This title is an essential primer for all students who need some background in microbiology and want to become familiar with the universal importance of bacteria for all forms of life.
Written by Gerhard Gottschalk, Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and one of the most prominent microbiologists in our time, this text covers the topic in its whole breadth and does not only focus on bacteria as pathogens.
The book is written in an easy-to-read, entertaining style but each chapter also contains a `facts' section with compact text and diagrams for easy learning. In addition, more than 40 famous scientists, including several Nobel Prize winners, contributed sections, written specifically for this title. The book comes with color figures and a companion website with questions and answers.
Preface IX
Prolog XI
Part One Reading Section 1
Chapter 1 Extremely small but incredibly active 3
Chapter 2 Bacteria are organisms like you and me 7
Chapter 3 My name is LUCA 15
Chapter 4 From the Big Bang to LUCA 23
Chapter 5 O2 33
Chapter 6 Life in boiling water 39
Chapter 7 Life in the Dead Sea 45
Chapter 8 Bacteria and archaea are everywhere 53
Chapter 9 The power of photosynthesis, even in almost complete darkness 65
Chapter 10 Man and his microbes 73
Chapter 11 Without bacteria there is no protein 81
Chapter 12 Napoleon’s victory gardens 87
Chapter 13 Alessandro Volta’s and George Washington’s combustible air 91
Chapter 14 Microbes as climate makers 99
Chapter 15 How a state was founded with the aid of Clostridium acetobutylicum 105
Chapter 16 Pulque, wine, and biofuel 111
Chapter 17 Energy conservation from renewable resources 117
Chapter 18 Cheese and vinegar 121
Chapter 19 The periodic table of bioelements 127
Chapter 20 Bacterial sex life 133
Chapter 21 Bacteria can also catch viruses 145
Chapter 22 Antibiotics: from microorganisms against microorganisms 149
Chapter 23 Plasmids and resistances 159
Chapter 24 Agrobacterium tumefaciens, a genetic engineer par excellence 165
Chapter 25 Eco R1 and PCR – molecular biology at its fi nest 169
Chapter 26 Interbacterial relationships 177
Chapter 27 From life as a nomad to life as an endosymbiont 185
Chapter 28 Bacteria as production factories 191
Chapter 29 Plants, animals, and humans as food resources for bacteria 203
Chapter 30 Viruses, chemicals causing epidemics? 221
Chapter 31 The “omics” era 235
Chapter 32 Incredible microbes 245
Epilog 256
Part Two Study Guide 257
Overview to the Study Guide 259
Section 1 Microbial growth 261
Section 2 Molecules that make up microbes 267
Section 3 Evolution, from the RNA world to the tree of life 277
Section 4 Archaea 281
Section 5 Bacterial diversity 289
Section 6 Membranes and energy 297
Section 7 Carbon metabolism 311
Section 8 Regulation of microbial metabolism 325
Section 9 Genomes, genes, and gene transfer 333
Section 10 In-depth study of four special topics 337
Appendix A Selected literature 345
Appendix B Glossary 351
Appendix C Subject index of figures and tables 373
Credits 379
Index 381