The text is divided into chapters that are each divided into smaller sections with subheadings. Each section is of a reasonable length and the information is logically divided. The text begins with an overview of the cell theory and organelle function followed by a review of chemical bonds, macromolecules, and energy. The next section discusses principles of molecular biology with chapters on DNA replication, transcription, gene regulation, and molecular techniques.
The last section describes the cell membrane, cellular transport, cell signaling, cell cycle, and evolution. There are a few instances where examples were given that required knowledge that is discussed in later chapters. For example, the tertiary structure of insulin is provided as an example of covalent bonds before protein folding is presented. The challenge questions are a great addition to the text but a few of them needed information from future chapters to completely answer the question.
Also, answers to these questions provided at the end of the text would increase learning. Overall, the organization and flow of information is good. There are no major problems with interface. A few of the figures are a bit distorted but not to the point of distracting from the reading. There are a few typos and repeated sections of sentences but these are rare and do not really affect the overall reading.
This text provides a basic summary of cellular and molecular processes that could be customized for an introductory cell or molecular course. There are a few errors that do need corrected and then additional details could be added to supply the desired rigor.
The voice over powerpoints are helpful and make the text more accessible. Overall, this text provides a workable foundation for an open access text that can be customized to meet the demands of any introductory cell molecular course. This text is a great introductory text that includes the basics of cell and molecular biology.
It would be a very useful introductory text. Each chapter includes appropriate video presentations which adds to comprehension. There is a theme There is a theme based on evolution utilized throughout each chapters with appropriate examples. Main points are reinforced with guided exercises for students. Although each chapter could stand alone it does seem that some reordering of chapters might help.
There are some areas that are used but not explained until another chapter. But these are actually quite small. Although the textbook us accurate it would be useful to include not only new terms but old venacular such as Krebs Cycle.
Since depending on textbook students may run into both terms in later study. No textbook can be completely relevant forever but I did not find any current information not supported by links which help date the time content was written. It would be easy to provide links to any current new information and future information. Whereas the text is very readable and flows nicely, there is no index or glossary provided. Main terms are listed at the end of each chapter but no glossary for accuracy.
Plus no index makes it harder for students to find concepts they may need to review in later chapters. I do like that learning objectives are clearly stated in each chapter. Whereas each chapter can be taken alone they flow well from one to another.
The ease of readability and lends to a consistent understanding. Balance of new concepts is appropriate with not too much new information introduced at one time. It is quite easy to have each chapter as a stand alone section with the videos provided. Topics that need information previously presented are represented in a shorter version. There is a logical progression that works well.
The cellular biology is the last third of the book I would have liked to have seen some cellular presented earlier yet this format does work. I had absolutely no issues navigating throughout. Since I have not used a Open Textbook I was extremely happy because my skills are somewhat lacking. If I can navigate I think most students will do so with ease. The illustrations needed more parts labeled and more views so students don't get stuck only being able to recognize one illustration view.
This book covers the basics of cell and molecular biology and would be useful in an introductory class level. I expected more molecular techniques discussed since there was an entire chapter on DNA techniques however model organisms and I expected more molecular techniques discussed since there was an entire chapter on DNA techniques however model organisms and protein techniques were not covered in much detail if any.
The book supplies a list of key terms however there is no glossary or index. A major challenge in understanding the life sciences is grasping the jargon.
Therefore, a glossary would be very helpful. The topics covered in this textbook are the topics expected to be covered in this subject area. Most of the information provided especially in the text were accurate.
I found that some of the illustrations were lacking detail or had additional information which made them less accurate based on the text. For example, when discussing the various subunits of a histone, the illustration for histones does not show these subunits. Also, when illustrating RNA polymerase, the tail is phosphorylated on the enzyme but there is no mention of that phosphorylation in the text how it is involved in the modification of mRNA.
The technology portion of the textbook may need updating as new molecular techniques are developed. In addition to the molecular techniques some of the studies used as examples could be updated. For example, there have been extensive studies in epigenetics done on mouse rearing and twin studies on schizophrenia which could be included in the text. I found this to be too much information when the reader had not learned about translation yet. In addition to that statement I found some of the concepts mentioned felt out of order like the author discusses protein modifications after primary structures but before discussing secondary, tertiary and quaternary structures.
There was also a lack of specific examples or real world application to these concepts. Protein motifs were discussed vaguely rather than giving a specific example where you might see coil-coil motifs.
