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:

"The microbial compositions of hot springs are strongly influenced by temperature and pH. _Acidithiobacillus_ bacteria are found in diverse hot springs, but the genomic features that enable their adaptability are unclear. A recent DNA sequencing study analyzed the genomes of _Acidithiobacillus_ from hot springs in New Zealand and compared them to published non-hot-spring _Acidithiobacillus_ sequences. _Acidithiobacillus_ typically accounted for over 10% of the prokaryote abundance in the springs. Three species, including two novel species (TVZ\\_G2 and TVZ\\_G3), accounted for over 90% of _Acidithiobacillus _and were found in springs with wide-ranging characteristics. A fourth related novel species was also found, although in low abundance. All four species were found at temperatures and pHs above the known limits for _Acidithiobacillus, _likely because they had more GC bases and proline codons in their DNA than other species, increasing their thermostability..."

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:

"A team of researchers from the US and the UK has launched a mathematical assault on our planet. Using energy calculations, they’ve tasked themselves with determining the ability for life as we know it to make it through a catastrophe of cosmic proportions. It’s the end of the world as we know it. And the verdict is that life will be fine. Just what kind of calamity would it take to wipe out all life? The simplest answer is that, since life as we know it depends on water, the entire ocean would have to boil. Earth’s toughest creature, the tardigrade, can withstand temperatures well above boiling. But it can do so for only a few minutes. So the question now becomes, what cosmic events are cataclysmic enough to vaporize our oceans? Mathematically, it’s an energy problem—to which there are three possible answers. The first is an asteroid impact. Many space objects have struck Earth throughout history. And many still might..."

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:

"Microorganisms are critical drivers of biogeochemical cycles and are the most abundant organisms in frigid regions. Identifying the genomic traits of cold-loving microbes may help explain their physiology and adaptation, but recognizing which genomic traits are important for environmental adaptation is challenging. A new study compared the genomes of Arthrobacter bacteria isolated from the Tibetan Plateau with published genomes of related bacteria and defined a new group of Arthrobacter that live in polar and alpine environments. In the laboratory, the bacteria in this group grew comparatively rapidly at 0 °C. Compared to bacteria from warmer environments, the polar/alpine bacteria had different genomic and amino acid compositions, and their predicted proteins had different stability levels and functions..."

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:

"The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is the driest nonpolar desert on Earth. The almost complete lack of precipitation means that it can support very little life, especially in its hyperarid core. But this core region harbors expansive fields of ancient boulders that scientists think could shelter unique microbes from the extreme desert environment. To find out, researchers used DNA sequencing techniques to compare the microbes inhabiting the soil directly beneath the Atacama Desert boulders and in the open areas beside them. They found a substantial difference in these microbial communities, with significantly more archaea occupying the soil below the boulders than beside them. Remarkably, the team also discovered that many of these archaea belong to a completely new genus of Thaumarchaeota archaea, which they named Candidatus Nitrosodeserticola. These archaea harbor genes involved in ammonia oxidation, carbon fixation, acetate metabolism, and the ability to tolerate extreme environmental conditions..."

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:

"With an increasing number of spaceflights, microbial colonization of spacecrafts and assembly facilities is a concern. Planetary protection research focuses on developing technology for cleaning and sterilization, and clean rooms are the final step before spacecraft launch into space. But with their stringent air filtration and cleaning, Space Assembly Facility (SAF) rooms become a selective environment for microorganisms that can tolerate extreme cleaning methods. Because these microorganisms are likely low-abundance, current identification methods can struggle to characterize and profile SAF-residing microbes. A new study presents a comprehensive metagenomic framework to characterize microorganisms relevant for planetary protection. Researchers sequenced and analyzed 51 metagenomic samples from SAF clean rooms to identify microbes that could potentially survive spaceflight..."

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