Gastrointestinal Microbiology

Extremely diverse and complicated bacterial and protozoan populations inhabit the rumen and intestinal tract of animals, and there is a delicate balance among the individual populations within this complex microbial community. This authoritative edited volume, the first in a two-volume set, reviews the gut environment and the fermentations taking place in animal digestive tracts. It is an essential source of reference for microbial ecologists and physiologists, medical microbiologists and gastroenterologists, biochemists, nutritionists, veterinarians and animal scientists, and wildlife ecologists.

1 Introduction to Gastrointestinal Microbial Ecology.- 2 Gut Environment and Evolution of Mutualistic Fermentative Digestion.- I: Nutritional Ecology.- 3 Foregut Fermentation.- 4 Fermentation in the Hindgut of Mammals.- 5 The Interaction of Avian Gut Microbes and Their Host: An Elusive Symbiosis.- 6 Fermentation and Gastrointestinal Microorganisms in Fishes.- 7 Fermentation in Reptiles and Amphibians.- 8 Microbial Fermentation in Insect Guts.- II: Biochemical Activities and Metabolic Transformations.- 9 Carbohydrate Fermentation, Energy Transduction and Gas Metabolism in the Human Large Intestine.- 10 Polysaccharide Degradation in the Rumen and Large Intestine.- 11 Digestion of Nitrogen in the Rumen: A Model for Metabolism of Nitrogen Compounds in Gastrointestinal Environments.- 12 Biosynthesis of Nitrogen-Containing Compounds.- 13 Biotransformation of Bile Acids, Cholesterol, and Steroid Hormones.- 14 Gastrointestinal Toxicology of Monogastrics.- 15 Gastrointestinal Detoxification and Digestive Disorders in Ruminant Animals.