Enzymes were discussed specifically from a biochemical perspectives and not a cellular perspective. There was no mention of how enzymes are found in various parts of the cells or how the cell is an extremely crowded place. In the DNA chapter the author mentions how size, shape and number of chromosomes is specific to species but does not give us an example or show us karyotypes from various species to clarify this statement.
This could continue the misconception that more complex animals have a higher number of chromosomes. Some of the illustrations were also confusing, for example the illustration for primase and heterochromatin and euchromatin are mentioned without an illustration. Finally, I love the idea of the challenges however I found some of the challenges confusing or inappropriate like the challenge on pg in which students are learning about chromosomes but getting asked specific about cell cycles.
This book is extremely consistent which I appreciate. Each chapter opens with a general overview and student learning objectives. Challenges are added intermittingly throughout the chapter and at the end of the chapter is a table of key terms. Each chapter all consists of voice over PowerPoints and external links for YouTube videos and websites to clarify the material. There is modularity to each chapter and it is easy to break up readings. I did not like the way the topics were organized nor the flow of some topics.
I would prefer for Cell and Molecular Biology to be presented as central dogma DNA-mRNA-proteins then get into gene regulation, cellular energetics, membrane structure and transport as well as additional chapters on cell signaling, before discussing cell cycle, cancer and motility.
I also found the last chapter felt out of place and portions of that chapter could be incorporated into each chapter of the book giving an overall evolution theme. I also found various topics felt out of place within the chapter. For example, telomerase was thrown into the DNA replication chapter before discussing the natural shortening of chromosomes after each replication cycle. Also, regulation of transcription was discussed before the details of transcription and regulating of protein turn over may be best placed either in the translation chapter or protein chapter rather than the gene regulation chapter.
I found the textbook easy to navigate although a hyperlinked index or a breakdown of a table of contents would be extremely helpful. Some of the images were a bit lower quality but links to external sources worked and those sources were helpful. In general, I think this a good book for an introductory course in Cell and Molecular Biology. I recommend the authors consider challenges or application of topics that are more medically or environmentally relevant.
For example, when discussing translation there is no mention of how some antibiotics work, and when discussing protein structure the authors could apply that to various diseases states such as sickle cell anemia. This book is a very comprehensive text for understanding cell biology. Aimed at a biology majors in an introductory class, the book and associated lectures cover both eukaryotic and prokaryotic molecular nucleic acid and protein structures, Overall this textbook is fairly accurate.
At times, some more complex subjects or subjects where scientists don't fully know all the answers such as long non-coding RNAs , the author does describe things vaguely. There are a few errors, some probably arising from the extensive use of online sources. An example is the discussion and image of Alzheimer's disease, which doesn't quite look or work the way illustrated as amyloid beta is miscut and then aggregates.
PrPc, shown, is a different protein that does aggregate when it misfolds and catalyzes others to misfold. A detailed re-check of these types of examples should be validated with an expert. This textbook is up-to-date and appears, as it is in a modular form, relatively easy to update. Linkage to online content is always fraught with issues as content appears and disappears, thus some links do not work currently. This is one serious problem for any complex subject.
Excessive details and unfamiliar and occasional misleading nomenclature can alway make it hard to grasp. The online lectures work well to help with this. In many cases the author has done a fine job of explaining some of the unusual terminology that arose as scientists discovered the workings of the cells.
However, at times, the author jumps around from subject to subject which can be hard to follow. This is a serious issue with this book. The flow is too jumpy. I would hope that students taking this class would already have taken a basic chemistry class first.
The bright blue links is a bit distracting. I'm not sure the purple challenge boxes help, they seemed distracting to me. The images are often of low resolution and poor quality font rendering when in a diagram or image.
Italics fonts are hardest read when they degrade. Higher resolution images need to be used. I can see that Dr. Bergstrom has meticulously drawn many of these himself, and they are good, just did not translate well.
Perhaps image compression in Adobe Acrobat was set too high. Overall, a very good introductory book. I like the accompanying video lectures. Needs some editing, fact-rehecking, image reacquisition, and reorganization.
Dependence on other's potentially transient on-line content is always an issue. But overall a good resource for students in the biological sciences. The text provides coverage of a very broad range of topics, starting with biochemistry, moving into molecular biology, and ending with cell biology. Throughout the entire text evolution is a constant theme, providing context, rationale, and Throughout the entire text evolution is a constant theme, providing context, rationale, and examples of its importance in the biological sciences - a strong advantage and an important one in my opinion.
There are one or two guided exercises for students to complete within the text, demonstrating how to use online resources such as those available for creating and visualizing 3D protein structures.
