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 fungal parasites and pathogens of plantsDescribe the different types of fungal infections in humansExplain why antifungal therapy is hampered by the similarity between fungal and animal cells

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 plant’s microbiome is made up of all the microorganisms living on or in its tissues and can drive numerous aspects of its health and development. Scientists think it could be possible to harness these microbial communities to maximize crop health and productivity. To explore this possibility, a team of researchers examined the effects of glutamic acid, an important amino acid naturally produced by plants, on their microbiomes. Applying glutamic acid at 2-week intervals drastically altered the microbiome composition of strawberry and tomato plants, notably increasing the abundance of _Streptomyces globisporus_ SP6C4, a key microbe known to negatively affect pathogens that attack these species. This increase in _Streptomyces globisporus_ SP6C4 was also associated with reductions in diseases of both the leaves and roots, including gray mold and Fusarium wilt..."

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:

"Amphibians are one of the most vulnerable animal groups on the planet, with over 40% of their species threatened with extinction. A major driver of that vulnerability is the fungal pathogen _Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis_ (Bd). Bd is linked to the decline of at least 500 amphibian species, the greatest loss in biodiversity due to a pathogen ever recorded. The amphibian skin microbiome community structure has been linked to health outcomes of Bd infection, but the functional importance of the microbiota is not yet fully understood. To close this gap and potentially discover biomarkers or disease control methods, researchers investigated the microbiome of midwife toads. They examined both wild populations with naturally occurring Bd infection and controlled laboratory exposure. Infection with Bd led to changes in the microbial community structure, gene profile, and metabolic function in laboratory and wild toad populations..."

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:

"Soil not only provides the water and nutrients necessary for plant growth but also hosts a huge reservoir of microorganisms with important positive and negative effects on plant health. Scientists are now looking toward harnessing these soil microorganisms to design synthetic microbial communities that can help control plant disease. A team of researchers recently investigated the relationship between soil microorganisms and diseased plants of Astragalus mongholicus, a member of the pea family. They found that bacteria with particular growth-promoting or disease-inhibiting abilities colonized the roots of plants with fungal root-rot disease and the surrounding soil..."

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