Discover the World of Microbes. Bacteria, Archea, and Viruses

Description

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.

Features

• Unique, introductory text offering a comprehensive overview of the astonishing variety and abilities of Bacteria
• Easy-to-read, fascinating and educational
• Written by one of the best known microbiologists of our time
• Color images throughout
• Each chapter has a compact tutorial part with schemes on the biochemistry and metabolic pathways of Bacteria
• Comes with a companion website with questions and answers

Table of Contents

• Preface IX
• Prolog XI

Part One Reading Section 1

• Chapter 1 Extremely small but incredibly active
• Chapter 2 Bacteria are organisms like you and me
• Chapter 3 My name is LUCA
• Chapter 4 From the Big Bang to LUCA
• Chapter 5 O2
• Chapter 6 Life in boiling water
• Chapter 7 Life in the Dead Sea
• Chapter 8 Bacteria and archaea are everywhere
• Chapter 9 The power of photosynthesis, even in almost complete darkness
• Chapter 10 Man and his microbes
• Chapter 11 Without bacteria there is no protein
• Chapter 12 Napoleon’s victory gardens
• Chapter 13 Alessandro Volta’s and George Washington’s combustible air
• Chapter 14 Microbes as climate makers
• Chapter 15 How a state was founded with the aid of Clostridium acetobutylicum
• Chapter 16 Pulque, wine, and biofuel
• Chapter 17 Energy conservation from renewable resources
• Chapter 18 Cheese and vinegar
• Chapter 19 The periodic table of bioelements
• Chapter 20 Bacterial sex life
• Chapter 21 Bacteria can also catch viruses
• Chapter 22 Antibiotics: from microorganisms against microorganisms
• Chapter 23 Plasmids and resistances
• Chapter 24 Agrobacterium tumefaciens, a genetic engineer par excellence
• Chapter 25 Eco R1 and PCR – molecular biology at its fi nest
• Chapter 26 Interbacterial relationships
• Chapter 27 From life as a nomad to life as an endosymbiont
• Chapter 28 Bacteria as production factories
• Chapter 29 Plants, animals, and humans as food resources for bacteria
• Chapter 30 Viruses, chemicals causing epidemics?
• Chapter 31 The “omics” era
• Chapter 32 Incredible microbes
• Epilog

Part Two Study Guide

• Overview to the Study Guide
• Section 1 Microbial growth
• Section 2 Molecules that make up microbes
• Section 3 Evolution, from the RNA world to the tree of life
• Section 4 Archaea
• Section 5 Bacterial diversity
• Section 6 Membranes and energy
• Section 7 Carbon metabolism
• Section 8 Regulation of microbial metabolism
• Section 9 Genomes, genes, and gene transfer
• Section 10 In-depth study of four special topics

• Appendix A Selected literature
• Appendix B Glossary
• Appendix C Subject index of figures and tables

• Credits
• Index
• Author

Gerhard Gottschalk studied Chemistry at the Humboldt-University in Berlin. He finished his Ph.D. in Gottingen in 1963 and worked as a Post-Doc from 1964 - 1966 at the Department of Biochemistry at University of California, Berkeley (USA). He became full professor for microbiology in Gottingen in 1970, where he worked until 2003. He was visting professor in UC Davis in 1973 und UC Berkeley in 1979, and was head of the laboratory for Genome analysis at the Institute for Microbiology and Genetics in Gottingen from 1999 to 2007.

Professor Gottschalk is member of the Academy of Science of Gottingen, the Academy of Science Leopoldina and honorary member of the Israeli Society of Microbiology; he received the Philip-Morris-Price for cutting edge technology, the Winogradsdy-Medaille, the Emil von Behring-Price and the first class German National Medal of Honor; he was president of the Georg-August-Universitat Gottingen 1975 -1976, president of the Academy of Science of Gottingen 1998 - 2000, president of All European Academies (ALLEA) 1998 ? 2000 and president of the union of German academies of Science 2003 - 2007. in 2009, he became an elected fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.