Microbiology For Dummies
Jennifer Stearns, Michael Surette
- English
- ePUB (adapté aux mobiles)
- Disponible sur iOS et Android
Microbiology For Dummies
Jennifer Stearns, Michael Surette
Ă propos de ce livre
Microbiology For Dummies (9781119544425) was previously published as Microbiology For Dummies (9781118871188). While this version features a new Dummies cover and design, the content is the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product.
Microbiology is the study of life itself, down to the smallest particle
Microbiology is a fascinating field that explores life down to the tiniest level. Did you know that your body contains more bacteria cells than human cells? It's true. Microbes are essential to our everyday lives, from the food we eat to the very internal systems that keep us alive. These microbes include bacteria, algae, fungi, viruses, and nematodes. Without microbes, life on Earth would not survive. It's amazing to think that all life is so dependent on these microscopic creatures, but their impact on our future is even more astonishing. Microbes are the tools that allow us to engineer hardier crops, create better medicines, and fuel our technology in sustainable ways. Microbes may just help us save the world.
Microbiology For Dummies is your guide to understanding the fundamentals of this enormously-encompassing field. Whether your career plans include microbiology or another science or health specialty, you need to understand life at the cellular level before you can understand anything on the macro scale.
- Explore the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
- Understand the basics of cell function and metabolism
- Discover the differences between pathogenic and symbiotic relationships
- Study the mechanisms that keep different organisms active and alive
You need to know how cells work, how they get nutrients, and how they die. You need to know the effects different microbes have on different systems, and how certain microbes are integral to ecosystem health. Microbes are literally the foundation of all life, and they are everywhere. Microbiology For Dummies will help you understand them, appreciate them, and use them.
Foire aux questions
Informations
Getting Started with Microbiology
Microbiology and You
Why Microbiology?
- Nursing
- Medicine
- Clinical laboratory work
- Pharmaceuticals
- Brewing and winemaking
- Environmental engineering
Introducing the Microorganisms
- Bacteria are a large group of unicellular organisms that scientists loosely group as Gram-negative and Gram-positive, but in reality there are many different kinds.
- Archaea are another group of unicellular organisms that evolved along with bacteria several billion years ago. Many are extremophiles, meaning that they thrive in very hot or very acidic conditions. Archaea are more closely related to eukaryotes than to bacteria.
- Eukaryotic microorganisms are a structurally diverse group that includes protists, algae, and fungi. They all have a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles, as well as other key differences from bacteria and archaea. All the rest of the multicellular organisms on earth, including humans, have eukaryotic cells as well.
- Viruses are smaller than bacteria and are not technically alive on their own â they must infect a host cell to survive. Viruses are made up of some genetic material surrounded by a viral coat, but they lack all the machinery necessary to make proteins and catalyze reactions. This group also includes subviral particles and prions, which are the simplest of life forms, made of naked ribonucleic acid (RNA) or simply protein.
Deconstructing Microbiology
- Morphology: The study of the shape of cells. It is analyzed using stains and microscopy.
- Metabolism: How an organism gets energy from its environment and the waste it produces as a result. Metabolism is studied using principles from biochemistry.
- Growth: How an organism, well, grows. The growth of a microbe is used to see how quickly the population can divide and help to distinguish between one microbe and another. Growth is measured using principles of physics, as well as good old-fashioned counting. Qualitative measures of how growth looks are also important.
- Genotype: The genetic makeup of a microbial strain. Genes are studied using genetics, which has recently begun to involve a lot of molecular biology.
- Phenotype: The name of the observable traits of a microbe. A phenotype is due to the interaction between the constellation of genes and environmental factors. Itâs used to describe a microorganism and to study the function of genes. To measure a phenotype, you have to use some microbiology know-how to see changes in growth and metabolism, as well as other biochemical processes for communication and defense.
- Phylogeny: The history of the evolution of microorganisms. Phylogeny is important not only because it helps us identify newly discovered microbes but also because it allows us to see how closely related different microbes are to one another. The study of a groupâs phylogeny involves genetics and molecular biology, as well as evolutionary biology.