Normally, a yeast cell multiplies by creating a single bud, as shown in illustration D (far right). But when the yeast Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous is subjected to long “hydric and nitrogen starvation conditions,” it may produce multibudding cells as shown in illustrations (left to right) A, B, and C. These photographs are part of a digital resource that was given an Editor’s Choice Award by the Curriculum and Visual Resources Editorial Committee of MicrobeLibrary, a founding partner in the BiosciEdNet (BEN) pathway of NSDL.

The committee also gave awards to two other resources published in MicrobeLibrary in 2005. “Exploring Microbal Diversity through a Microbe Collection” by Debra Wohl, Michael Lemke, Thomas Gorrell, and Michael Levandowsky is a curriculum tool available to those who purchase a subscription to the site. The third award went to “The Gram Stain: An Animated Approach” by Daniel Cavanaugh and Mark Keen of the Department of Microbiology at North Carolina State University. Using Macromedia Flash, the authors show how the Gram Stain differentiates members of the domain bacteria based on the comparative biochemistry of their cell envelopes.

The BEN Pathway is a resource for biology learning, study, and teaching; mathematics study and teaching; and science study and teaching in the United States.  As a digital library on biological and life sciences, it functions as a biology search engine, a biology teaching resource, a science teaching resource,and a source of information on biology.