ABSTRACT
In recent times giant strides have been taken in harnessing our knowledge of the molecular basis of many biological phenomena. Many new techniques such as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA sequencing have arrived on the scene. In addition, major projects involving many countries such as the human genome project have taken place. Coupled with all these exciting technological developments, new vocabulary such as genomics has arisen. All these have transformed the approaches used in industrial microbiology. New approaches anchored on developments in molecular biology have been followed in many industrial microbiology processes and products such as vaccines, the search for new antibiotics and antitumor agents, and the physiology of microorganisms. In order to provide a background for understanding some of the newer directions of industrial microbiology and biotechnology, this chapter discusses relevant aspects of protein synthesis (transcription, translation and the genetic code), the polymerase chain reaction and the place of PCR in industrial microbiology and biotechnology, microarrays and the applications of microarray technology, sequencing of short DNA fragments and genomes or large DNA fragments, identification of genes in DNA sequences, metagenomics, nature of bioinformatics and contributions of bioinformatics to biotechnology.
