 
Microbiology
Today November 2002
We are celebrating a great achievement. Microbiology
Today has won an ALPSP award
 .
In this issue of your award-winning magazine, we take to
the water and look at aspects of marine microbiology.
Fishy tales from Brian Austin
cover the incidence, diagnosis and control of the
ever-increasing range of
infectious diseases that affect fish. Humans as well as fish can be at
risk from harmful micro-organisms if untreated sewage is discharged
into the sea. Keith Jones
describes the strict legislation that protects bathing
water quality and outlines
problems that may prove hard to resolve.
What's going on under the waves? Plankton is at the base
of the marine food web and some of it forms macroaggregates which sink to
the
seabed. This 'marine snow' plays an important role in the ecological
cycles
of the oceans, as Carol Turley
sets out. Some types of phytoplankton develop into blooms.
The effects of the
harmful ones are described by Robin Raine
, whilst Willie Wilson
explores the range of
viruses that infect marine eukaryotic plankton.
The planktonic foraminifera are an important part of the
zooplankton, and their calcitic shells, preserved in the ocean sediments,
form one of the most complete fossil records on earth. Chris Wade and Kate Darling
explain how they can be
used as indicators of climate change.
Luminous marine bacteria can cause fish to glow and algal
blooms to shine. Peter Herring
explains
the mechanism of bioluminescence and some of its applications. Marine
biotechnology generally is at an exciting phase and a new
European Centre opens shortly in Scotland as Graham Shimmield and David Green
describe.
The UK government has a new policy to combat infectious
disease. Geoffrey Schild
gives it the once over in
'Comment'.
Hot off the Press
[Acrobat PDF] highlights some new developments in
microbiological research published in the Society's journals -
Microbiology, Journal of
General Virology and International Journal of Systematic and
Evolutionary Microbiology.
Topics covered include:
- A new weapon in the war against TB
- The fight against measles
- Bacterial clock-watching
- A peach of a new species
- Transmission of prion disease by blood transfusion
- Turbot-charged systematics
- When is a pathogen not a pathogen?
- A new look for the SGM journals
Other items include:
Last updated 29 May 2003
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