PriortotheadventofrapidDNAsequencinginthelate90s,studentsweretaughtindepthaboutthephysiologyandecologyofmicroorganisms.Therewasagenerallygoodunderstandingaboutthebiologyofeachorganismandhowitinteractedwithitsenvironment.Sincethen,thefocusofresearchhasshiftedtowardsananalysisofnucleicacidsequencestodeterminepossiblecellularbiochemistryorphylogeny.Amicrobialgenomecannowbesequencedinamatterofhours,andwiththehelpofapanoplyofsoftwareprogrammestheinnerworkingsoftheorganismcanbeprobedingreatdetail.However,thereisnowsomuchdetailthatthestudentorresearchertendstoloseanysenseoftheunderlyingbiologyoftheirstudyorganism.Microbiologyhasalmostbecomeabranchofmolecularbiology,withthebiologygettinglostinthemoleculardetail.Thisnoveltextreversesthattrendbycuttingthroughthemolecularinformationoverloadandplacingthenewsequence-derivedinformationinthecontextofthenaturalhistoryoftheorganisminquestion.Eachconcisechapterhasafascinatinganddifferentstorytotell,focussingononepathogenorgroupofcloselyrelatedpathogensandhighlightingaparticularlyinterestingand/orunusualfeature.Theaimistoabstracttherelevantmolecularandgenomicinformation,andthentoshowhowitprovidesinsightsintothebiologyoftheorganismasawhole.MicrobiologyofInfectiousDiseaseisaimedatundergraduates,graduates,andresearchersinmicrobiology,microbialecology,diseaseecology,andrelatedareas.Itisintendedasasupplementaltextforstudentstoprovidethemwithadetailedoverviewofthebiologyandnaturalhistoryofthemicroorganismstheywillroutinelyencounterandthefactorsthatinfluencetheirpathogenicityandinfectivity.
