This book is appropriate for advanced undergraduate students of micro-
biology and biological sciences in universities and colleges, as well as
for research workers entering the field and requiring a broad
contemporary view of anaerobic bacteria and associated concepts.
Obligate anaerobes, together with microaerophils, are characterized by
their sensitivity to oxygen. This dictates specialized laboratory
methods- a fact which has led to many students being less familiar with
anaerobes than their distribution and importance would warrant The
metabolic strategies such as methanogenesis, an oxygenic photosynthesis
and diverse fermenta- tive pathways which do not have equivalents in
aerobic bacteria also make anaerobes worthy of attention. In these
limited pages an attempt has been made to cover the varied aspects of
anaerobic bacteria, and a bibliography has been included, which will
allow individual topics to be pursued in greater detail. We are grateful
to Mrs Winifred Webster and Mrs Hilary Holdsworth for typing the
manuscript and to the Leeds University Audio Visual Service for
preparing the figures. Finally, our thanks go to the students,
postgradu- ates and wives who read and criticized the manuscript.