1. Editorial; Fifth symposium on bacterial genetics and ecology

   • Amalia D. Karagoumi
   • Dora Koraki

   Legacy Pages: 1 - 1

2. Influence of plant genotype on the selection of nodulating Sinorhizobium meliloti strains by Medicago sativa

   • Donatella Paffetti
   • Fabrice Daguin
   • Marco Bazzicalupo

   OriginalPaper Pages: 3 - 8

3. Broad-scale analysis of soil microbial community DNA from Upland grasslands

   • Christopher D. Clegg
   • Karl Ritz
   • Bryan S. Griffiths

   OriginalPaper Pages: 9 - 14

4. A review of available systems to investigate transfer of DNA to indigenous soil bacteria

   • Sylvie Clerc
   • Pascal Simonet

   OriginalPaper Pages: 15 - 23

5. Santa Rosalia revisited: Why are there so many species of bacteria?

   • Daniel E. Dykhuizen

   OriginalPaper Pages: 25 - 33

6. Evolution of competitive fitness in experimental populations of E. coli: What makes one genotype a better competitor than another?

   • Richard E. Lenski
   • Judith A. Mongold
   • Thomas M. Schmidt

   OriginalPaper Pages: 35 - 47

7. A comparative study on the frequency of prophages among natural isolates of Salmonella and Escherichia coli with emphasis on generalized transducers

   • Petra Schicklmaier
   • Elisabeth Moser
   • Horst Schmieger

   OriginalPaper Pages: 49 - 54

8. Sequences around the fragmentation sites of the large subunit ribosomal RNA in the family Rhizobiaceae

   • Sonja Selenska-Pobell
   • Heidi Döring

   OriginalPaper Pages: 55 - 67

9. Transfer of plasmid RP4 in the spermosphere and rhizosphere of barley seedling

   • Søren J. Sørensen
   • Linda Elise Jensen

   OriginalPaper Pages: 69 - 77

10. Carbon dioxide as a regulator of gene expression in microorganisms

    • Serina Stretton
    • Amanda E. Goodman

    OriginalPaper Pages: 79 - 85

11. Enhancement of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) degradation in soil by dissemination of catabolic plasmids

    • Eva M. Top
    • Petra Van Daele
    • Larry J. Forney

    OriginalPaper Pages: 87 - 94

12. Effect of fermented milk intake on plasmid transfer and on the persistence of transconjugants in the digestive tract of gnotobiotic mice

    • Yvonne Duval-Iflah
    • Sylvie Maisonneuve
    • Marie-France Ouriet

    OriginalPaper Pages: 95 - 102

13. Survival, metabolic activity and conjugative interactions of indigenous and introduced streptomycete strains in soil microcosms

    • Anna P. Vionis
    • Efstathios A. Katsifas
    • Amalia D. Karagouni

    OriginalPaper Pages: 103 - 115

14. Origin and evolution of plasmids

    • Clarence I. Kado

    OriginalPaper Pages: 117 - 126

15. Application of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (TGGE) in microbial ecology

    • Gerard Muyzer
    • Kornelia Smalla

    OriginalPaper Pages: 127 - 141