One of our central goals in tackling the revision of this textbook was to provide special resources to engage students (and educators) in molecular biology. New to the second edition are simulations that cover core molecular biology concepts and techniques. Created using the art from the text, the simulations reinforce students’ understanding by allowing them to interact with the structures and processes they have encountered. A gamelike format guides students through the simulations, unlocking them in order, and multiple-choice questions after each simulation ensure that instructors can assess whether students have thoroughly understood each topic. These simulations are the product of many days of meetings among the authors, editors, and media developers. From story-boarding to the finished product, these simulations were one of the most challenging as well as stimulating efforts associated with preparing the second edition. We are excited to present this new approach to learning key concepts.

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Nucleotide Structure (Chapter 3)

DNA/RNA Structure (Chapter 6)

PCR (Chapter 7)

Sanger Sequencing (Chapter 7)

CRISPR (Chapters 7 and 19)

DNA Replication (Chapter 11)

DNA Polymerase (Chapter 11)

Mutation and Repair (Chapter 12)

Transcription (Chapter 15)

mRNA Processing (Chapter 16)

Translation (Chapter 18)

These articles engage students in reading about primary research and encourage critical thinking. Specifically selected for both alignment with the text coverage and exploration of identified difficult topics, the Nature articles include assessment questions that can be automatically graded. Also included are open-ended questions that are suitable for use in flipped classrooms and active learning discussions either in class or online.

The simulations and Nature articles for Molecular Biology: Principles and Practice are available in our LaunchPad system, along with many additional resources.

This dynamic, fully integrated learning environment brings together all of our teaching and learning resources in one place. It also contains the fully interactive e-Book and other newly updated resources for students and instructors, including the following:

New Clicker Questions allow instructors to integrate active learning in the classroom and to assess students’ understanding of key concepts during lectures.

Updated Test Bank contains at least 40 multiple-choice and short-answer questions for each chapter.

allows students to test their comprehension of the chapter concepts. The system adapts to students’ individual level of preparedness by giving them questions at varying levels of difficulty, depending on whether they answer a question without help, or they need help but eventually get the question right, or they are unable to answer the question. Links to the appropriate e-Book section, hints, and feedback help students realize where they need more practice on a topic.

Key Term Flashcards allow students to review the definitions of all the glossary terms and quiz themselves.

Textbook Images and Tables are offered as high-resolution JPEG files. Each image has been fully optimized to increase type size and adjust color saturation. These images have been tested in a large lecture hall to ensure maximum clarity and visibility.

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