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Microbiology: An Introduction cover

Biology

Biology

Microbiology: An Introduction

Gerard J. Tortora; Christine L. Case; Warner B. Bair III; Derek Weber; Berdell R. Funke

A course text covering microbial structure and growth, metabolism, genetics, immunology, disease, and environmental and industrial microbiology. Case-based examples connect mechanisms to health careers. The publisher presents it as suitable for students without prior biology or chemistry, including non-majors.

Prerequisites: No prior biology or chemistry course is assumed; the publisher describes it as suitable for non-majors.

Difficulty Level
Beginner
Academic Level
Undergraduate
microbiologyimmunologymicrobial geneticsinfectious diseaselaboratory

01 / Reading Guide

Reading Guide

Citation

Tortora, G. J., Case, C. L., Bair, W. B., III, Weber, D., & Funke, B. R. (2023). Microbiology: An Introduction (14th ed.). Pearson.

Chapter Summary

The book has 28 chapters in five parts and about 840 pages. Pearson describes it as a clearly presented text that balances concepts and applications, focuses on big-picture themes and uses a clinical orientation to show why microbiology matters for health-care careers. The fourteenth edition deepens the clinical focus, weaves SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 coverage through the text, revises the immunology chapters and adds recent microbiology research. The part and chapter titles below are the publisher's.

Part One: Fundamentals of Microbiology (Chapters 1–9)

The chapters are The Microbial World and You; Chemical Principles; Observing Microorganisms Through a Microscope; Functional Anatomy of Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells; Microbial Metabolism; Microbial Growth; The Control of Microbial Growth; Microbial Genetics; and Biotechnology and DNA Technology. The part begins with the chemistry and microscopy needed to study microbes, then covers cell structure, metabolism, growth and its control, genetics and biotechnology.

Part Two: A Survey of the Microbial World (Chapters 10–13)

Classification of Microorganisms; The Prokaryotes: Domains Bacteria and Archaea; The Eukaryotes: Fungi, Algae, Protozoa, and Helminths; and Viruses, Viroids, and Prions survey the groups of microbes and the infectious agents that are not cells.

Part Three: Interaction Between Microbe and Host (Chapters 14–20)

Principles of Disease and Epidemiology; Microbial Mechanisms of Pathogenicity; Innate Immunity: Nonspecific Defenses of the Host; Adaptive Immunity: Specific Defenses of the Host; Practical Applications of Immunology; Disorders Associated with the Immune System; and Antimicrobial Drugs. Three immunology chapters (16–18) and one on immune disorders sit between pathogenicity and treatment.

Part Four: Microorganisms and Human Disease (Chapters 21–26)

Microbial Diseases of the Skin and Eyes; of the Nervous System; of the Cardiovascular and Lymphoid Systems; of the Respiratory System; of the Digestive System; and of the Urinary and Genital Systems. Each chapter is devoted to the diseases of one body system.

Part Five: Environmental and Applied Microbiology (Chapters 27–28)

Environmental Microbiology and Applied and Industrial Microbiology close the book with microbes outside the host.

Key Concepts

Part One: Chapters 1–9

  • Microbial metabolism and microbial growth: Chapters 5 and 6, together with control of growth in Chapter 7.
  • Microbial genetics and DNA technology: Chapters 8 and 9.

Parts Two and Three: Chapters 10–20

  • Classification and the domains Bacteria and Archaea: Chapters 10 and 11.
  • Epidemiology and pathogenicity: Chapters 14 and 15.
  • Innate and adaptive immunity: Chapters 16 and 17.
  • Antimicrobial drugs: Chapter 20.

Parts Four and Five: Chapters 21–28

  • Disease by body system: Chapters 21–26.
  • Environmental and industrial microbiology: Chapters 27 and 28.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

  • An audience stated by the publisher. The publisher presents the text as a comprehensive beginning course that assumes no previous study of biology or chemistry and suits many programs: allied health, biological sciences, environmental science, animal science, forestry, agriculture, nutrition science and the liberal arts.
  • Chemistry and microscopy up front. Part One starts with Chemical Principles and Observing Microorganisms Through a Microscope, so readers without a science background meet the needed vocabulary inside the book.
  • Clear route from mechanisms to disease. The sequence of pathogenicity, immunity, antimicrobial drugs and then disease by body system gives clinically minded readers a progression from principles to applications, ending in a body-system catalogue of diseases.
  • Current coverage. The fourteenth edition integrates SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 and revises its immunology chapters, according to Pearson.

Limitations

  • Breadth over depth in molecular topics. Metabolism, genetics and biotechnology each receive a single chapter (5, 8 and 9) in an 840-page book, so students who plan to go further in molecular microbiology will need a more specialized text.
  • Weight on disease. Thirteen of the 28 chapters (14–26) concern disease, host defense or treatment, which suits health-career courses well but leaves less room for readers whose interest is microbial diversity or ecology.
  • Environmental coverage is short. Ecology and the environment share two closing chapters (27–28); readers who want microbial diversity and ecology developed more fully should look at a text organized around them.

Where It Fits in the Course

Tortora, Case, Bair, Weber and Funke is the course's introductory text for readers with little science background and a health or applied-science orientation. Brock Biology of Microorganisms is the alternative with more weight on cell biology, genetics, diversity and ecology and a fuller treatment of molecular biology; its disease chapters are organized mainly by route of transmission rather than by body system. The OpenStax Microbiology text is a free, openly licensed one-semester introduction that concentrates on microbes in human health and organizes diseases by body system, so it overlaps most with Tortora and can serve as a free companion. Money's Microbiology: A Very Short Introduction is a short non-technical survey of the microbial world.

Students who want more should move to Brock for breadth, or to White, Drummond and Fuqua's The Physiology and Biochemistry of Prokaryotes and Henkin and Peters's Snyder and Champness Molecular Genetics of Bacteria for advanced treatments of how prokaryotic cells work and how bacteria handle genetic information.

How to Use This Book

The book is meant for first-course students in health-related and applied programs; the publisher says no previous biology or chemistry is assumed. A practical plan for a one-semester course:

  • Core: Part One (Chapters 1–9) in order, then Chapters 14–17 on disease principles, pathogenicity and immunity.
  • Applied: Chapters 20 on antimicrobial drugs and 21–26 on diseases by body system, chosen to match the course's program; Chapters 18–19 for practical immunology and immune disorders.
  • Optional: Part Two as a reference survey, and Chapters 27–28 for environmental and industrial microbiology.

Read Chapters 2 and 3 first if chemistry or microscopy is new. Build a table for each Part Four chapter that records the pathogen, route of infection, symptoms and treatment, and link each row to the pathogenicity and immunity chapters.