Jennifer C. Stearns - Microbiology for Dummies

Microbiology For Dummies

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright 2019 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Media and software compilation copyright 2019 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions .

Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and may not be used without written permission. Python is a registered trademark of Python Software Foundation Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.

For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit https://hub.wiley.com/community/support/dummies .

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com . For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com .

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019931894

ISBN: 978-1-119-54442-5; ISBN: 978-1-119-54476-0 (ebk); ISBN: 978-1-119-54441-8 (ebk)

1. Chapter 4
2. Chapter 8
3. Chapter 15
4. Chapter 17
5. Chapter 18

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12
13. Chapter 13
14. Chapter 14
15. Chapter 15
16. Chapter 16
17. Chapter 17
18. Chapter 18
19. Chapter 19

The world around us is full of tiny invisible living things that affect us every day. Diving into the study of that world is what this book is all about, and were happy that youd like to come along. Microbiology as a whole can feel overwhelming, but when you break it down into parts it can be straightforward and even interesting.

Whether youre taking a microbiology course for credit or studying microbiology on your own time, weve written this book with you, the beginner, in mind. This book walks you through the tricky concepts in microbiology while covering the forms, functions, and impacts of microbes in nature and on our lives.

Microbiology For Dummies is an overview of the material covered in a typical first-year microbiology course. Some courses cover more medical, molecular, or environmental microbiology than others, so weve included them all here.

In this book, you find clear explanations of

• The characteristics that microorganisms share
• The things that make microbes different from one another and the rest of life on earth
• The processes important to microbial life
• The diversity of microbial life
• How microbes affect us

If youre a visual learner, youll appreciate the many illustrations. And if you like to organize material into categories, youll find the lists and tables useful. With this book, youll be able to explain what makes microorganisms unique and identify where and how they live. Youll also have the skills to delve into specialized areas of microbiology that this book covers in an introductory way.

This book is a reference, which means you dont have to memorize it unlike your microbiology course, there is no test at the end. Use it as a reference, dipping into whichever chapter or section has the information you need. Finally, sidebars and sections marked with the Technical Stuff icons are skippable. They offer a more in-depth discussion of a topic, extra detail, or interesting cases that are related to the main material of the chapter.

We dont assume that you have any background knowledge in microbiology except what may be covered in an introductory biology course. In fact, many of the concepts learned in a biology course are also presented here, so we dont expect you to know much of that, either. We assume that you are new to microbiology or other science courses where an introduction to microbiology is beneficial, and weve written this will book in a way that will provide you with the background you need.

The science of microbiology involves knowing a bit of biochemistry, cell biology, molecular biology, and environmental science, so we explain those concepts as needed, but you may like to peruse guides on those topics for a fuller understanding.

Other than that we only assume that you transcend the idea of microorganisms as bad and consider them as important members of our world, especially because they outnumber us about 200 million trillion to one!

Icons appear in the left margin to draw your attention to things that occur on a regular basis. Heres what each icon means: