Microbiology for dummies / Jennifer C. Stearns, Julie Kaiser, and Michael G. Surette.

Includes index.

pt. I. Getting started with microbiology -- 1. Microbiology and you -- Why microbiology? -- Introducing microorganisms -- Deconstructing microbiology -- 2. Microbiology : the young science -- Before microbiology : misconceptions and superstitions -- Discovering microorganisms -- Debunking the myth of spontaneous generation -- Improving medicine, from surgery to antibiotics and more -- Looking at microbiology outside the human body -- The future of microbiology -- Frontiers -- Challenges -- 3. Microbes : they're everywhere and the can do everything -- Habitat diversity -- Metabolic diversity -- Getting energy -- Capturing carbon -- Making enzymes -- Secondary metabolism -- The intersection of microbes and everyone else --

pt. II. Balancing the dynamics of microbial life -- Seeing the shapes of cells -- Life on a minute scale : considering the size of prokaryotes -- The cell : an overview -- Scaling the outer membrane and cell walls -- Examining the outer membrane -- Exploring the cell wall -- Other important cell structures -- Divining cell division -- Tackling transport systems -- Passive transport -- Active transport -- Keeping things clean with efflux pumps -- Getting around with locomotion -- 5. Making sense of metabolism -- Converting with enzymes -- In charge of energy : oxidation and reduction -- Donating and accepting electrons -- Bargaining with energy-rich compounds -- Storing energy for later -- Breaking down catabolism -- Digesting glycolysis -- Stepping along with respiration and electron carriers -- Moving with the proton motive force -- Turning the citric acid cycle -- Stacking up with anabolism -- Creating amino acids and nucleic acids -- Making sugars and polysaccharides -- Putting together fatty acids and lipids -- 6. Getting the gist of microbial genetics -- Organizing genetic material -- DNA : the recipe for life -- Perfect plasmids -- DNA replication -- Assembling the cellular machinery -- Making messenger RNA -- Other types of RNA -- synthesizing protein -- DNA regulation -- Regulating protein function -- Changing the genetic code -- Slight adjustments -- Major rearrangements -- 7. Measuring microbial growth -- Getting growth requirements right -- Physical requirements -- Chemical requirements -- Culturing microbes in the lab -- Observing microbes -- Counting small things -- Seeing morphology -- Calculating cell division and population growth -- dividing cells -- Following growth phases -- Inhibiting microbial growth -- Physical methods -- Disinfectants --

pt. III. Sorting out microbial diversity -- 8. Appreciating microbial ancestry -- Where did microbes come from? -- Tracing the origins of life -- Diversifying early prokaryotes -- The impact of prokaryotes on the early earth -- Hitching a ride : endosymbiosis -- Understanding evolution -- Studying evolution -- Choosing marker genes -- Seeing the direction of gene transfer in prokaryotes -- Classifying and naming microbes -- Climbing the tree of life -- 9. Harnessing energy, fixing carbon -- Forging ahead with autotrophic processes -- Fixing carbon -- Using the energy in light -- Harvesting light : chlorophylls and bacteriochlorophylls -- Helping photosynthesis out : carotenoids and phycobilins -- Generating oxygen (or not) : oxygenic and anoxygenic photosynthesis -- Getting energy from the elements : chemolithotrophy -- Harnessing hydrogen -- Securing electrons from sulfur -- Pumping iron -- Oxidizing nitrate and ammonia -- 10. comparing respiration and fermentation -- Lifestyles of the rich and facultative -- Digging into respiration -- Spinning the citric acid cycle -- Stepping down the electron transport chain -- Respiring anaerobically -- Figuring out fermentation -- 11. Uncovering a variety of habitats -- Defining a habitat -- Understanding nutrient cycles -- Carbon cycling -- Nitrogen cycling -- Sulfur cycling -- Phosphorous cycles in the ocean -- Microbes socializing in communities -- Using quorum sensing to communication -- Living in biofilms -- Exploring microbial mats -- Discovering microbes in aquatic and terrestrial habitats -- Thriving in water -- Swarming soils -- Getting along with plants and animals -- Living with plants -- Living with animals -- Living with insects -- Living with ocean creatures -- Tolerating extreme locations -- Detecting microbes in unexpected places --

