Trends in Microbiology provides a multidisciplinary forum for the discussion of all aspects of microbiology: from cell biology and immunology to genetics and evolution, and ranges across virology, bacteriology, protozoology and mycology. Microbiology is, at present, one of the fastest moving disciplines in life sciences, thanks also to technological developments of the recent years. The relative ease and rapidity with which small genomes can be entirely sequenced is beginning to have significant impact on all areas of prokaryote biology, from pathogens to extremophiles, and will fuel new developments, for example, in drugs, vaccines and industrial enzyme research. Recent international developments are also responsible for a renewed interest in microbiology.