The table of contents at the beginning is very useful in order to quickly identify which topics are of interest, and the links accurately move you to the relevant sections of the text. There is no glossary or index of content, however there is a collection of links to relevant YouTube videos referenced in the chapters at the end of the textbook. Each chapter ends with a list of important terms, but the definitions or the context of these terms is not provided.
The text takes a biochemistry intensive approach to the topic, spending half the text 8 of 16 chapters discussing basic chemistry, proteins structure, energetics, enzyme kinetics, and major metabolic processes. While some of these topics go into great detail, others do not. For example, the calculation of free energy is given significant coverage, as is aerobic respiration and the Krebs cycle.
While photosynthesis is mentioned, as well as the several types of performed by plants C3, C4, CAM , there is very little information on the Calvin cycle, one of the most important carbon fixation process on the planet in my opinion. The next five chapters , focus on molecular biology. Specifically, replication, transcription, translation, gene regulation, and recombinant DNA technology. Coverage in this section varies as well. While replication, transcription, and translation are all adequately described, gene regulation focuses primarily on prokaryotic operons.
Although mentioned, there is not a lot of information on transcriptional regulation through chromatin remodeling, transcription factor expression and regulation, or miRNA regulation. Processing of RNA is also a little brief in some areas, particularly in mRNA capping and circularization in eukaryotes which is yet another way gene regulation may occur.
The last four chapters of the text , focus on cellular biology with a focus on membranes, the cytoskeleton, and cell division. While the explanation and biochemistry of membrane structure, permeability, and transport is excellent, there is very little on intracellular trafficking of vesicles though trafficking of proteins to particular compartments is discussed.
There is no content relating to standard cell signaling pathways. Basic cell structure and function is addressed in the first chapter of the book. The textbook is, in general, accurate. Although there may be some outdated terminology archaebacteria as a primary identifier rather than archaea or the absence of alternative names Krebs cycle as the only reference with no mention of citric acid cycle or tri-carboxylic acid cycle , I did not see any serious errors in concepts or mechanisms being presented.
The material presented is accurate and presented from an objective scientific viewpoint. Content is up to date. The majority of the topics are tenets in biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology, and not generally subject to significant changes. There are several examples given to keep material relevant and up-to-date, including a short description of the biochemical ramifications of the Atkins diet and similarly designed low-carbohydrate diets.
Discussion of bacterial cell structure in chapter one includes a brief description of bacterial cytoskeletal elements and internal membrane structures both of which are not present in more dated material.
There are not a lot of cultural references or examples that would become dated quickly, and therefore all the content has a mostly timeless quality. There are many links to external material YouTube videos by the author presenting topics, links to external figures, and links to Wikipedia entries which may become out of date quickly depending on the whims of the institutions that host this content, however, as long as these are kept current they can easily be changed to reflect new URLs.
The book is written in a very clear and concise manner. It is written in a narrative form with a somewhat casual tone which makes it easy to read and easy to follow. Jargon and technical terms are listed at the end of each chapter as vocabulary lists. Learning objectives are outlined at the beginning of each chapter.
The textbook excels in being able to move between different sections. Each chapter is a self-contained topic with subdivisions. This is quite helpful in being able to present or assign certain sections and still having them retain all the logical connections you would want them to without having to read the textbook in its entirety.
While chapter 14, membrane function, may be a bit ambitious in the amount of material it covers and could be broken down into several topics, it does form a cohesive unit of knowledge on the fundamental biological processes that a membrane performs.
The textbooks chapters are organized in a very logical fashion, each one building on the other to more and more complicated concepts. There is a clear introduction to the text, though as with many science textbooks, there is no ending or wrap up. There is just an end to content. Internally, each chapter has a clear introduction and outline to major topics and sub-topics that are being addressed. It is easy to find information when searching for it. I had no problems reading, navigating, opening, or in any other way interfering with my ability to read and interact with the textbook.
At worst, they are simple technical errors that do not obstruct the meaning or clarity of the information. There is no cultural relevance in the sense this phrase is generally used. Any examples that are made have no relation to cultural background as they are explanations of natural phenomenon independent of whether humans are here or not. That said, science is culturally relevant to everyone and the more science people do and are aware of — the better.
This book does an excellent job of trying to bring science to people and engage them in material that is difficult but approachable. This textbook is primarily a biochemistry textbook that has been modified to incorporate cell biology. While trying to cover so many different topics, it is unable to address either molecular biology or cell biology with the normal amount of detail that most textbooks in these fields would have.
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