Adaptation to Varying Substrate Concentrations and Mixtures -- Amphiphilic Lipids, Signaling Molecules and Quorum Sensing -- Bacterial Signal Transduction Processes Based on Acetylation -- Biochemistry of Methylation of DNA -- Biofilm Development at Interfaces between Hydrophobic Organic Compounds and Water -- Biofilm Stress Responses Associated to Aromatic Hydrocarbons -- Bioinformatic, Molecular and Genetic Tools for Exploring Genome-wide Responses to Hydrocarbons -- Causes and Biochemistry of DNA Damage by Alkylation -- Chemotaxis to Hydrocarbons -- Cis-Trans Isomerase of Unsaturated Fatty Acids: An Immediate Bacterial Adaptive Mechanism to Cope with Emerging Membrane Perturbation Caused by Toxic Hydrocarbons -- DNA Methylation in Eukaryotes: Regulation and Function -- DNA Methylation in Prokaryotes: Regulation and Function -- Extrusion Pumps for Hydrocarbons: An Efficient Evolutionary Strategy to Confer Resistance to Hydrocarbons -- Fatty Acids as Mediators of Intercellular Signalling -- Feast: Choking on Acetyl-CoA, the Glyoxylate Shunt, and Acetyl-CoA-Driven Metabolism -- Fungi as Transport Vectors for Contaminants and Contaminant-Degrading Bacteria -- Genetics of Sensing, Accessing, and Exploiting Hydrocarbons -- Genomic Response of Pseudomonas putida to Toluene -- Hydrophobic Modifications of Biomolecules: An Introduction -- Kinetics and Physiology at Vanishingly Small Substrate Concentrations -- Lipidation of Other Biomolecules and Functions -- Lipids as Signalling Molecules in Eukaryotes -- Matrix-Hydrophobic Compound Interactions -- Membrane Adaptations to Low Water Two-Phase Bioprocess Systems -- Membrane Composition and Modifications in Response to Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Gram Negative Bacteria -- Microbiology of Oil Fly Larvae -- Microorganism-Hydrophobic Compound Interactions -- Mutagenic Consequences of Alkylation -- Nitrogen Fixation and Hydrocarbon-Oxidizing Bacteria -- One-Component Systems that Regulate the Expression of Degradation Pathways for Aromatic Compounds -- Problems of Feast or Famine: An Introduction: -- Problems of Hydrophobicity/Bioavailability: An Introduction -- Problems of Solventogenicity, Solvent Tolerance: An Introduction -- Production and Roles of Biosurfactants and Bioemulsifiers in Accessing Hydrophobic Substrates -- Protein Alkylation -- Protein Lipidation in Eukaryotes: Biochemistry and Function -- Protein Lipidation in Prokaryotes: Biochemistry and Function -- Protein Methylation in Bacteria -- Sensing, Signaling and Uptake: An Introduction -- Strategies to Increase Bioavailability and Uptake of Hydrocarbons -- Substrate Transport -- Surface Properties and Cellular Energetics of Bacteria in Response to the Presence of Hydrocarbons -- The Family of Two-Component Systems that Regulate Hydrocarbon Degradation Pathways -- The Potential of Hydrocarbon Chemotaxis to Increase Bioavailability and Biodegradation Efficiency -- Toxicity of Hydrocarbons to Microorganisms -- Transcriptional Regulation of Hydrocarbon Efflux Pump Expression in Bacteria -- Ultrastructural Insights into Microbial Life at the Hydrocarbon:Aqueous Environment Interface -- Uptake and Assimilation of Hydrophobic Substrates by the Oleaginous Yeast Yarrowia lipolytica -- Water-Hydrophobic Compound Interactions with the Microbial Cell. .

"Water is life!" All active cellular systems require water as the medium and solvent of their metabolic activities. Hydrophobic compounds and structures, which tend to exclude water, though providing inter alia excellent sources of energy and a means of biological compartmentalization, present problems of cellular handling, poor bioavailability and, in some cases, toxicity. Microbes both synthesize and exploit a vast range of hydrophobic organics, especially petroleum oil hydrocarbons and industrial pollutants, and the underlying interactions not only have major consequences for the lifestyles of the microbes involved, but also for biogeochemistry, climate change, environmental pollution, human health and a range of biotechnological applications. The aim of this handbook is to be the definitive resource of current knowledge on the diverse and multifaceted aspects of these interactions, the microbial players, and the physiological mechanisms and adaptive strategies characteristic of the microbial lifestyle that plays out at hydrophobic material: aqueous liquid interfaces.