Includes glossary and index.

Contents: Introduction to microbiology: The history and scope of microbiology -- Microscopes and the study of microbial structure -- Procaryotic cell structure and function -- Eucaryotic cell structure and function -- Viruses and other acellular agents -- Microbial nutrition, growth, and control: Microbial nutrition -- Microbial growth -- Control of microorganisms -- Microbial metabolism: Introduction to metabolism -- Catabolism: Energy release and conservation -- Anabolism: The use of energy in biosynthesis -- Microbial molecular biology and genetics: Genes: Structure, replication, and expression -- Regulation of gene expression -- Mechanisms of genetic variation -- Microbial genomics -- Biotechnology and industrial microbiology -- The diversity of the microbial world: Microbial evolution, taxonomy, and diversity -- The archaea -- The deinococci and gram-negative nonproteobacteria -- The proteobacteria -- The low G+C gram-positive bacteria -- The high G+C gram positive bacteria -- Eucaryotic microbes -- Viral diversity -- Ecology and symbiosis: Biogeochemical cycling and the study of microbial ecology -- Microorganisms in natural environments -- Microbial interactions -- Host defenses: Nonspecific (innate) host resistance -- Specific (adaptive) immunity -- Microbial diseases and their control: Pathogenicity of microorganisms -- Antimicrobial chemotheraphy -- Clinical microbiology and immunology -- The epidemiology of infrctious disease -- Applied microbiology: Microbiology of food -- Applied environmental microbiology.