Designed for use as a textbook and resource for professional scientists working in the areas of industrial microbiology, environmental microbiology, and biodegradation, this important new volume details both the fundamental concepts of the microbial transformation of organic compounds as well as its application for biotechnology and biodegradation. It offers comprehensive coverage of microbial catabolism from the group that developed the Biocatalysis/Biodegradation Database on the Web and discusses the logic of catabolism, which is important in the context of genome annotation and predicting biodegradation reactions.