pt. IV. Meeting the microbes -- 12. Meet the prokaryotes -- Getting to know the bacteria -- The gram-negative bacteria : proteobacteria -- More gram-negative bacteria -- The gram-positive bacteria -- Acquainting yourself with the archaea -- Scalding : extreme thermophiles -- Acidic : extreme acidophiles -- Salty : extreme halophiles -- Not terribly extreme archaea -- 13. Say hello to eukaryotes -- Fun with fungi -- Figuring out fungal physiology -- Itemizing fungal diversity -- Interacting with plant roots -- Ascomycetes -- MUshrooms : basidiomycetes -- Perusing the protists -- Making us sick : apicoplexans -- Making plants sick : oomycetes -- chasing amoeba and ciliates -- Encountering the algae -- 14. Examining the vastness of viruses -- Hijacking cells -- Frugal viral structure -- Simplifying viral function -- Making heads or tails of bacteriophage -- Lytic phage -- Temperate phage -- Transposable phage -- Discussing viruses of eukaryotes -- Infecting animal cells -- Following plant viruses -- How host cells fight back -- Restriction enzymes -- CRISPR -- Interfering with RNA viruses : RNAi --

pt. V. Seeing the impact of microbes -- 15. Understanding microbes in human health and disease -- Clarifying the host immune response -- Putting up barriers to infection -- Inflammation -- Innate immunity -- Adaptive immunity -- Antibodies -- Relying on antimicrobials for treating disease -- Fundamental features of antibiotics -- Targets of destruction -- Unraveling microbial drug resistance -- Discovering new antibiotics -- Searching out superbugs -- Vancomycin-resistant enterococci -- Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus -- Clostridium difficile -- Extended-spectrum beta-lactamases -- Prebiotics and probiotics -- Antiviral drugs -- 16. Putting microbes to work : biotechnology -- Using recombinant DNA technology -- Making the insert -- Employing plasmids -- Restriction enzymes -- Getting microbes to take up DNA -- Using promoters to drive expression -- Expression vectors -- Folding proteins -- Metabolic load -- Long, multigene constructs -- Providing therapies -- Improving antibiotics -- Developing vaccines -- Using microbes industrially -- Protecting plants wit microbial insecticides -- Making biofuels -- Bioleaching metals -- Cleaning up with microbes -- 17. Fighting microbial diseases -- Protecting public health : epidemiology -- Tracking diseases -- Investigating outbreaks -- Identifying a microbial pathogen -- characterizing morphology -- Using biochemical tests -- Typing strains with phage -- Using serology -- Testing antibiotic susceptibility -- Understanding vaccines -- How vaccines work -- Ranking the types of vaccines --

pt. VI. New frontiers in microbiology -- 18. Teasing apart communities -- Studying microbial communities -- Borrowing from ecology -- Seeing what sets microbial communities apart from plants and animals -- Observing communities : microbial ecology methods -- Selecting something special with enrichment -- Seeing cells through lenses -- Measuring microbial activity -- Identifying species using marker genes -- Getting the hang of microbial genetics and systematics -- Sequencing whole genomes -- Using metagenomics to study microbial communities -- Reading microbial transcriptomics -- Figuring out proteomics and metabolomics -- Looking for microbial dark matter -- 19. Synthesizing life -- Regulating genes : the lac operon -- Using a good natural system -- Improving a good system -- Designing genetic networks -- Switching from one state to another -- Oscillating between states -- Keeping signals short -- The synthetic biologist's toolbox -- Making it modular -- Participating in iGEM competition --

pt. VII. The part of tens -- 20. Ten (or so) diseases caused by microbes -- Ebola -- Anthrax -- Influenza -- Tuberculosis -- HIV -- Cholera -- Smallpox -- Primary amoebic menigoencephalitis -- The unknown -- 21. Ten great uses for microbes -- Making delicious foods -- Growing legumes -- Brewing beer, liquor, and wine -- Killing insect pests -- Treating sewage -- Contributing to medicine -- Setting up your aquarium -- Making and breaking down biodegradable plastics -- Turning over compostable waste -- Maintaining a balance -- 22. Ten great uses for microbiology -- Medical care -- Dental care -- Veterinary care -- Monitoring the environment -- Making plants happy -- Keeping fish swimming strong -- Producing food, wine, and beer -- Science hacking -- Looking for microbes in clean rooms -- Producing pharmaceuticals.

Does microbiology make your head spin? The authors make the subject accessible and fun, to help you grasp life at the cellular level. Whether you need to score big at exam time, or just want to satisfy your curiosity, this guide will help you discover the main types of microorganisms and the benefits of their microbial communities.-- Source other than Library of Congress.