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Preface

Since the third edition of Bacterial Pathogenesis: A Molecular Approach was written, the field of bacterial pathogenesis has vastly expanded and evolved. Some areas have been revolutionized by the manner that research is now conducted in this genome era and the wealth of information obtained from modern advanced technologies, while other areas have become obsolete. These changes have necessitated extensive updating and rewriting of many chapters of the textbook. The death of Abigail Salyers and the retirement of Dixie Whitt in 2013 necessitated the recruitment of a new author, Brian Ho, who like the other remaining authors, Brenda Wilson and Malcolm Winkler, comes with significant expertise and research experience in modern approaches to studying bacterial pathogenesis.

This textbook is intended to be a living book that evolves in response to the constantly changing research landscape of the field of bacterial pathogenesis. True to this mandate, the fourth edition maintains the overall format of the third edition, building on the core foundations and insights of the previous editions, while expanding into new concepts, key modern innovations and cutting-edge research, and new developments in the field. All-new detailed illustrations, for the first time in stunning full color, depict important concepts and mechanisms by which bacterial pathogens interact with their hosts, other microbes, and their environments, both inside and outside the body. The enormous advances that have been made in next-generation sequencing technologies and functional genomics and multi-omics approaches have necessitated a complete update for several of the chapters. Expanded topics highlight new developments in the areas of microbiomes; comparative and evolutionary genomics; the power of Tn-Seq, RNA-Seq, and gene-editing technologies; the advancing areas of autophagy, CRISPR-Cas systems, and transgenic animal models; the roles of secreted effectors and innate immunity in pathogen clearance and persistence; and the escalating challenges of antimicrobial resistance.

As with previous editions, this textbook is written for students, not for professors. Every effort has been made to maintain a student-friendly aspect to the text, which includes minimizing much of the jargon found in the field. This textbook is not intended to cover in detail every pathogen known to the medical microbiology field. Instead, there is an emphasis on presenting the material based on core underlying principles shared among pathogens and general mechanisms used by the pathogens to overcome the host defenses, and then to provide molecular approaches used by researchers to study and combat them. Each of these basic concepts is illustrated through examples using known pathogens. At the end of each chapter students can delve more deeply into the topics covered through study questions, while problem-solving questions help to hone their skills in reading, analyzing, and interpreting data, as well as designing their own experiments. A popular feature of the third edition, the research scenarios with realistic data adapted from actual laboratory studies, challenge students to interpret data and think of new experiments that could be performed to explore solutions to the problems presented. The goal of these problems is to help the students develop problem-solving skills and to gain a better understanding of the practical applications of what they are learning from the textbook. We are grateful to many of our colleagues for sharing their expertise with helpful discussions and insights that have contributed to the enhancement of the educational experience for the students through this means, including sharing a few of their favorite pathogenesis problems.

Finally, the authors would like to acknowledge how enjoyable it is to work with such a wonderful publisher as ASM Press. The authors are enormously grateful to the editorial staff at ASM Press, particularly Megan Angelini for her unparalleled competence and attention to detail during the entire writing and editing process and Christine Charlip, Director of ASM Press, for her tremendous support and for helping us keep on track. Senior Editor Greg Payne is thanked for his efforts in early development of the textbook and pushing previous editions through and for initiating this edition and bringing Christine and Megan on board. A special thanks also goes to the amazing graphics artist, Patrick Lane, who generated the wonderful diagrams and drawings for most of the figures in the textbook and who was extremely patient during the multiple rounds of edits.