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Preface<br> Prologue<br> READING SECTION<br> 1 Extremely small but incredibly active<br> 2 Bacteria are organisms like you and me<br> 3 My name is LUCA<br> 4 From the Big Bang to LUCA<br> 5 O2<br> 6 Life in boiling water<br> 7 Life in the Dead Sea<br> 8 Bacteria and archaea are everywhere<br> 9 The power of photosynthesis, even in almost complete darkness<br> 10 Man and his microbes<br> 11 Without bacteria there is no protein <br> 12 Napoleon's victory gardens<br> 13 Alessandro Volta's and George Washington's combustible air<br> 14 Microbes as climate makers<br> 15 How a state was founded with the aid of Clostridium acetobutylicum<br> 16 Pulque, wine, and biofuel<br> 17 Energy conservation from renewable resources<br> 18 Cheese and vinegar<br> 19 The periodic table of bioelements<br> 20 Bacterial sex life<br> 21 Bacteria can also catch viruses <br> 22 Antibiotics: from microorganisms, against microorganisms<br> 23 Plasmids and resistances <br> 24 Agrobacterium tumefaciens, a genetic engineer par excellence<br> 25 Eco R1 and PCR - molecular biology at its finest<br> 26 Interbacterial relationships<br> 27 From life as a nomad to life as an endosymbiont<br> 28 Bacteria as production factories <br> 29 Plants, animals, and humans as food resources of bacteria<br> 30 Viruses, chemicals causing epidemics?<br> 31 The "-omics" era<br> 32 Incredible microbes<br> Epilogue<br> STUDY GUIDE<br> Overview to the Study Guide<br> Microbial growth<br> Molecules that make up microbes<br> Evolution, from the RNA world to the tree of life<br> Archaea<br> Bacterial diversity<br> Membranes and energy<br> Carbon metabolism<br> Regulation of microbial metabolism<br> Genomes, genes, and gene transfer<br> In-depth study of four special topics<br> Selected literature<br> Glossary<br> Subject index of figures and tables<br> Index

<p>“I would highly recommend this book to anyone seek­ing to investigate the world of microbes, or perhaps looking for a teaching tool. The chapters are concise and complete, and include unique and captivating quotes to draw the reader in.”  (<i>Phenotype</i>, 1 February 2013)</p>

A chemist by training, Gerhard Gottschalk received his PhD in microbiology in 1963 from the University of Gottingen, Germany, before becoming a post-doc at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1970 he was made a full professor for microbiology in Gottingen, where he also served as president between 1975 and 1976. He was a visiting professor in UC Davis in 1973 and UC Berkeley in 1979, and head of the Laboratory for Genome Analysis<br> at the Institute of Microbiology and Genetics in Gottingen from 1999 to 2007. He has received numerous awards, including the Philip Morris Prize for cutting-edge technology, the Winogradsky Medal, the Emil von Behring Prize and the first class German National Medal of Honor. Professor Gottschalk is a member of the Gottingen Academy of Sciences, the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, an honorary member of the<br> Israeli Society of Microbiology, and a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. He was president of All European Academies (ALLEA) from 1998 to 2000 and president of the Union of German Academies of Sciences and Humanities from 2003 to 2007.

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