Containing 57 thoroughly class-tested exercises, this manual provides basic microbiology techniques with applications for undergraduate students in diverse areas, including the biological sciences, the allied health sciences, agriculture, environmental science, nutrition, pharmacy, and various pre-professional programs. The Ninth Edition features a new, four-color design and a dramatically new art program. Many of the illustrations have been re-rendered in a modern, realistic, three-dimensional style, and detailed, colorful photomicrographs that were once grouped together in a color insert are now integrated throughout the exercises. Experiments have been refined throughout, and a new exercise on parasitic helminths provides students with valuable practice in microscopic examination and observation.

Features

• Comprehensive coverage of core microbiology topics includes exercises in the areas of genetics and immunology.  
• Laboratory Reports close out each exercise and help students learn to collect, record, and present data systematically.
• Questions imbedded in the background, procedures, and lab report sections emphasize critical-thinking skills and require students to recall and apply information through analysis and reason.
• Consistently organized exercises include objectives; background definitions and explanations; lists of materials, supplies, and cultures needed; techniques required, with cross-references to previous exercises; step-by-step instructions; and space to record results.
• Over 70 photographs in full color, and numerous diagrams and drawings assist the student in visualizing techniques and interpreting results.
• Updated Preparation Guide written by the authors has specific instructions (i.e., recipes, materials) for preparing each lab, safety guidelines for handling blood and other bodily fluids, and page references to Tortora, Funke, and Case’s Microbiology: An Introduction.

New To This Edition

• Eye-catching, colorful design makes each exercise easier to navigate. The quick reference sections (Objectives, Materials, Cultures, Techniques Required) are clearly distinguished from the instructive and procedural sections (Background, Procedure) through colored headings.
• Newly rendered illustrations incorporate contrasting colors, increased dimensionality, and a contemporary look.
• Color micrographs and photographs now appear directly alongside the relevant exercise (instead of in a color insert at the front of the manual), allowing students to easily view the images in context and to better interpret the results of their experiments.
• A Conclusions section consisting of a series of investigative questions is consistently included in the Lab Reports of each exercise, encouraging students to closely analyze and understand their results from each laboratory exercise.
• An investigative exercise on parasitic helminths (Exercise 36) provides students with valuable practice in microscopic observation and in estimating sizes of microscopic organisms.
• Additional student practice in building and using dichotomous keys is provided in Exercises, 10, 12, and 16, encouraging students to organize their new information and to prepare students to use keys to identify unknowns in later exercises.
• Combined or rearranged exercises respond to reviewer suggestions and now more closely match the order and progression of many microbiology laboratory courses. For example, aseptic technique is introduced earlier in a new Part Two, Handling bacteria; the two fungi exercises are combined into a single exercise, unknown identification and Bergey’s Manualare introduced earlier, in Part Five, Microbial Metabolism, and rapid identification methods have been moved to appear later in the manual, in Part Thirteen, Microorganisms and Disease.
• User-friendly subheads added to Background sections help organize and illuminate lengthier information.

Table of Contents

Introduction

I. MICROSCOPY

1. Use and Care of the Microscope

2. Examination of Living Microorganisms

II. Handling Bacteria

3. Microbes in the Environment

4. Transfer of Bacteria: Aseptic Techniques

III. STAINING METHODS

5. Preparation of Smears and Simple Staining

6. Negative Staining

7. Gram Staining

8. Acid-fast Staining

9. Structural Stains (Endospore, Capsule, Flagella)

10. Morphologic Unknown
 
IV. CULTIVATION OF BACTERIA.  

11. Isolation of Bacteria by Dilution Technique

12. Special Media for Isolating Bacteria

V. MICROBIAL METABOLISM

13. Carbohydrate Catabolism

14. Fermentation

15. Protein Catabolism, Part 1

16. Protein Catabolism, Part 2

17. Respiration

18. Unknown Identification and Bergey’s Manual

VI. MICROBIAL GROWTH

19. Oxygen and the Growth of Bacteria

20. Determination of a Bacterial Growth Curve: The Role of Temperature

21. Biofilms  

VII. CONTROL OF MICROBIAL GROWTH

22. Physical Methods of Control: Heat

23. Physical Methods of Control: Ultraviolet Radiation

24. Chemical Methods of Control: Disinfectants and Antiseptics

25. Chemical Methods of Control: Antimicrobial Drugs

26. Effectiveness of Hand Scrubbing
 

VIII. MICROBIAL GENETICS

27. Regulation of Gene Expression

28. Isolation of Bacterial Mutants

29. Transformation of Bacteria

30. DNA Fingerprinting

31. Genetic Engineering

32. Ames Test for Detecting Possible Chemical Carcinogens

IX. THE MICROBIAL WORLD

33. Fungi: Yeasts and Molds

34. Phototrophs: Algae and Cyanobacteria 35. Protozoa

36. Parasitic Helminths

X. VIRUSES

37. Isolation and Titration of Bacteriophages

38. Plant Viruses

XI. INTERACTION OF MICROBE AND HOST

39. Epidemiology

40. Koch’s Postulate

XII. IMMUNOLOGY

41. Nonspecific Resistance

42. Blood Group Determination: Slide Agglutination

43. Agglutination Reactions: Microtiter Agglutination

44. ELISA Technique

XIII. MICROORGANISMS AND DISEASE

45. Bacteria of the Skin

46. Bacteria of the Respiratory Tract

47. Bacteria of the Mouth

48. Bacteria of the Gastrointestinal Tract

49. Bacteria of the Genitourinary Tract

50. Rapid Identification Methods

51. Identification of an Unknown from a Clinical Sample
 

XIV. MICROBIOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

52. Microbes in Water: Multiple-Tube Technique

53. Microbes in Water: Membrane Filter Technique

54. Microbes in Food: Contamination

55. Microbes Used in the Production of Foods

56. Microbes in Soil: The Nitrogen and Sulfur Cycles

57. Microbes in Soil: Bioremediaton

APPENDICES

A. Pipetting

B. Dilution Techniques and Calculations

C. Use of the Spectrophotometer

D. Graphing

E. Use of the Dissecting Membrane

F. Use of the Membrane Filter

G. Electrophoresis

H. Keys to Bacteria

Index