Preface

Genetic engineering is essential in basic research and Industrial Biotechnology for metabolic and genomic manipulations to regulate microorganisms to produce valuable products. Genome editing is the cornerstone for scientists to interrogate the genetic basis of microorganisms for which the accessibility of the genome along with molecular tools is an essential factor. The classical genetic methods developed for genome editing in bacterial species include culture and transformation. The methods were highly laborious and required the introduction of at least one resistance marker cassette in the genome, which hampers the possibility of producing precise edits like single amino acid mutations. The breakthrough by the discovery of the CRISPR-Cas technology has shed light on the adaptive immune system of prokaryotes to explore tremendous opportunities for targeted genetic engineering approaches in prokaryotes. Here, we discuss the current state-of-the-art approach for gene editing in bacteria and different strategies used in this technology for prokaryotic organisms.

This book has eight chapters, including historical perspectives of genome editing and applications of probiotics and its metabolites. We attempted to update and collate information and research carried out on various applications of bacteria in different industries, such as the food and pharmaceutical industry and their gene regulation for metabolic engineering using genome editing tools. We are grateful to all contributing authors who accepted our invitation to contribute to this book. The contributing authors are well-recognized scientists and researchers with vast experience in the field of bacteriology and molecular biology. We are happy to bring them all together on the same platform to bring out this book. We are grateful to the Bentham Science Group for publishing this comprehensive book, and we hope it will be read by researchers, students, teachers, scientists and food entreprenuers who are interested in the metabolic engineering of bacteria for various health benefits. Although there are hundreds of research articles, review papers, and limited books on genome editing of prokaryotes, this book "Genome Editing in Bacteria" is the first of this kind, a compilation of various applications of bacteria across diverse fields of biotechnology.

We dedicate this book to the creators of the indigenous knowledge of molecular biology and genetic engineering for putting together both an ocean of knowledge and the basis for research to study in-depth genome editing techniques for bacteria.