Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Describe the evolutionary history of prokaryotesDiscuss the distinguishing features of extremophilesExplain why it is difficult to culture prokaryotes

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"US researchers are finding that what goes for the work place, the playing field, and the home goes for getting the most out of fuel-producing yeasts: teamwork makes the dream work. Inspired by the give-and-take that enables the community of microorganisms found in lichens to thrive in a range of environments, the team paired photosynthetic bacteria with yeast strains to streamline the production of energy-dense fatty acids. That two-way interaction could point to new ways of making biofuels a more attractive alternative energy source. Yeast are among the most industrious organisms on earth. Through the power of fermentation, these microorganisms can take sugar and turn it into clean-burning fuel. But even when genetically optimized to withstand high temperatures and boozy volumes of fuel production, yeasts must still be fed their sweet treat externally. That adds extra processing steps and drives up cost..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, are photosynthetic bacteria that live in water and are important oxygen producers. Human-driven changes are a major factor causing seasonal cyanobacterial blooms, which can cause mass death of aquatic animals. Bacteria-infecting viruses, called phages, could potentially be used to control these outbreaks with minimal environmental disruption. But to date few freshwater ‘cyanophages’ have been isolated or had their genomes sequenced. Recently, researchers isolated a strain of cyanobacteria from Lake Chaohu, a massive lake in China with seasonal cyanobacterial blooms. Using the new cyanobacteria strain, they isolated five new freshwater cyanophages with varying tail structures from the same lake. While viruses can have RNA genomes or even single-stranded DNA genomes, all five isolated phages had double-stranded DNA genomes. Further analysis suggested that they all use different DNA packaging mechanisms and are evolutionarily distinct..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Fundamentals of Biology focuses on the basic principles of biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, and recombinant DNA. These principles are necessary to understanding the basic mechanisms of life and anchor the biological knowledge that is required to understand many of the challenges in everyday life, from human health and disease to loss of biodiversity and environmental quality.
Course Format

This course has been designed for independent study. It consists of four units, one for each topic. The units can be used individually or in combination. The materials for each unit include:

Lecture Videos by MIT faculty.
Learning activities, including Interactive Concept Quizzes, designed to reinforce main concepts from lectures.
Problem Sets you do on your own and check your answers against the Solutions when you're done.
Problem Solving Video help sessions taught by experienced MIT Teaching Assistants.
Lists of important Terms and Definitions.
Suggested Topics and Links for further study.
Exams with Solution Keys.

Content Development

Eric Lander
Robert Weinberg
Tyler Jacks
Hazel Sive
Graham Walker
Sallie Chisholm
Dr. Michelle Mischke

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Glaciers and ice sheets may seem dead and empty to the naked eye, but the dust that coats them, cryoconite, is a hotspot for microbes and microbe-driven biogeochemical cycling. However, little is known about the geographical diversity in cryoconite microbial communities. Most cryoconite research focuses on polar microbial communities, and reports on Asia’s high mountain glaciers are rare. A recent metagenomics study found key metabolic and light harvesting differences between polar and Asian alpine cryoconite microbiota. The Asian cryoconite community had more abundant genes for denitrification, suggesting that denitrification is enhanced there compared to polar regions. While Asian cryoconite is dominated by multiple cyanobacterial lineages that possess phycoerythrin, a green-light harvesting protein, polar cryoconite is dominated by a single cyanobacterial species (_Phormidesmis priestleyi_) that lacks phycoerythrin..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Life in cold environments dominates Earth’s biosphere, where microbial activity plays a large role in biogeochemical cycles. 120 metagenomes from Ace Lake in East Antarctica were analyzed for a seasonal cycle and four summers over 10 years to determine how the polar light cycle affects microbial-driven nutrient cycles. The two most abundant taxa found were green sulfur bacteria (GSB) and cyanobacteria, both of which are highly influenced by light availability. Interestingly, the abundance of one important GSB member, Chlorobium, dropped significantly in winter before rebounding back to high levels in the spring. Although viruses specific for these microbes were abundant, the negative impact of viral infection on host growth appeared to be limited..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

How and where photosynthesis evolved in the ancestors of cyanobacteria (along with a discussion of endosymbiosis).

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Cyanobacteria blooms in freshwater ecosystems are difficult to predict and can be harmful to humans and animals. Microcystis is a genus of cyanobacteria that can cause these toxic blooms. They form close associations with heterotrophic bacteria - their microbiome, but the details of these associations are not well understood. To examine this relationship, researchers characterized the genetic diversity of over 100 Microcystis colonies. They identified 18 distinct Microcystis genotypes. The genetic diversity was greater between colonies than within them, suggesting that Microcystis forms colonies via clonal expansion. Each Microcystis genotype had its own microbiome composition and related genotypes had similar microbiomes. Two of the nine most prevalent colony-associated bacteria genera, Roseomonas and Rhodobacter, showed strong signs of co-phylogeny with Microcystis. These closely associated bacteria may be expanding the metabolic capabilities of Microcystis..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

O audiovisual é resultado de um ano de pesquisa no rio Tapajós da ocorrência de cianobactérias por sensoriamento remoto em Santarém, Pará, Amazônia brasileira.
Este rio, que possui praias de intenso uso turístico e suscita algumas preocupações devido ao aumento das florações de cianobactérias observadas nos últimos anos.
O documento define o que são cianobactérias e quais são seus riscos, descreve a área estudada, a metodologia de pesquisa e alguns resultados obtidos nas áreas onde ocorrem as cianobactérias, discutindo as possíveis causas da acentuação do fenômeno e concluindo com uma reflexão sobre as medidas a serem adotadas, para mitigar o problema a médio e longo prazo e que todos devem estar envolvidos.
O vídeo pode ser usado assistindo em trechos ou na íntegra, na educação básica, superior ou como informação individual ou para grupos informais.

The audiovisual is the result of a year of research on the Tapajós River for the occurrence of cyanobacteria by remote sensing in Santarém, Pará, Brazilian Amazon.
This river, which has beaches of intense tourist use and raises some concerns due to the increase in cyanobacterial blooms observed in recent years.
The document defines what cyanobacteria are and what their risks are, describes the area studied, the research methodology and some results obtained in the areas where cyanobacteria occur, discussing the possible causes of the phenomenon's accentuation and concluding with a reflection on the measures to be taken. adopted to mitigate the problem in the medium and long term and that everyone should be involved.
The video can be used by watching excerpts or in full, in basic, higher education or as individual information or for informal groups.