This book collates and reviews recent advances in the microbial metabolism of amino acids, emphasizing diversity - in terms of the range of organisms under investigation and their natural ecology - and the unique features of amino acid metabolism in bacteria, yeasts, fungi, protozoa and nematodes.

Contributions by: K Abe, M I Afzal, M Akhtar, J M P Alves, R Balana Fouce, Q Bashir, R A Bender, Simon Brown, Catherine Cailliez-Grimal, R William Caldwell, Barbara Campanini, Yingying Cao, Trinad Chakraborty, D Charlier, N P Chowdhury, O O Coker, Daniela de Biase, Stephane Delaunay, Renwick C J Dobson, Mike F Dunn, D Fulton, Fabio Giovannercole, D E Holmes, A.O Hudson, Y Kera, G D Kornfeld, F Leroy, Z Liao, Rob D Locy, J S Lott, Patrick M Lucas, R Lucas, P Ludovico, J M Moran, A Mozzarelli, A J Nieuwkoop, N Osorio, John V Paietta, Prasit Palittapongarnpim, Emily J Parker, A Parthasarathy, F G Pearce, Eugenia Pennacchietti, Y Perez-Pertejo, R S Phillips, N Rashid, P J Quinn, F Rodrigues, M J Romero, B Sampaio-Marques, M A Savka, K Shibata, David C Simcock, H V Simpson, J A Smith, S Takahashi, Saleh Umair, Xiaoyuan Wang, Matthew J Wargo, S Watanabe, Freya Wencker, W Ziebuhr, I W Dawes