, New York, N.Y., 2001, 341 p., $119.00.This is a useful book on an important and expanding area of microbiology. The current mantra that "more than 90% of microbes out there have not been grown or identified," plus the recent realization by even such animal chauvinists as the popularist Stephen J. Gould that most "biomass" on Earth is microbial, has opened our thinking from the traditional "bug parade." However, most microbial diversity scholars study the oceans or extreme environments, such as hot springs and deep ocean trenches. This volume focuses on microbes growing under the surface of land (with more than 30 meters depth a convenient defining cutoff). However, there is some discussion of extremes for microbial growth, with temperature currently limited to 113°C (for marine hot vents) and 2.7 kilometers the current deepest site by microbial isolation, with that limit also determined by temperature. With 11 chapters summarizing what is currently known and emphasizing that "bugs are down there" but we know little about them, we still come away from this book with only a beginning idea of amounts and diversity. The subject is just starting.
The authors and editors, in addition to their institutional settings, define both the subject and the available knowledge. Most authors, including editor J. K. Frederickson, work at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The DOE has a long-standing interest broadly in environmental microbiology and recent needs for the understanding of deep subsurface microbes are connected with the efforts to "bioaccumulate" nuclear fuel wastes and/or store these highly toxic materials—maybe for tens of thousands of years deep under the earth's surface. The second editor, Madilyn Fletcher, has long been associated with studies of biofilm development and subsurface microbes that exist in particle-associated biofilms. Release and movement over space are important questions: do microbes move vertically in meters over years, or hundreds or millions of years? The answers are not in.
The third theme in this volume is microbial activity driving biogeochemical processes. There has been remarkable progress in recent years and now geochemists know that microbes govern the global cycles of interest to them. These cycles include not only the more familiar C, N, O and S cycles, but also less familiar Fe and Mn cycles, and even my favorite geocycles, those for As and Hg. Much of this activity occurs in the deep subsurface and failure to understand that simple point can lead to major environmental catastrophes such as the otherwise natural arsenic in drinking water from 10-30-m-deep wells in Bangladesh. The last chapter concerns the possibility of life beyond the Earth, with Mars and Europa as the most likely candidates within the solar system. The conclusion is that if life is to be found elsewhere soon, it must be deep, where liquid water could exist and dependent on redox chemistry of inorganic minerals for energy.
This volume is not a final statement of understanding, but rather a useful stepping-stone, early in the development of the subject matter. Thus the value of this book is as an introduction to people unfamiliar with the subject and encouragement for more microbiologists to become involved in the wide range of research opportunities.
Simon Silver
University of Illinois
Chicago, Ill.Bailey and Scott's Diagnostic Microbiology (11th ed.)
Betty A. Forbes, Daniel F. Sahm, and Alice S. Weissfeld (ed.). Mosby, St. Louis, Mo., 2002, 1,069 p., $79.95.Few, if any, texts in the field of medical microbiology have had such a distinguished and continuous history as Bailey and Scott's Diagnostic Microbiology. As microbiologists, we are indebted to Isabelle Schaub and to Sister Marie Judith (M. Kathleen Foley) who in 1940 published Methods for Diagnostic Bacteriology and later Diagnostic Bacteriology. Their manual was joined in its fifth edition by Elvyn G. Scott and W. Robert Bailey, who continued the tradition of this series and for whom the series is now commonly known (i.e., Bailey and Scott's). As readers and users of this series, we also should recognize and thank Sydney M. Finegold, William J. Martin, Ellen Jo Baron, Lance R. Peterson, and more recently Betty A. Forbes, Daniel F. Sahm, and Alice S. Weissfeld as editors for continuing and expanding the excellence and usefulness of this reference book. Other contributors, over the years, too numerous to mention, who have provided chapters, reviews, and other assistance to the editors should also be recognized.
My own library of Bailey and Scott's Diagnostic Microbiology dates back to the second edition (1966), which posted a price tag of $7.25. How times have changed! That edition contained 342 pages with 38 chapters and no color photographs. The 11th edition contains 1,069 pages with 64 chapters and a multitude of color photographs, color diagrams, a section of case studies, and a glossary. Interestingly, the second edition did not contain a section on parasitology, and the virology section had a length of six pages.
