Fluorescence Microscopy is a precise and widely employed technique in many research and clinical areas nowadays. Fluorescence Microscopy In Life Sciences introduces readers to both the fundamentals and the applications of fluorescence microscopy in the biomedical field as well as biological research. Readers will learn about physical and chemical mechanisms giving rise to the phenomenon of luminescence and fluorescence in a comprehensive way. Also, the different processes that modulate fluorescence efficiency and fluorescence features are explored and explained.

Rhizobia are composed of specific groups of bacteria that have the ability to induce symbiotic nitrogen-fixing nodules on the roots or stems of leguminous plants. Rhizobia have attracted a great attention for more than 4 decades because of their enormous agricultural and economic value in sustainable agriculture. Up to the present time, many legumes have been found to be nodulated by several rhizobial species in diverse taxonomic groups. An assessment of rhizobial diversity provides pivotal information in understanding the horizontal gene transfer among bacterial genera and species, the bacterial evolution and the symbiotic effectiveness. The classification of rhizobia is becoming increasingly complex and is revised periodically because of new findings that propose new genera and new species. Phenotypic and Genotypic Diversity of Rhizobia presents the application of conventional and molecular analyses, including numerical analysis, enzyme patterns, serological studies, plasmid profile, polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-fingerprinting, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), PCR-RFLP and sequence-based methods, to the examination of rhizobial diversity. Principles of these techniques, the resolving power, the advantage and the limitation of these techniques are evaluated. Current taxonomy of rhizobia classifies them into 17 genera and 118 species. The book explains background knowledge about rhizobia and follows this up with a broad perspective on rhizobial diversity, information on characteristics specific to each group of rhizobia, the relationship among rhizobial groups as well as genetic factors contributed to rhizobial diversity. Contemporary methods for examination of rhizobial diversity are also suggested and discussed. Readers of this e-book will find updated information on key concepts in classification and taxonomy of rhizobia, the categories and techniques used to examine the phenotypic and genotypic diversity of rhizobia (including numerical analysis, enzyme patterns, serological study, plasmid profile, polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-fingerprinting, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), PCR-RFLP and sequence analysis).

In the book, The Origin of Life in Fire and Ice, the author proposes a simple and direct path which may have caused the formation of one of the earliest organisms described using observations found in scientific literature: the last universal common ancestor (LUCA). The path is proposed to take place in the environment provided by hot springs in the presence of snow and ice, thus creating the ‘fire and ice’ conditions. The author guides the reader through several steps that ultimately lead to the beginning of life on our planet as we know it. The journey starts from the delivery of water and organic compounds to the early Earth by comet and asteroid impacts, progressing to the formation of vesicles in geysers, the entrapment of clay particles, amino acids and other ingredients in the vesicles, the formation of template-directed peptides, the elongation to peptides with catalytic activity, the association of catalytic peptides with aromatic compounds (including purines and pyrimidines), peptide catalyzed development of nucleotides, polymerization of nucleotides to RNA, the RNA world, and the stereochemical association with amino acids and peptides into the RNA-peptide world. These steps allow the RNA world to develop a code which forms the basis of the genetic code and ushers in the advent of LUCA. The fiery and icy path to the origin of life is simplified in this book for anyone interested in this intriguing subject.