The Eighth Edition continues to present material in short chapters organized thematically into nine separate sections. Shorter chapters are less daunting and more "digestible" for most students. Furthermore, they offer the professor a greater degree of flexibility so that the order in which chapters are covered can be tailored to meet the needs of an individual class.

Table of Contents

Part I: Introduction to Microbiology 1 The Evolution of Microorganisms and Microbiology 2 Microscopy 3 Bacteria and Archaea 4 Eukaryotic Microbial Structure and Function 5 Viruses and Other Acellular Infectious Agents Part II: Microbial Nutrition, Growth, and Control 6 Microbial Nutrition 7 Microbial Growth and Reproduction 8 Control of Microorganisms in the Environment Part III: Microbial Metabolism 9 Introduction to Metabolism 10 Catabolism: Energy Release and Conservation 11 Anabolism: The Use of Energy in Biosynthesis Part IV: Microbial Molecular Biology and Genetics 12 Genes: Structure, Replication, and Expression 13 Regulation of Cellular Processes 14 Mechanisms of Genetic Variation 15 Recombinant DNA Technology 16 Microbial Genomics Part V: The Diversity of the Microbial World 17 Microbial Taxonomy and the Evolution of Diversity 18 The Archaea 19 The Deinococci and Nonproeobacteria Gram Negatives 20 The Proteobacteria 21 The Low G + C Gram-Positive Bacteria: The Firmicutes 22 The High G + C Gram-Positive Bacteria: The Actinobacteria 23 The Protists 24 The Fungi 25 The Viruses Part VI: Ecology and Symbiosis 26 Biogeochemical Cycling 27 Methods in Microbial Ecology 28 Microorganisms in Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 29 Microorganisms in Terrestrial Ecosystems 30 Microbial Interactions Part VII: Pathogenicity and Host Response 31 Infection and Pathogenicity 32 Nonspecific (Innate) Host Resistance 33 Specific (Adaptive) Immunity Part VIII: Microbial Diseases, Detection, and their Control 34 Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 35 Clinical Microbiology and Immunology 36 Epidemiology and Public Health Microbiology 37 Human Diseases Caused by Viruses and Prions 38 Human Diseases Caused by Bacteria 39 Human Diseases Caused by Fungi and Protists Part IX: Applied Microbiology 40 Microbiology of Food 41 Industrial Microbiology 42 Applied Environmental Microbiology Appendix I: A Review of the Chemistry of Biological Molecules Appendix II: Common Metabolic Pathways

Author Biography

JOANNE M. WILLEY has been a professor at Hofstra University on Long Island, New York, since 1993, where she is Professor of Microbiology; she holds a joint appointment with the Hostra University School of Medicine. LINDA M. SHERWOOD is a member of the Department of Microbiology at Montana State University. Her interest in microbiology was sparked by the last course she took to complete a B.S. degree in Psychology at Western Illinois University.