The early organizational approach of separate sections devoted to general laboratory methods, diagnosis by organ system, and methods for identification of specific pathogenic bacteria (i.e., the "bug parade") is generally maintained albeit with some modification, updating, and improvements.
The 11th edition is divided into seven parts which consist of general issues in clinical microbiology (5 chapters, 75 pages), scientific and laboratory basis for clinical microbiology (12 chapters, 183 pages), bacteriology (the "bug parade," 34 chapters, 344 pages), parasitology (1 chapter, 107 pages), mycology (1 chapter, 88 pages), virology (1 chapter, 66 pages), and diagnosis by organ system (10 chapters, 131 pages). Each chapter of the bacteriology section is consistently organized into sections of general characteristics, epidemiology, pathogenesis and spectrum of disease, laboratory diagnosis, antimicrobial susceptibility testing and therapy, and prevention. This makes for ease of reading and finding specific topics.
Particularly helpful sections in the 11th edition include the table "Collection, transport, storage, and processing of specimens commonly submitted to the microbiology laboratory," a description of the updated procedures on mailing biohazardous materials, the table "Plating media for routine bacteriology," and the continuing comprehensive description of pathogenic microorganisms, particularly bacteria. The chapter on bacterial identification methods and strategies (chapter 18), which describes many conventional methods along with color photographs, is particularly good. The inclusion of selected commercial systems and products is useful but somewhat limited in its scope and breadth. As an example, the Oxoid system for blood cultures (chapter 55) is not discussed. This limitation is minor since there are other current texts (many from ASM Press) which exhaustively review commercial methods in clinical microbiology. A second minor limitation of this reference is the inclusion of a few comments and opinions, which might not be shared by all clinical microbiologists. An example of this is in chapter 48 (mycobacteria), in which the authors state that a drawback associated with the fluorochrome stains is that many rapid growers may not appear fluorescent with these reagents. They further recommend that all positive fluorescent smears be confirmed with a Ziehl-Neelson stain or with an examination by another technologist. These statements are made although the authors mention that the fluorochrome stain is the preferred method for examination of smears. Although very old and limited data have reported poor staining of rapid growers with fluorochrome stains, recent reports have not confirmed this observation. Further, although it is a good practice for positive AFB smears to be confirmed by a second experienced medical technologist, it is not generally recommended that all fluorescent smears be confirmed with a Ziehl-Neelson stain.
The few limitations of this text are far outshadowed by its strengths. I have recommended this text for many years as one of the primary resources for pathology residents when studying clinical microbiology. The excellent color photographs, ease of reading, and breadth in bacteriology attest to its quality. The addition of selected case studies and access to the website MERLIN (Mosby's Electronic Resource Links and Information Network) are both useful improvements.
Bailey and Scott's Diagnostic Microbiology, 11th edition continues its legacy, and purpose as defined by Bailey and Scott, to provide a current text for medical microbiologists. Like its predecessors, the 11th edition serves as an excellent teaching guide for students, residents, fellows, and other allied health professionals.
Allan L. Truant
Temple University Hospital
Philadelphia, Pa.Betrayal of Trust: the Collapse of Global Public Health
Laurie Garrett. Hyperion Press, New York, 2000, 754 p., $30.00 (hardcover).Laurie Garrett, whose day job is reporting for Newsday, has made writing insightful and incisive books her hobby. This is fortunate for the rest of us. Her ability to capture the rich details inherent in biomedical research, while at the same time not sacrificing the immediacy of her story, makes her a major figure in science writing for lay audiences (comparing favorably, for me at least, with the late great science writers Carl Sagan and Stephen Jay Gould). It was therefore with great excitement that I opened her second book and began to read Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health. With continued meticulous attention to detail, Garrett has now crafted back-to-back masterpieces.
