Included in the present volume are selected pages from Volume I, II, and IV of the CRC Handbook of Microbiology. Data from Volume II has not been included (microbial products), which did not lend itself readily to the selection of a few pages. As it is the present volume includes information about the various groups of microorganisms, their cell walls, and their genetics. Data on amino acids, carbohydrates, and lipids re included, together with diagrams of metabolic pathways and information on immunocompetent cells. General reference data include a glossary, statistical tables and other information that is hoped to be found useful by the reader.

How small can a free-living organism be? On the surface, this question is straightforward-in principle, the smallest cells can be identified and measured. But understanding what factors determine this lower limit, and addressing the host of other questions that follow on from this knowledge, require a fundamental understanding of the chemistry and ecology of cellular life. The recent report of evidence for life in a martian meteorite and the prospect of searching for biological signatures in intelligently chosen samples from Mars and elsewhere bring a new immediacy to such questions. How do we recognize the morphological or chemical remnants of life in rocks deposited 4 billion years ago on another planet? Are the empirical limits on cell size identified by observation on Earth applicable to life wherever it may occur, or is minimum size a function of the particular chemistry of an individual planetary surface? These questions formed the focus of a workshop on the size limits of very small organisms, organized by the Steering .Group for the Workshop on Size Limits of Very Small Microorganisms and held on October 22 and 23, 1998. Eighteen invited panelists, representing fields ranging from cell biology and molecular genetics to paleontology and mineralogy, joined with an almost equal number of other participants in a wide-ranging exploration of minimum cell size and the challenge of interpreting micro- and nano-scale features of sedimentary rocks found on Earth or elsewhere in the solar system. This document contains the proceedings of that workshop. It includes position papers presented by the individual panelists, arranged by panel, along with a summary, for each of the four sessions, of extensive roundtable discussions that involved the panelists as well as other workshop participants.

The purpose of this book is to illustrate a selection of biological prop erties of bacteria that reveal them as important living beings. We have primarily addressed readers who have had some previous educa tion in the natural sciences, and we have assumed a modest under standing of elementary chemical and biological principles. Our aim is to provide abrief survey of bacterial forms and structures, placing special emphasis on the activities of bacteria in their environment and some important interrelations within it. Bacterial ecobiology is the study of those aspects of bacteria that influence, and are in fluenced by, environmental phenomena. Some material traditionally covered in standard texts-such as medi cal bacteriology and immunology, applied bacteriology, and bacterial classification-will not be found here, because it is our opinion that these are peripheral to the idea of ecobiology and because numerous excellent treatments of this material are readily available. There is also no formal presentation ofbacterial genetics or of molecular biology per se in this book. However, mention of phenomena involved in these subjects is made where considered appropriate.

The Novartis Foundation Series is a popular collection of the proceedings from Novartis Foundation Symposia, in which groups of leading scientists from a range of topics across biology, chemistry and medicine assembled to present papers and discuss results. The Novartis Foundation, originally known as the Ciba Foundation, is well known to scientists and clinicians around the world.

The Mycoplasmas, Volume I: Cell Biology is a volume of a comprehensive three-volume series encompassing various facets of mycoplasmology, emphasizing outstanding developments made in the field. This volume deals specifically with the cell biology of the mycoplasmas. This book focuses on problems regarding mycoplasma classification, phylogenetics, and relatedness to wall-covered bacteria; their unique molecular biology, energy metabolism, transport mechanisms, antigenic structure, and membrane biochemistry. The characterization, ultrastructure, and molecular biology of the mycoplasmaviruses, as well as the special properties of several groups of mycoplasmas, such as Ureaplasma, Acholeplasma, Thermoplasma, and Anaeroplasma, are also described. This book will serve as a standard reference work for mycoplasmologists, as well as for other interested microbiologists, cellular and molecular biologists, membrane biochemists, clinicians, veterinarians, plant pathologists, and entomologists.