The book summarizes extensive information accumulated in Soviet and foreign literature in recent years on the structural and functional features of pathogenic bacterial biomolecules. It analyzes for the first time the problem of pathogenicity from the position of biological recognition. The biomolecule types under consideration are grouped by functional properties in accordance with their role in the interaction of pathogen and the tissue cells of the host macroorganism.

The book opens with a discussion of material which has general biological importance and which concerns the features of construction of the prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells as well as the principle of the specific interaction of their macromolecules. The following part illuminates the bacterial adherence to mucosal surfaces and bacterial ligands, called adhesins. Also treated in details are the reaction of phagocytosis and the molecular mechanism of recognition which is realized by a complement system. The bacterial macromolecules that are responsible for complement activation and the capsule structures which protect pathogen from phagocytosis system receive special attention. The study, furthermore, provides data on the structure and the function of bacterial toxins and analyses the molecular mechanisms of their interaction with target-cells of the affected tissue. The final chapter investigates the role of enzymes produced pathogenic bacteria and their effect on the surface structures of the eukaryotic cells.

The book is addressed to specialists in infectious diseases, microbiologists and biochemists.