Related in theme to her award-winning first book The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World out of Balance, Garrett's second effort (like her first) is unsettling in its intent (note the warnings in both titles, i.e., "a world out of balance" and "betrayal of trust"). Her thesis, explored in both volumes, is that, to quote Steven Wolinsky from the preface, "...disparities in the health and well-being of populations in industrialized and developing countries are widening and the benefits of public health and disease prevention on life expectancy are not shared..." and "We now live in comfortable ignorance about the health and well-being of people in faraway places." The "we" he refers to is, of course, the American middle and upper classes, and Garrett asserts that public health is inexorably linked with socioeconomic status. In the introduction to the second book she asks rhetorically "What constitutes public health?" She concludes the introduction to the volume's five chapters, each really a book within a book, by answering this question. She offers (in fact fairly implores us to accept) that an effective approach to public health requires prevention as its cornerstone—on nothing less than a global scale.
Alas, over the course of the first four chapters of the book, she makes plain that this goal of global prevention remains, for geopolitical reasons, a near impossibility. In chapter 1 the focus is on an outbreak of pneumonic plague in India, a country with roughly four times the population of the United States but only one-third the land area and no more than one-fifth the economic horsepower. Chapter 2 is a nightmare tale of governmental greed and misplaced priorities resulting in the spread of the deadly Ebola virus in Zaire. Chapter 3 details numerous reasons why the fall of the Soviet empire has led to a significant decline in public health in Russia and its former satellite countries. Chapter 4 highlights in stark detail the fact that in the United States access to health care is largely a function of social class. Garrett opines, "...the collective be damned, all public health burdens and responsibilities fall to the individual [in the USA]." Lastly, chapter 5 stands somewhat separately from the first four chapters of the book. It is a warning, written at the turn of the millennium, of the possibility of the widespread release of a biological warfare agent through a variety of possible mechanisms (e.g., sending anthrax spores via the U.S. mail). Garrett was chilling in her prescience; only in hindsight can we now fully appreciate it.
Laurie Garrett is a gifted writer with the ability to help us see truths that ought to be obvious if only we possessed the time and interest to uncover them for ourselves. Such is the nature of the very best journalism, and indeed science. I give Betrayal of Trust my highest and most unqualified recommendation, both as an entertaining read and as a reference volume filled with careful research (fully 162 pages of footnotes). When her next book appears in print, I will not wait for a review copy; rather, I'll head straight for my local bookseller and pay full price. I want to learn, posthaste, what she'll already know.
David A. Watson
University of Texas Medical Branch, GalvestonThe Microbiology Video Library CD
CD and Website Video Library. Alan J. Cann, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Leichester, United Kingdom, Copyright 2002; $75.00 US, including a site license for LAN or intranet, Online ordering www.micro.msb.le.ac.uk/video/cd.htmlTarget audience and purpose: Videos and accompanying information relevant to general microbiology courses. Includes some animations and videos demonstrating basic laboratory procedures and common microscopic observations.
Description and Level of Presentation: The program uses a Web browser and the free QuickTime Player, and it has a searchable index. While there are quite a number of topics on that index, there are only 45 QuickTime video clips on the demonstration CD. Selection of a topic in the index leads to the Web page where that topic is mentioned, but not directly to the video clip nor to the area on the page where the term is first used.
The Web pages are linked to videos and other information about the particular topics. The active links within the Web pages link to other pages where more information about the topic is discussed and to the QuickTime video clips. The CD also contains a short FAQ, giving more description about the videos, and instructions on conversion for use in Powerpoint presentations.
The CD and website have different versions of the QuickTime movies. The Web version, at www-micro.msb.le.ac.uk/video/video.html, has fewer pixels and frames per second and shorter video clips than are on the CD. Online links include a tutorial at the Leeds site, Amazon.com, online dictionary and an online search engine.
Strengths/weaknesses: The html material is well presented, with good outlines and pointers for the video clips, but the videos are generally not helpful. Most, but not all, contain repetitive screens of unedited identical material. Many are out of focus and colors do not show up well and contain distracting background material. Some of the active links are not correct. Adding labels to the videos and editing the sequences would be helpful.
Recommendations:The concept is very good and the Web pages with accessory information are quite well done. However, most of the videos will not be beneficial to the student or useful in presentations.
D. Sue Katz
Midwestern University
Downer's Grove, Ill.
Email: webmaster@asmusa.org