Prokaryotes

Eugene Rosenberg, Professor of Microbiology at Tel Aviv University, Israel Edward F. DeLong, Professor at Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering & Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA Fabiano Thompson, Professor at Center of Health Sciences, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Stephen Lory, Professor at Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA Erko Stackebrandt, Director of the German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH, Braunschweig, Germany

• Preface.- Foreword.- About the Editors.- List of Contributors.- (Section 1) Biology of Bacteria and Archaea.- How We Do, Don’t and Should Look at Bacteria and Bacteriology.- What Is a Prokaryote?.- Prokaryotes and Their Habitats.- Origin of Life: RNA World versus Autocatalytic Anabolism.- Morphological and Physiological Diversity.- Prokaryote Characterization and Identification.- Principles of Enrichment, Isolation, Cultivation, and Preservation of Prokaryotes.- Comparative Genomics.- Defining Taxonomic Ranks.- Covering All the Bases: Next-Generation Sequence Data and the Microevolution of Bacterial Pathogens.- Public Service Collections and Biological Resource Centres of Microorganisms (Biological resource centres).- Repositories for Patented and Safeguarded Material, Budapest Treaty, and Safe Deposit.- Biotechnology and Applied Microbiology.- Genome and Post-genome Technology.- (section 2) Symbiotic Associations.- Role of Microorganisms in the Adaptation, Development, and Evolution of Animals and Plants: the Hologenome Concept.- Cyanobacterial-Plant Symbioses.- Root and Stem Nodule Bacteria of Legumes.- Symbiotic Associations Between Ciliates and Prokaryotes.- Bacteriocyte-Associated Endosymbionts of Insects .- Vibrio fischeri: A Bioluminescent Light-Organ Symbiont of the Bobtail Squid Euprymna scolopes.- Rumen Symbioses.- Symbiotic Associations Between Termites and Prokaryotes.- Marine Chemosynthetic Symbioses.