Allies and Enemies: How the World Depends on Bacteria
Bacteria are invisible, mysterious, deadly, self-sufficient…and absolutely essential for all life, including yours. No other living things combine their elegant simplicity with their incredibly complex role: Bacteria keep us alive, supply our food, and regulate our biosphere. We can’t live a day without them, and no chemical, antibiotic, or irradiation has ever successfully eradicated them. They’re our partners, like it or not--even though some of them will happily kill us.\ Allies and...
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“In Allies and Enemies, Anne Maczulak takes the mystery out of bacteria. Practical, useful, and very readable, Maczulak demystifies the world of bacteria and viruses. A fascinating book on an important subject. Highly recommended.”—Sheldon Siegel, author of The New York Times best-selling Judgment Day“No nucleus? No problem! As a microbiologist, Anne Maczulak deeply appreciates the astonishing abilities of the ultra-simple organisms that rule our world and help operate our bodies. As a writer, she inspires her readers to want to know more about their secret realm. Allies and Enemies is both fun and practical as it interweaves science with history and popular culture.”—Jessica Snyder Sachs, author of Good Germs, Bad Germs: Health and Survival in a Bacterial World“Anne Maczulak engagingly achieves the often difficult task to present the scope of modern microbiology in a nontechnical manner for general reading. Allies and Enemies covers the scope of the microbial world, from the continuing battle against microbe enemies who never give up the fight to the frontiers of how microbes create a livable environment for us. For those whose interest is perked for more about microbes, an excellent list of references and websites is provided.”—Charles P. Gerba (also known as “Dr. Germ”), University of Arizona, Tucson“Anne Maczulak has done a masterful job of explaining the complex nuances of microbes in simple, easy-to-understand language. She explains the ‘yin and yang’ of the diverse microbial world with text that is rich with numerous historical vignettes. She takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of the benefits of microbes to human existence, describing their finely articulated chemical mechanisms, their intricate dances of cooperation, their lightning speed adaptations, and their genetic plasticity, offering a glimpse of the underlying principles of the miracle of life.”—Philip M. Tierno Jr., Ph.D., Director, Clinical Microbiology and Immunology, New York University Langone Medical Center and New York University School of MedicineBacteria: How they keep you alive. How they can kill you. How we can all live together happily.Bacteria are invisible, mysterious, deadly, self-sufficient…and absolutely essential for all life, including yours. No other living things combine their elegant simplicity with their incredibly complex role: Bacteria keep us alive, supply our food, and regulate our biosphere. We can’t live a day without them, and no chemical, antibiotic, or irradiation has ever successfully eradicated them. They’re our partners, like it or not—even though some of them will happily kill us.Allies and Enemies tells the story of this amazing, intimate partnership. Authored by Anne Maczulak, a microbiologist who’s hunted and worked with an extraordinary array of bacteria, this book offers a powerful new perspective on Earth’s oldest creatures. You’ll discover how bacteria work, how they evolve, their surprising contributions and uses, the roles they’ve played in human history, and why you can't survive without them. No form of life is more important, and in Maczulak’s hands, none is more fascinating. Outlasted, outnumbered, outsmartedThey’ve been here four billion years—and they even outnumber you in your own body How bacteria keep you alive……and how to keep them from killing you“Humans Defeat Germs!” But not for long… The Invisible UniverseThe stunning hidden relationships between bacteria and the rest of nature
Acknowledgments viiiAbout the Author ixIntroduction 1Chapter 1 Why the world needs bacteria 7Tricks in bacterial survival 9Bacterial communities 13Under the microscope 16The size of life 20The bacteria of the human body 25The origins of our bacteria 29One planet 32Chapter 2 Bacteria in history 35The ancients 37The legacy of bacterial pathogens 39The plague 42Microbiologists save the day 46Unheralded heroes of bacteriology 50On the front 58Chapter 3 “Humans defeat germs!”(but not for long) 63What is an antibiotic? 64Inventing drugs is like making sausage 68Mutant wars 73Bacteria share their DNA 77The opportunists 78Chapter 4 Bacteria in popular culture 83Bacteria and art 83Bacteria in the performing arts 84Friends and enemies 89Do bacteria devour art? 91Chapter 5 An entire industry from a single cell 99E. coli 103The power of cloning 106A chain reaction 109Bacteria on the street 112Anthrax 116Why we will always need bacteria 117Chapter 6 The invisible universe 121Versatility begets diversity 124Cyanobacteria 128Bacterial protein factories 131How to build an ecosystem 135Feedback and ecosystem maintenance 138Macrobiology 141Chapter 7 Climate, bacteria, and a barrel of oil 145The story of oil 147Bacteria power 149How is a cow like a cockroach? 150Microscopic power plants 154The waste problem 155Bacteria on Mars 160Shaping the planet 162Epilogue How microbiologists grow bacteria 165Serial dilution 165Counting bacteria 167Logarithms 168Anaerobic microbiology 169Aseptic technique 170Appendix Resources for learning more about bacteria 173Internet resources on bacteria 173Book resources on bacteria 173Classic reading on bacteria 174Bacteria rule references 175Index 197
