In this activity, students will practice kitchen-related vocabulary, and the food preparation steps, and then discuss their preference for places they like to eat at.Can-Do Statements:I can describe the food preparation steps.I can look at pictures in the kitchen vocabulary and identify them.I can talk about where I like to eat the most.

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:List the characteristics of fungiDescribe the composition of the myceliumDescribe the mode of nutrition of fungiExplain sexual and asexual reproduction in fungi

Two lessons and their associated activities explore cellular respiration and population growth in yeasts. Yeast cells are readily obtained and behave predictably, so they are very appropriate to use in middle school classrooms. In the first lesson, students are introduced to yeast respiration through its role in the production of bread and alcoholic beverages. A discussion of the effects of alcohol on the human body is used both as an attention-getting device, and as a means to convey important information at an impressionable age. In the associated activity, students set up a simple way to indirectly observe and quantify the amount of respiration occurring in yeast-molasses cultures. Based on questions that arise from this activity, in the second lesson students work in small groups as they design and execute their own experiments to determine how environmental factors affect yeast population growth.

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:

"Probiotic foods can help boost human health by promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria, but although probiotic bacteria can protect against infections with pathogens, little is known about the mechanisms underlying this interaction. In a new study, researchers evaluated the microbiome of a unique fermented kefir mixture. One of the predominant microbes found was the fungus Kluyveromyces marxianus, and a metabolite secreted by fungi – tryptophol acetate, which inhibits bacterial communication and virulence – was identified in the probiotic drink. Tryptophol acetate blocked the ability of the gut pathogen Vibrio cholerae to chemically sense bacterial density and form biofilms and altered the expression of genes associated with virulence. Although further studies are needed to fully understand the effects of probiotics on harmful gut bacteria, these results uncover a new cross-kingdom inhibition mechanism, where probiotic yeast prevent the growth of pathogenic bacteria..."

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

Genetic mutations provide valuable tools for analyzing biochemical pathways in yeast. In this module, students use deletion mutants to analyze the steps in methionine biosynthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. At the end of this module, students will be able to:understand and use the correct genetic nomenclature for genes, proteins and mutant strainsexplain how genetic screens are used to isolate mutant strains with particular phenotypesdistinguish various met deletion strains by their ability to grow on selective media containing different sulfur sources and by their appearnace on indicator mediapredict how mutations in various MET  genes will affect the intracellular concentrations of intermediates in the methionine biosynthesis This module is part of a semester-long introductory lab class, Investigations in Molecular Cell BIology, at Boston College.

Students set up and run the experiments they designed in the Population Growth in Yeasts associated lesson, using simple yeast-molasses cultures in test tubes. Population growth is indicated by the amount of respiration occurring in the cultures, which in turn is indicated by the growth of carbon dioxide bubbles trapped within the culture tubes. Using this method, students test for a variety of environmental influences, such as temperature, food supply and pH.

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:

"Calcium signaling is critical to cellular processes in a wide variety of cells, making it important for human health and disease Now, researchers have uncovered one of the mechanisms underlying this process in a pathogenic fungus Candida albicans is one of the most important human yeast pathogens, causing illness in immunocompromised patients In yeasts and lower eukaryotes, calcium signaling is tightly regulated by the transcription factor Crz1, which travels to the nucleus following calcium stress C..."

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

This seminar is designed to be an experimental and hands-on approach to applied chemistry (as seen in cooking). Cooking may be the oldest and most widespread application of chemistry and recipes may be the oldest practical result of chemical research. We shall do some cooking experiments to illustrate some chemical principles, including extraction, denaturation, and phase changes.

In this 8th grade science lesson, students prepare Soft Pretzels. While the pretzels bake in the oven, students activate yeast and observe the production of carbon dioxide, which causes the Soft Pretzels to rise.

This module provides a short introduction to light microscopy using two divergent yeast species, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe, as subjects. Students examine the yeasts at different phases of their life cycle and compare them to the much smaller bacterium, E. coli. At the end of the module,students should be able to:identify the components of the light microscopestain samples with iodine to improve contrastcorrectly adjust the microscope for different specimensidentify morphological differences between yeast species in both stationary and vegetative phasesThis module is part of a semester-long introductory laboratory course, Investigations in Molecular Cell Biology, at Boston College.

Students design systems that use microbes to break down a water pollutant (in this case, sugar). They explore how temperature affects the rate of pollutant decomposition.

This micrograph was taken at 1000X total magnifcation on a brightfield microscope. The subject is Candida albicans cells grown in broth culture at 30 degrees Celsius. The cells were heat-fixed to a slide and Gram stained prior to visualization.Image credit: Emily Fox

This micrograph was taken at 1000X total magnifcation on a brightfield microscope. The subject is Candida albicans cells grown in broth culture at 30 degrees Celsius. The cells were heat-fixed to a slide and Gram stained prior to visualization.Image credit: Emily Fox

This micrograph was taken at 1000X total magnifcation on a brightfield microscope. The subject is Candida albicans cells grown on YPD agar at 30 degrees Celsius. The cells were heat-fixed to a slide and Gram stained prior to visualization.Image credit: Emily Fox

This micrograph was taken at 100X total magnifcation on a brightfield microscope. The subject is Candida albicans cells grown in broth culture at 30 degrees Celsius. The cells were heat-fixed to a slide and Gram stained prior to visualization.Image credit: Emily Fox

This micrograph was taken at 400X total magnifcation on a brightfield microscope. The subject is Candida albicans cells grown in broth culture at 30 degrees Celsius. The cells were heat-fixed to a slide and Gram stained prior to visualization.Image credit: Emily Fox